KINGS OF NORWAY. 129 quarters in Yiken, proceeded from thence northwards, s aga x i. and there was peace for a while ; but now that the river-borderers were without a chief, marauding gangs infested them, and the king saw that this east- ern part of the kingdom would be laid waste. It appeared to him, therefore, most suitable and advis- able to make Sweinke himself oppose the stream, and twice he sent messages to him. But he did not stir until Kino; Mao^nus himself was south in Denmark, when Sweinke and the king met, and made a full reconciliation ; on which Sweinke returned home to his house and estates, and was afterwards King Mag- nus's best and trustiest friend, who strengthened his kingdom on the eastern border ; and their friendship continued as long as they lived. King Magnus undertook an expedition out of the Chaiter country, with many fine men and a good assortment King of shippins:. With this armament he sailed out into ^^^^""^ Li- o makes war the West sea, and first came to the Orkney Islands, on the There he took the two earls, Paul and Erlend, prison- Hebudes. ers, and sent them east to Norway, and placed his son Sigurd as chief over the islands, leaving some counsellors to assist him. From thence King Magnus, with his followers, proceeded to the Southern He- budes*, and when he came there began to burn and lay waste the inhabited places, killing the people, and
- Sudreyia^ or the South Isles, were so called in reference to their
situation from the Feroe, Orkney, and Shetland Isles ; and the name is still retained in the title of the bishopric of Sodor and Man. The Sudreyia are the Hebrides, or, as Pinkerton will have it, the Hebudes : in which he is probably right, the word being Oybodar — island habita- tions; reduced to Ebudae in Latin. The names mentioned in the saga are Liadhus (Lewis), Ivist (Uist, north and south). Skid (Skye), Raunoyar (Rasey and Rona), Myl (Mull), Mylarkalfr (Coll ? or Calf of Mull), Tyroist (Tiree), Helga Oyen (lona), II (Islay), Gudoy (Gigha), Heroy or Hersoy (Arran), Bot (Bute), Kumroyjar (the Cumbray Isles), Mon (Man), Satiri (the peninsula of Cantire). The Hebudes and Man were sold in 1266 to the Scottish crown by King Magnus the Law Improver, for 4000 marks sterling, and 100 marks yearly as feu duty. VOL. III. K
