[49] _Ann. Cambriae_, A.D. 902; (Steenstrup: _Normannerne_, III., pp. 37-41).
[50] _Three Fragments of Annals_, p. 230 ff.
[51] _Annals of the Four Masters_, A.D. 845, 852; _Annals of Ulster_, A.D. 846. _Three Fragments of Annals_, A.D. 862.
[52] _Annals of the Four Masters_, A.D. 848.
[53] The plundering of these burial-mounds--“a thing that had never been done before”--made a deep impression on the Irish Annalists; it was thought that the Vikings discovered the existence of the treasure by magic, “through paganism and idol worship” (_War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill_, p. 115). The same source (p. 25) records the plundering of Kerry by Baraid (O.N. Barthr) and Olaf the White’s son “who left not a cave there underground that they did not explore.”
Several references to this practice of the Vikings occur also in Icelandic literature. It is interesting to compare the Irish accounts with the following passage from Landnámabók (I., ch. 5): “Leifr (one of the earliest settlers in Iceland) went on a Viking raid to the West. He plundered Ireland and found there a large underground house (Icel. _jarth-hus_). It was dark within until he made his way to a place where he saw a light shining from a sword which a man held in his hand. Leifr slew the man and took the sword and much treasure besides.”
[54] _Three Fragments of Annals_, p. 135.
[56] _Heimskringla: Óláfs Saga Tryggvasonar_, ch. 35.
[57] Cf. The story of Samr, (_i.e._, probably Ir. sam, “happy” or “peaceful”) the Irish hound which Olaf Pai gave to Gunnarr. Samr was killed while defending his master’s homestead. (_Njáls Saga_, chs. 69, 75.)
[58] _Annals of the Four Masters_, A.D. 820; _Fragments of Annals_, p. 166; _War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill_, p. 79; _The Victorious Career of Callachan of Cashel_, p. 9.
[62] _Ib._, III., ch. 12. Rafarta was the wife of Eyvindr the Easterner, “who settled down in Ireland and had charge of Kjarval’s defences” (cf. _Grettis Saga_, ch. 3). _Orkneyinga Saga_ (ch. 11.) makes Edna (Ir. _Eithne_) another of Kjarval’s daughters to be the mother of Sigurthr, Earl of Orkney (killed in the battle of Clontarf, 1014); but owing to the chronological difficulty this is hardly likely.
[65] _Three Fragments of Annals_, p. 151. The same source (p. 173) mentions still another wife of Olaf, “the daughter of Cinaedh,” _i.e._, in all probability Cinaedh Mac Ailpin, King of the Picts (d. 858).