affairs. The reader of _Burnt Njal_ sees that
among the Icelanders life was short and precarious. With the spirit
of adventure, which led them to be constantly setting out on warlike
and piratical expeditions, they combined a strong tendency to local
quarrels, which filled up their life at home with a constant series
of blood-feuds. These latter are gone about in a methodical and
business-like way; custom sanctions them, the meetings of the popular
assembly do not seek to suppress or punish them if only they are
conducted according to the rules. No public authority had as yet
arisen to carry out the law between one household and another; the
avenger has his recognised place and duty. Society is patriarchal as
in other Aryan communities; each family is a community of
blood-kindred for mutual defence and also for worship. The leading
cult of Icelandic religion was the domestic worship of ancestors,
conducted by the head of the household. The dead were buried in
knolls or burrows near the dwelling, and their spirits were thought
to inhabit these places; they are said to "die into the hill." Altars
are erected and sacrifices offered there; the blood of the victim
poured out upon the ground is supposed to be enjoyed by them. These
knolls became the sacred places of their district, and many a belief
existed about these quiet neighbours and the help they afforded to
the living. "Elves" they were called, and they were thought of as a
cleanly and kindly race. The spirits of bad men, on the contrary,
lived an uneasy life, as demons, and were the workers of mischief.

Along with this belief in the spirits of the dead as inhabiting the
burial hill of the household, there is another conception, namely,
that the dead go to a distant region of the unseen world. In Homer
also these two conceptions are combined. The Icelandic burial rites
are founded on the latter view. The "departed" is going on a long
journey, and his friends escort him as far as they can; shoes are
bound on his feet, the Hel-shoes, for Hel is the name of the region
of the dead. Gifts are given to him; horses, male and female
attendants, hawks and hounds, are burned with him on the pyre, and
his wife voluntarily accompanies him; all these he is to have with
him in the country beyond.

In addition to the domestic cult we have that of local objects; holy
wells, waterfalls, groves, stones are worshipped. Mother Earth is
called on, so is Thunder, so is Heaven. But besi