[24]. “He kept Caithness by main force from the Scots.” (See [Appendix], p. [209].)
[25]. Njal Saga, chap. lxxxvii.
[26]. Njal Saga, loc. cit. This Hundi should be the father of the Kali Hundason of the subsequent narrative.
[27]. Njal Saga, chap. clvi.
[28]. War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p. 191.
[29]. Hrafn the Red, whose denunciation of the raven-banner as the earl’s devil may not altogether be accounted for by the fervour of his Christianity, was chased into the river, where he was in danger of being drowned by the rising tide. In this emergency he made a vow as follows:—“Thy dog, Apostle Peter, hath run twice to Rome, and he would run the third time if thou gavest him leave.” The Irish Chronicle states that the full tide in Dublin Bay on the day of the battle coincided with sunrise, and that the returning tide in the evening aided in the destruction of the defeated foreigners. The date assigned by the Chronicle for the battle is Good Friday, 23d April 1014. It has been found by astronomical calculation that the full tide that morning did coincide with sunrise—a remarkable attestation of the authenticity of the narrative.
[30]. See the account of him in the Saga, [chap. v]. and note.
[31]. Rattar Brough, a little to the east of Dunnet Head, seems to be the modern form of Rauda Biorg.
[32]. See the Saga account, [chap. xxiii]. and note. The dates do not bear out the statement that Thorfinn was Earl for seventy years.
[33]. Fordun, v. 24.