ever, is certain, that the Baresark, like his Malay brother, was
looked upon as a public pest, and the mischief which they caused,
relying partly no doubt on their natural strength, and partly on the
hold which the belief in their supernatural nature had on the mind of
the people, was such as to render their killing a good work.

Again, the Northman believed that certain men were "fast" or "hard";
that no weapons would touch them or wound their skin; that the mere
glance of some men's eyes would turn the edge of the best sword; and
that some persons had the power of withstanding poison. He believed in
omens and dreams and warnings, in signs and wonders and tokens; he
believed in good luck and bad luck, and that the man on whom fortune
smiled or frowned bore the marks of her favour or displeasure on his
face; he believed also in magic and sorcery, though he loathed them as
unholy rites. With one of his beliefs our story has much to do, though
this was a belief in good rather than in evil. He believed firmly that
some men had the inborn gift, not won by any black arts, of seeing
things and events beforehand. He believed, in short, in what is called
in Scotland "second sight". This was what was called being "forspar" or
"framsynn," "foretelling" and "foresighted ". Of such men it was said
that their "words could not be broken". Njal was one of these men; one
of the wisest and at the same time most just and honourable of men. This
gift ran in families, for Helgi Njal's son had it, and it was beyond a
doubt one of the deepest-rooted of all their superstitions.

SOCIAL PRINCIPLES.

Besides his creed and these beliefs the new settler brought with him
certain fixed social principles, which we shall do well to consider
carefully in the outset.... First and foremost came the father's right
of property in his children. This right is common to the infancy of all
communities, and exists before all law. We seek it in vain in codes
which belong to a later period, but it has left traces of itself in all
codes, and, abrogated in theory, still often exists in practice. We find
it in the Roman law, and we find it among the Northmen. Thus it was the
father's right to rear his children or not at his will. As soon as it
was born, the child was laid upon the bare ground; and until the father
came and looked at it, heard and saw that it was strong in lung and
limb, lifted it in his arms, and handed it over to the women to be
reared, its fa