26 LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. [VI. 



often beautifully chased, binds the long dark wadmal petti- 

 coat round the waist. Sometimes the ornaments are of gold 

 instead of silver, and very costly. 



Before dismissing his people, the preacher descended from 

 the pulpit, and putting on a splendid cope of crimson velvet 

 (in which some bishop had in ages past been murdered), 

 turned his back to the congregation, and chanted some 

 Latin sentences in good round Roman style. Though still 

 retaining in their ceremonies a few vestiges of the old reli- 

 gion, though altars, candles, pictures, and crucifixes yet remain 

 in many of their churches, the Icelanders are staunch Pro- 

 testants, and, by all accounts, the most devout, innocent 

 pure-hearted people in the world. Crime, theft, debauchery, 

 cruelty, are unknown amongst them; they have neither prison, 

 gallows, soldiers, nor police ; and in the manner of the lives 

 they lead among their secluded valleys, there is something 

 of a patriarchal simplicity, that reminds one of the Old 

 World princes, of whom it has been said, that they were 

 " upright and perfect, eschewing evil, and in their hearts no 

 guile." 



The law with regard to marriage, however, is sufficiently 

 peculiar. When, from some unhappy incompatibility 01 

 temper, a married couple live so miserably together as to 

 render life insupportable, it is competent for them to apply 

 to the Danish Governor of the island for a divorce. If, 

 after the lapse of three years from the date of the applica- 

 tion, both are still of the same mind, and equally eager to 

 be free, the divorce is granted, and each is at liberty to marry 

 again. 



The next day it had been arranged that we were to take 

 an experimental trip on our new ponies, under the guidance 

 of the learned and jovial Rector of the College. Unfor- 

 tunately the weather was dull and rainy, but we were de- 

 termined to enioy ourselves in spite of everything, and a 

 pleasanter ride I have seldom had. The steed Sigurdr had 

 purchased for me was a long-tailed, hog-maned, shaggy, cow- 

 houghed creature, thirteen hands high, of a bright yellow 



