ICELAND. 



31 



emissions generally take place at intervals of six 

 hours, preceded by a rumbling noise or loud report, 

 like that of artillery, with an agitation of the ground. 

 The column, as measured by a quadrant, has been 

 seen to rise as high as 212 feet. The hot springs 

 near the inhabited parts are used for economical pur- 

 poses ; food is dressed over them ; and, in some 

 places, huts are built over small fountains to form 

 steam-baths. In other parts of the island are seen 

 caldrons of boiling mini, emitting sulphureous exhala- 

 tions. Pestilential airs have been known to issue 

 from particular spots in the plains, during the volcanic 

 eruptions, which have destroyed all who approached. 

 Mineral springs, of many kinds and every tempera- 

 ture, are found ; some, highly impregnated with car- 

 bonic acid gas, are called by the people ale springs, 

 having, it is said, the power of inebriating. Iron and 

 copper are found, but the mines are not worked, for 

 want of fuel. The only mineral from which the 

 people derive a revenue is sulphur, of which the sup- 

 ply appears to be inexhaustible. Extensive mountains 

 are incrusted with it to the depth of some inches. 

 Fossil-wood, impregnated more or less with bitumen, 

 is found in abundance, and might afford valuable 

 stores of fuel to the people, if they had more activity. 

 It is called surturbrand, and is used chiefly in the 

 smithies, and in small quantities. Basaltic columns 

 are seen in many places. 



The winter, though unsettled, is perhaps less severe 

 than in Sweden and Denmark. The mercury in the 

 thermometer rarely sinks to zero, and the medium 

 temperature of the winter months is, perhaps, not 

 much below the fret-zing point ; the atmosphere is 

 generally clear, and the long nights are cheered by 

 the aurora borealis. The floating ice, from the coast 

 tf Greenland, has a great effect in increasing the 

 cold, and brings with it polar bears, which commit 

 great ravages on the flocks and herds. From No- 

 vember to February, the people hardly stir from their 

 houses, which are nearly buried in snow. In July 

 and August, the thermometer often stands at eighty 

 or ninety degrees, but sharp frosts frequently succeed 

 the most sultry days. The vegetable productions are 

 comparatively few. Many varieties, however, of 

 moss and lichens are found. In the forests, the birch 

 trees hardly reach the height of ten feet ; with these 

 are mingled several varieties of the willow, and a 

 few solitary individuals of the pyrus domestica and 

 mountain ash. The bogs are covered with coarse grass. 



The Icelanders may be looked upon as a fair spe- 

 cimen of the ancient Scandinavians, having probably 

 undergone less change, for nearly a thousand years, 

 than any other European nation. They are generally 

 tall, with no peculiar physical characteristic, except, 

 perhaps, the length of the spine. The following 

 cut represents their costume. 



Their countenances are open, their complexion fair, 

 their hair light coloured, and rarely curled. Corpu- 

 lency is rare. The houses ditlVr only in size. An 

 outer wall of turf, about four feet and a half high, 

 often six feet thick, encloses all the apartments. On 

 one side, generally that facing the south, are three 

 or more doors, for the most part painted red. These 

 open into the dwelling-house, the smithy, dairy, cow- 

 house. The door of the house opens into a lon<r, 

 dark, narrow passage, from which apartments branch 

 on each side. Each chamber has a separate roof, and 

 is lighted by a small pane of glass, or, more common- 

 ly, of amnium, four or five inches in diameter. The 

 thick turf walls occupy more space than the apart- 

 ments which they enclose. The damp smell which 

 proceeds from them, with the darkness, the filth, and 

 the stench of fish, renders these dwellings insupport- 

 able to strangers. Several families sometimes live 

 in the same mass of turf, All the members of the 

 family sleep in one apartment, which is also the gene- 

 ral eating room. The kitchen is the only room in 

 which a fire is kept. The women are unceasingly 

 employed. The servants are generally orphans, or 

 the children of poor farmers, and often marry with 

 the children of their masters. The diet of the people 

 is very simple. They eat great quantities of butter, 

 generally in a rancid state ; when this is scarce, tal 

 low is used. They breakfast on sour milk. The 

 flesh of the shark or sun-fish is sometimes eaten, when 

 it has become tender from putrescence. Fresh meat, 

 176 bread, and sago soup are holyday fare. The richer 

 inhabitants, however, are not unacquainted with wine, 

 London porter, and other foreign luxuries. To a 

 stranger, the most palatable and healthful article of 

 Iceland diet is the lichen Islandicus, now much in 

 vogue as a specific for the consumption. Turf is 

 general fuel; drift-wood and surturbrand axe also used. 



One of the chief cares of the Icelander is to lay in 

 provisions for winter ; and, next to his flocks and 

 herds, the sea is his chief resource. About the be- 

 ginning of February, the people of the interior and 

 of the northern districts begin to move, and a great 

 part of the male population migrates to the western 

 and south-western coasts. Many travel over 200 

 miles to the place which they choose for a fishing 

 station. About the beginning of May, they return, 

 leaving the fish, not yet perfectly dried, to the care 

 of some one residing on the spot. The best salmon 

 abound in all the rivers. The cow, the horse, and 

 the sheep are the principal sources of wealth, com- 

 fort, and subsistence to the Icelander. The sheep 

 are of a peculiar kind, mostly horned ; some have 

 only two, others three, four, and upwards. They are 

 milked, as well as the cows, twice in every twenty- 

 four hours. The wool is not sheared, but left to fall 

 off spontaneously. The women pick, clean, and spin 

 it. The cows give ten, twelve, or even twenty quarts 

 of milk per day. The horses are small, but well 

 formed and active. The poorest peasant has four or 

 five. Every one can shoe his horse ; even the bishop 

 and the chief-justice are sometimes seen thus em- 

 ployed. In 1770, three reindeer were brought from 

 Norway, and have greatly multiplied. Herds of 

 50 100 are frequently seen. They are not used for 

 domestic purposes, and are very difficult to kill. 

 Hogs and goats are rare. The dogs resemble those 

 of Greenland. There are two kinds of foxes, the 

 white or arctic (canis lagopas), and the blue fox (C. 

 fuliginosus). The lower orders of the people have a 

 superstitious reverence, mingled with aversion, for 

 the seal. On the west coast, this animal is taken for 

 the sake of its fat. Aware of its observant and in- 

 quisitive disposition, the people kindle fires to attract 

 it to the shore, and nets are spread to take it. Some- 

 times these animals are met at a considerable distance 



