Custom and Belief in Icelandic Sagas. 413
5. {lb., 934.) Skallagrim was howed ... It is not told
that much money was laid with him. Egil inherited the lands and loose money.
6. (//?., 965.) Karl and the Eastmen were buried, with
much treasure. (As foreigners, they would have no heirs in Iceland to claim their money.)
7. {Lnxdcela, 972.) Hoskuld was buried honourably ;
little money was put in the howe with him.
The transition is also marked in the reproach of Ingi- mund on his son's inactivity ( Waterdale Saga, before the Settlement of Iceland) : " In our day it was the custom with kings and earls, our peers, that they won for them- selves fortune and fame ; wealth was not counted as a heritage, nor would sons inherit from their fathers, but rather lay their possessions in the howe with them."
These tomb-treasures were the natural prey of the adventurous :
1. {Landnaina.) Korni was buried in Korni's howe; a
man broke in and carried away his belt and ring.
2. {lb.) Styrbjorn found a bag of money in a cairn and
hid it.
3. {lb.) Skeggi broke into Hrolf Kraki's howe, and got
a sword and axe and much money.
4. {Floamamta, 946.) Later in the winter, some thralls
broke open a howe for the money. Examples of the terrors by which the howe was guarded against desecration occur repeatedly in the mythical chapters of sagas :
1. {Hoe7isa-Thoris Saga, 920.) Thori broke open the
howe of his father's brother, who directed him to a cave in Finmark where a viking and his sons guarded their treasure as fiery dragons.
2. {lb., 940.) Thori himself was not known to die ; he
disappeared with his treasure-chests, and is said to have lain on them and become a dragon.
3. {Har^ar Saga, 965.) Hord and his companions
