Onund settles in Kaldbak

Onund Treefoot was driven away from the shore for several days,

after which the wind shifted and blew towards the land. Then

they made land again, which those of them who had been there

before recognised as the western coast of the Skagi peninsula.

They sailed in to Strandafloi, almost to Sudrstrandir. There

came rowing towards them a ten-oared boat with six men on board,

who hailed the sea-going ship and asked who was their captain.

Onund told them his name and asked whence they came. They said

they were the men of Thorvald from Drangar. Then Onund asked

whether all the land round that coast was occupied; they answered

there was very little left at Sudrstrandir and none at all in the

North. So Onund asked his men whether they would seek some land

further to the West or take that of which they had just been

told. They said they would first explore a little further. They

sailed in along the coast of the bay and anchored off a creek

near Arnes, where they put off in a boat to the shore.



Here dwelt a wealthy man named Eirik Snare, who had taken the

land between Ingolfsfjord and Ofaera in Veidileysa. On hearing

that Onund had arrived in those parts, he offered to let him have

such portion as he needed from his own lands, adding that there

was little land which had not already been taken up. Onund said

he would first like to see what there was.



Then they went further into the bay past some fjords and came to

Ofaera, where Eirik said: "Here is what there is to see. From

here down to the lands of Bjorn is unoccupied." A high range of

mountains, on which snow had fallen, rose from beside the river.

Onund looked at the mountains and spoke a verse:



"My lands and my might have drifted away

as drifts the ship on the ocean.

My friends and my home I have left behind me,

and bartered my acres for Kaldbak."



"Many a man," answered Eirik, "has lost so much in Norway that

it may not be mended. I expect too that nearly all the lands in

the main districts have been taken, so that I will not urge you

to leave these parts and seek elsewhere. I will keep to my word

and let you have whatever lands of my own you may require."



Onund said he would take advantage of his offer, and in the end

he took some of the Ofaera land and the three creeks Byrgisvik,

Kolbeinsvik, and Kaldbaksvik as far as Kaldbak's Cliff.

Afterwards Eirik gave him Veidileysa with Reykjarfjord and the

outer part of Reykjanes on that side. Nothing was settled about

the drift which came to the coast, because there was so much of

it that every one could have what he wanted. Onund made his home

in Kaldbak and had a large household. His property increased

and he had another house in Reykjarfjord. Kolbeinn lived in

Kolbeinsvik and for some years Onund lived quietly at home.