82 REPORT — 1853. 



hours. During the Jcourourne (banquet) they drink a quantity of Jcoumise, a kind of 

 fermented beverage made with mares'-miik ; more rarely brandy distilled from corn, 

 which is scarce and consequently expensive. They eat horse-flesh, beef, and moles 

 as dishes of the first course. As a second course, they serve on the table a dish 

 filled with drippings. This is considered the most refined dainty. The khamiak, 

 which is a large spoon, goes all round, and each guest drinks plentifully of the nec- 

 tar. There are some gluttons among them, who, after having crammed their stomach 

 with meat, are still capable of swallowing a hundred spoonsful of melted fat. The 

 bridegroom cannot take away his bride until the kolim has been wholly paid for; 

 otherwise sbe continues to live with her father. Sometimes the debt is only dis- 

 charged by instalments, paid at long intervals, and at each of these instalments, the 

 husband comes to spend a few days with his wife. 



Proposed New Route between the Atlantic and Pacific, by the River Matde 

 in Chili. By Capt. Walter Hall. 



On Iceland, its Inhabitants and Language. By John Hogg, Esq., M.A., 

 F.R.S., L.S.,R.G.S. Sfc, Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society of Lite- 

 rature. 



The author commenced this paper by observing, that the large volcanic land on 

 the western boundary of Europe, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean, and 

 partly within the Arctic Circle, is only known in England under the inhospitable 

 name of Iceland. The like inhospitable name of ' Ullima Thule ' having been by 

 some geographers assigned to it, he showed that there was no reasonable foundation 

 for such an opinion. Mr. Hogg said, if what Solinus stated was correct, viz. " that 

 Thule was five days' sail from Orkney," he conceived that one of the Feroe Isles 

 would better correspond : but, on the other hand, Tacitus, in his account of the 

 circumnavigation of Britain, writes, that the Orkneys were then discovered, and 

 " from thence Thule was visible," — consequently Mainland, the chief of the Shetland 

 Isles, which is quite mountainous, would very probably be the land there discernible. 

 No Roman remains have been found in Iceland ; but if that nation had extended its 

 conquests to its desolate shores, they would doubtless have continued their explora- 

 tions to Greenland and the northern coasts of America. Such however was not 

 the case. And since the island itself, as far as is yet known, is altogether volcanic, 

 it may not have been in existence at that early period ; but, like the ancient Isle of 

 Thera (hodie Santorin), or that very modern one lately called " Graham Islet," ia 

 the Mediterranean, it may have sprung up through volcanic agency, subsequently 

 to the time of the Roman Empire. History does not state when Iceland was first 

 discovered, and nothing certain is known of it till the ninth century of our aera; 

 though from the Icelandic Annals it would seem that it had been before then tem- 

 porarily inhabited, perhaps, as some have asserted, by the Irish. 



The author briefly gave a description of the settlement there by the Norwegians, 

 or Nordmenn of Scandinavia. He then more fully pointed out its geographical 

 position, and compared its form and extent with those of Ireland, obsei-ving that if 

 the latter island could be moved so as to bring its present east side with the point 

 called "Wicklow Head," due south, the general appearance of Ireland and Iceland 

 would better agree. He showed that both islands possess many fine bays, inlets, or 

 fiords, and havens ; also many rivers, lakes, and tracts of bog or marsh. Iceland 

 is however very much less fertile, and is more covered with lofty mountains, which 

 attain to between 6000 and 6500 feet in height. Those termed in Icelandic 

 Jiikulls, i. e. 'ice mounts,' occupy the central parts of the island, and run out to 

 the N.W. and N.E. From their melted snows and glaciers, the Geysers and other 

 intermittent hot-springs are principally supplied. 



Mr. Hogg then compared the population of the two islands, and noted that 

 although Ireland had been during some years, previous to the census in 1851, 

 reduced about 20 per cent, by emigration and other causes, still it numbered rather 

 fewer than 6,661,840 souls ; and the city of Dublin itself estimated somewhat above 

 238,300, whereas Iceland, once possessing 100,000 inhabitants, now reckoned only 

 48,000 over its whole superficies, and the entire population of its capital Reikjavik 

 does not exceed 500. 



