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88 introdttction;
sent a ricli source, wliich has^ not yet been fully ex-
hausted.
It is the Asa-Faith, such as it was understood and
cherished by the Northmen of Norway and Iceland,
which the Old-Norse manuscripts properly present
to us, and from this point of view it shall be con-
sidered here. We have, indeed, no I'eason to doubt
that the other two branches of the Norrsena family
— :
the Swedes and Danes— professed in the main points
the same faith, followed the same religious customs,
and had the same religious institutions ; but we do
not know, with certainty, what .these were in detail,
for the reliable inland sources of information are
wanting ; and although the ancient Norse-Icelandic
manuscripts not unfrequently treat of heathen-reli-
gious aiFairs in Sweden and Denmark, yet it is only
occasional, and is, besides, almost always such that
the conception is evidently Norwegian, and the de-
lineation quite too much adapted to the existing institutions
of Norway for us to draw from them any
decisive conclusions.
The following Exposition will, therefore, more
especially embrace the Keligious Institutions of Norway
and Iceland during heathen times ; and, as
before hinted, it will be divided into three Parts
the first containing the Dogmas of the Asa-Faith •
the second, the Interpretation of the Asa-Doctrines ;
the third, the Manifestation of the Asa-Faith in the
Popular Life of the Northmen.