Steadily the stream of the Northmen poured into Iceland until in sixty years from the coming of Ingölfr the population numbered over sixty thousand. So much land was taken by the first-comers that an agreement was made by which all those who came later could take only as much land as they could encompass by fire in a day. This was done by building a huge fire in the center of the location, whence the claimant travelled in a circle as far away from the fire as he could see the smoke.
They brought with them the customs of Norway and its worship of the northern gods. Neighbors gathered in the hústhing, the freeholders in the móthing and the nation in the althing. While great reverence was paid to their gods, who were high ideals of what the people aimed to become, yet their system reveals the presence of an unknown god, indistinct, shadowy and undefined, before whom even Odin, father of the gods, himself must bow. After the diversified life of agriculture and pillage was over, when the last feast had been given and the last war-cry uttered, after Valhalla had received the hero, there was still a lingering suspicion of something yet beyond.
Christianity was forced upon the Norwegians by Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf the Holy. During the rule of the former, Thangbrand preached “Christ’s law” in Iceland among the Eastfirthers, and in the Burnt Njál in this connection we read:—
“Hall let himself be christened and all his household and many other chieftains also; notwithstanding there were many more who gainsaid him. Thangbrand abode three winters in Iceland and was the bane of three men or ever he departed thence.”
When Icelanders journeyed to Norway, Olaf gave them their choice between taking christening or imprisonment. Among the prisoners were Hjallti and Gizur the White, the latter a prominent character in the Burnt Njál. They agreed to go to Iceland and preach the new faith if Olaf would release the prisoners. In the year 1000 they went to the Althing at Thingvellir. During a stormy debate a runner came from the Ölfusá stating that a stream of lava was overflowing the homesteads. The heathen men cried out,—
“No wonder that the gods are wroth at such speakers as we have heard!”
Then Snorri the priest said,—
“At what then were the gods wroth when this lava was molten and ran over the spot on which we now stand?”
They could not answer him.
The following law was then passed,—