VI.] DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 29 



Of the rooms and the interior arrangement of the house, 

 I do not know that I have anything particular to tell you ; 

 they seemed to me like those of a good old-fashioned farm- 

 house, the walls wainscoted with deal, and the doors and 

 staircase of the same material. A few prints, a photograph, 

 some book-shelves, one or two little pictures, decorated the 

 parlour, and a neat iron stove, and ma c sive chests of drawers, 

 served to furnish it very completely. But you must not, I 

 fear, take the drawing-room of Bessestad as an average spe- 

 cimen of the comfort of an Icelandic interieur. The greater 

 proportion of the inhabitants of the island live much more 

 rudely. The walls of only the more substantial farmsteads 

 are wainscoted with deal, or even partially screened with 

 drift-wood. In most houses the bare blocks of lava, pointed 

 with moss, are left in all their natural ruggedness. Instead 

 of wood, the rafters are made of the ribs of whales. The 

 same room but too often serves as the dining, sitting, and 

 sleeping place for the whole family ; a hole in the roof is 

 the only chimney, and a horse's skull the most luxurious 

 fautcuil into which it is possible for them to induct a stranger. 

 The parquet is that originally laid down by Nature, — the 

 beds are merely boxes filled with feathers or sea-weed, — 

 and by all accounts the nightly packing is pretty close, and 

 very indiscriminate. 



After drinking several cups of coffee, and consuming at 

 least a barrel of rusks, we rose to go, in spite of Miss 

 Thora's intimation that a fresh jorum of coffee was being 

 brewed. The horses were resaddled ; and with an eloquent 

 exchange of bows, curtseys, and kindly smiles, we took 

 leave of our courteous entertainers,^ and sallied forth into 

 the wind and rain. It was a regular race home, single file, 

 the Rector leading ; but as we sped along in silence, amid 

 the unchangeable features of this strange land, I could not 

 help thinking of him whose shrewd observing eye must 

 have rested, six hundred and fifty years ago, on the selfsame 

 crags, and tarns, and distant mountain-tops ; perhaps on the 

 very day he rode out in the pride of his wealth, talent, and 



