“They (Hakon’s men) prepare themselves for pouring down stones and shots from the hunkastalis on board the trading-ships” (c. 9, Hakon Herdibreid). The different parts of a ship were the _lypting_[130] an elevated place, where the commander stood and steered, and from which he could survey the whole scene of battle; _stafn_ (prow); _rausn_ (forecastle); _fyrir-rum_ (foreroom), so called, probably, on account of its being before the mast; and _krapparum_, the third room from the stern. The place in which the weapons were kept was called the _hasœtis-kista_, or high-seat chest. “The King went down into the foreroom, opened the _hasœtis-kista_, and took out many sharp swords, which he gave to the men” (Olaf Tryggvason, c. 117). “In the foreroom were also sleeping-places. The men in this and the _stafnbuar_ were called _fyrir-rumsmenn_. Those before the mast were all called _frambyggjar_ (bow-sitters)” (Harald Fairhair, c. 11). The ship was highest forward and aft, and was pointed at both ends. [Illustration: Fig. 917.—Ship propelled by oars. Slab. Haggeley, Uppland, Sweden. Similar to the Egyptian bas-relief on the Temple of Medinet-Hakou (see p. 123). ] As the largest ships were lofty, they required a deck (_thiljur_), but decks are very seldom mentioned. Thorir sailed westward to England, to Knut the Great, with his valuable skins. “Thorir Hund went on board of his ship; Finn with many men followed him thither, and went along the ship. He had taken up the deck, and under the planks near the mast they saw two barrels, so large that they wondered at them. In the barrels there was an inner bottom close to the outer one, between which was the drink; but the barrel itself was filled with grey skins, beaver and sable” (St. Olaf’s Saga, c. 149). _Oars._—In calm weather ships were generally propelled with oars, which were fastened with a strap attached to the tholes, or openings made as in the Gokstad ship and Nydam boat. The oars had to be strong, and each was generally manned by two, three, or four men, heavy or large ships being with difficulty propelled by oars. Sometimes men were so strong that they could, on the smaller vessels, ply an oar alone, but this was an exception. “King Hakon (Herdibreid) lay in the harbour with fourteen ships. He himself and his men were at some games upon the island, while his lendir men sat on a mound. They saw a boat rowing towards the south of the island; two men were in it, and they pulled the oars so hard that they bent themselves to the bottom of the boat” (Magnus Erlingsson’s Saga, c. 6 (Heimskringla)). Only in one instance is the length of the oars given—those of the _Ellidi_—which are said to have been 26 feet long. The largest ship must have had oars still longer than those of the _Ellidi_, which was not a large vessel. They were called by the figurative names of The long arms; The feet of the horse of the sea; The wave sweeper; The feet of the ship, &c.