HISTORICAL NOTICE. 61 ■was preaching Christianity to his subjects with fire and sword; and Xhangbrand, like his master, attempted to thrust the new religion upon the Icelanders more hy the use of weapons than argument; for it is recorded that on his journey west in the spring of the following year he slew several men. In the introductory remarks allusion was made to an extraordinary legend respecting this journey, which says that as Thangbrand was riding over the ArnarstalikfiheP&i, a sorcerer, Iledinn of Kerl'ingardalr, made a great sacrifice to the gods, and then ‘ the earth burst asunder his (Thangbrand’s) horse, but he sprang off his horse and saved him- self on the brink of the gulf.’ It is interesting to learn that the sorcerer was immediately after slain hy Thangbrand’s Icelandic companion, Gu’Sliefr. The object of Thangbrand’s journey was to induce the Aljung to adopt Christianity as the religion of the land, but he failed, ‘ his duels and bloodsheddings doing the cause much harm,’ and returned to Norway. However, two years later, on the 24th June, 1000, Iceland passed from Paganism to Christianity. This was brought about by the sound reasoning of. Snorri, a converted Pagan priest, with the assistance of several powerful chiefs who had recently been on a visit to King (Tlafr, who had loaded them with presents and honours, and thus gained them over ‘ to try everything in their power to establish Christianity in Iceland.’ In order to make them the more zealous in the performance of their task, he re- tained a. number of their sons with him as hostages, and there was every reason for anxiety, as to what would have been their fate, if the result of their fathers’ mission had been different from what it was. Many a chief was thus moved as much by fear for the safety of a son as by persuasion to support the Christian party. In the Njal Saga we find it recorded that: ‘During the debate a man came running and said, “that a stream of lava had burst out at Olfus, and would run over the homestead of Jlorodr the priest.” 1 Then the heathen men began to say, “ No wonder that the gods are wroth at such speeches as we have heard.” ‘Then Snorri, the priest, spoke and said, “At what, then, were the gods wroth when this lava was molten, and ran over the spot on which we now stand?” ’ To this there was no reply ; as the sunken plain of pingvellir is one of the most remarkable lava tracts on the island, and doubtless the eruption when the molten rock burst forth took place ages before human eye ever rested on Iceland.

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