“This summer a ship came from Norway to the Faroes; the steersman was called Rafn; his kin was in Vik, and he owned a house in Túnsberg. He constantly sailed to Hólmgard, and was called Hólmgardsfari. The ship came to Thórshöfn; when the traders were ready to go it is said that Thránd of Gata came there one morning in a skúta and spoke to Rafn privately, saying he had two young thralls to sell him. Rafn said he would not buy them before he saw them. Thránd led forward the two boys with the hair shaved off, in white garments; they were fine looking, but swollen in the face from grief. When he saw the boys Rafn asked: ‘Are not these the sons of Brestir and Beinir, whom you killed a short while ago?’ ‘Certainly, I think so,’ said Thránd. ‘They will not come into my hands,’ said Rafn, ‘for property.’ ‘Then let us both yield,’ said Thránd; ‘take here two marks of silver which I will give thee if thou takest them away with thee, so that they henceforth will never come to the Færoes.’ He poured the silver into the lap of the steersman, counted it, and showed it to him. Rafn liked the silver well, and it was agreed that he should receive the boys. He sailed when he got a fair wind, and landed where he wished in Norway east at Túnsberg; he stayed there during the winter, and the boys with him, and they were well treated” (Færeyinga Saga, c. 8). In hard years the exportation of grain was forbidden. “At Ömd, in Thrándarnes, lived a chief named Ásbjörn. He had three feasts every winter, as was the custom of his father. Then the crops began to fail and bad years came, and his mother wanted him to omit some or all of the feasts; but he would not, and bought corn or had it given to him as a gift. One summer he could get no more corn. It was said from the south of the country that King Ólaf forbade to carry corn, malt and meal from the south northwards. Then Ásbjörn went on his ship with twenty men, and sailed southward till they came to Ögvaldsnes. Ásbjörn asked the king’s steward, who lived there, if he would sell corn. He told them that the king had forbidden the selling of corn from the south to the north. Then Ásbjörn got corn from the thralls of the chief Erling Skjálgsson, who was the brother of Ásbjörn’s mother. The king’s steward went with sixty men out on Ásbjörn’s ship, and took the corn and his sail besides, and gave him another bad sail. Ásbjörn slew the steward some time after, when Ólaf was at a feast in the steward’s house” (St. Olaf’s Saga, c. 123). Weights and balances were known to the Norse from very early times, as the finds prove; and their standard of measurement was the ell. [Illustration: Fig. 998.—⅓ real size. Spiral rings of gold, used as money; found at the bottom of the Vammelo, Södermanland. Weight, about 1⅒ lbs. ] [Illustration: Fig. 999.—Real size. Spiral rings; weight about 2½ oz. Norway. ] [Illustration: