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222 EBLIGION OF THE NOETHMEN.
were held, leads only into a multiplicity of conjec-
tures, which, are wholly without foundation.*
Human sacrifices (manna-blot) were not unusual,
although it was generally bondsmen and malefactors
that were offered up. The, sacrifice of himian
beings was performed either by butchering them
like other victims, collecting the blood in the sacri-
ficial bowls, and afterward sinking the corpse into
a pool or morass ; or by breaking the victim's back
over a sharp rock ; or finally by hurling it out' over
a precipice among the rocks of an abyss. Only on
rare and very important occasions were the freeborn
sacrificed to the Gods; and yet there were
instances when the victims were chieftains or their
children. Thus it is related of the Upsala King
Aun that he sacrificed his nine sons to Odin for the
sake of prolonging his life.f King Olaf Tr6telgja
of Vermaland was burned to death by his subjects,
and sacrificed thus to Odin in order that a great
famine should cease.:j: Of the zealous Asa-wor-
shiper Hakon Jarl it is stated, that during the battle
in Hjorunga bay with the Jomsvikingar he sacrificed
his son Ecling, then seven years old, to Thorgerd
Horgabriib, and caused his bondman Skopta Kark
to kill the boy, in the manner which the Jarl him-
self prescribed.§
Among human sacrifices may also be reckoned
the practice of "carving the Blood-eagle" (rista
* See Magnusen : Spec, Cat. Gentilia.
Snor. ; Yngl. S. 29.
t
i lb. 47.
§ Jomsvik. S. 44, in Fornm. S. XI. p. 136.