THE PEOPLE. 45 



the tangle, and gazes with his glassy unimaginative eye 

 at the inviting bait, how many firesides up-stairs are 

 rendered warm at the expense of himself and his rela- 

 tions. 



Besides fish, the Icelander feeds on milk-curd (similar 

 to that used by the Arabs and Kaffirs), occasionally rye- 

 bread and mutton, and, on rare occasions, potatoes, 

 and even coffee. Notwithstanding their unvaried and 

 not very wholesome diet, the Icelanders are large, 

 strong, flaxen-haired, and healthy-looking men. Their 

 houses cannot certainly contribute to their healthful- 

 ness, as they are built apparently with the sole object 

 of excluding light and air, and imprisoning every fetid 

 effluvium. 



Violent epidemics, very similar in their nature and 

 malignancy to those which devastated our own country 

 during the Middle Ages, have, within recent times, 

 swept over the land ; and now leprosy, such as is seen 

 throughout the East, is a common disease. As the 

 whole population of the island is below 70,000, an 

 epidemic produces a most terrible effect on the native 

 society. 



There are no tradesmen, properly so called, in Iceland, 

 and there are no village schools. The distances between 

 the farms make both impossible. " In the nights of 

 winter," however, " when the cold north winds blow and 

 the long howling of the wolves is heard amidst the snow," 

 the farmer acts in turn the part of tailor, shoemaker, 

 smith, and carpenter, and so carefully instructs his 



