32 



ICKl.AND. 



t ;. .!.,. BMhf, Mm tttm tad i>> HM lW*i "i tin- 



hoMCt, They are easily iHMjL aiui, it young, arc 

 put into poods and fed daily. They soon become as 

 tractable as a dog. In June, the eider ducks visit 

 the COM! to nestle. (See Eider Duck.) They are so 

 liar as to builii their nests all round the roofs, and 



i inside the houses. A severe penalty is inflicted 



those who kill them. The down which the bird 

 from her breast to cover her eggs is removed 

 twice, and even three times, during the season. 

 Swans are numerous in the lakes and marshes. Their 

 down and feathers bring in a good revenue to the 

 people. The tern, ptarmigan, golden plover, and 

 snipe are common. The snores are frequented by 

 myriads of sea fowl. Cod, haddock, ling, skate, and 

 halibut are taken on the coast. Herrings visit the 

 north coast in extensive shoals, in June and July, and 

 lire caught in large quantities. The cod is the prin- 

 cipal object of the trade with Denmark. Previous 

 to the d'iscovery of Newfoundland, the British were 

 largely engaged in the Iceland cod-fishery, and had 

 150 vessels so employed at Uie beginning of the 17th 

 century. At present it is carried on wholly by the 

 Icelanders. The haddock forms a very large share of 

 the food of the inhabitants. Mechanical industry is 

 much hindered by the want of good timber and fuel. 

 The jaws and ribs of whales are, in some parts of the 

 island, used in the frames of houses and boats. 

 The quantities of drift-wood from the west are amaz- 

 ing. The inhabitants of the fiords, in which it is 

 chiefly collected, are the carpenters, coopers, and 

 boat-builders of the island. The hot springs in the 

 Borgar fiord enable them to give the boards the 

 requisite pliancy. The staple exports are fish, oil, 

 feathers, sulphur, and salt mutton ; the imports are 

 wood, salt, tobacco, coffee, iron, and fishing-tackle. 

 During tlii- last war between Great Britain and 

 Denmark, the people of Iceland suffered much, 

 their usual supplies of hooks, cordage, grain, &c., 

 being cut oft'. 



The Icelanders are a remarkably grave and seri- 

 ous people, apparently phlegmatic, but extremely 

 animated on subjects which interest them. Vice and 

 crime are hardly known among them. To their 

 religious and domestic duties they are strictly atten- 

 tive, and, in their dealings with others, display a 

 scrupulous integrity. There are very few of them who 

 cannot read and write, and many among the better 

 class would be distinguished, by their taste and 

 learning, in the most cultivated society of Europe. 

 Perhaps there is no country in Europe in which the 

 lower orders are so well informed. The traveller is 

 often attended by guides who can converse with him 

 in Latin. 



The brilliant period of Icelandic literature was 

 from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. A 

 printing-press was introduced in 1530, by a Swede 

 named Mathieson. The first types were of wood, 

 and rudely formed, but before the end of that cen- 

 tury, several valuable publications appeared, dis- 

 playing remarkable typographical elegance. In 

 1779, an Icelandic society was instituted at Copen- 

 hagen, comprising 130 of the most learned and intel- 

 ligent men of the island. It was dissolved in 1790. 

 Another was established in the island in 1794, with 

 1200 members. The society have published two 

 hooks of Thorlakson's translation of Milton's Para- 

 dise Lost. The remainder has not been printed. A 

 complete copy of this translation, which is said to be 

 the best version of this great poem in any language, 

 was procured by Mr Henderson. The Icelanders 

 liave also translations of Pope, Young, and several 

 other English writers. Several schools appear to 

 have existed in the eleventh century. The only 

 school on the island at present is at Bessestad. But 



tin- infraction of his children is one of the regular 

 occupations of the Icelander, who finds a zealous 

 assistant in the pastor of the parish. The ecclesias- 

 tical code of the country allows the clergy to prc\ cut 

 any marriage where the female is unable to read. 

 The amusements of the people are chiefly liteniry. 

 In all their social meetings, the repetition of poetry, 

 and the reading of the sagas or histories, constitute 

 the chief entertainment. The reformation svas intro- 

 duced in 1551, and at present there is no religious 

 dissension among the natives. The inhabited part 

 of the island is divided into 184 parishes. The island 

 forms one bishopric. Every clergyman keeps a 

 register, showing the moral and religious state of his 

 parish. Three thousand copies of the Icelandic 

 Bible were printed by the British and Foreign Bible 

 Society, in 1813, for gratuitous distribution in the 

 island. 



The government, as in other Scandinavian nations, 

 was originally aristocratic. When the island became 

 subject to a foreign power, the distinctions of rank 

 gradually disappeared. The governor ot Iceland is 

 generally a Dane, appointed by the king of Den- 

 mark. The royal authority has not, at present, any 

 constitutional check, but is exercised, nevertheless, 

 in a mild and paternal way. The supreme court of 

 judicature is held annually at Reikiavik. An appeal 

 is permitted, in all cases, to the courts at Copen- 

 hagen. The laws are chiefly grounded on the an- 

 cient code, called jonsbok, compiled in 1280. The 

 civilization of the Icelanders is in nothing so remark- 

 able as in the completeness of their legislation. 

 Trial by combat was abolished in 1001, and punish- 

 ment for witchcraft in 1690, nearly thirty years 

 before a similar improvement was made in the laws 

 of Great Britain. In case of capital conviction, the 

 criminal is sent to Norway to undergo his sentence, 

 as it is not easy to find an executioner among the 

 Icelanders. The* taxes paid are very trifling, not 

 perhaps exceeding 50,000 rix dollars. The laws 

 respecting the maintenance of the poor are very 

 strictly enforced. There are no hospitals except for 

 lepers, who are, unfortunately, common. The sick, 

 aged, and infirm, are, therefore, billettcd on the far 

 mers, who are obliged to give relief to their kindred 

 within the fourth degree of consanguinity. Hospi- 

 tality is a prominent virtue. 



Iceland was formerly more populous than at pre- 

 sent. The history shows that the climate has been 

 gradually growing more severe and the soil more 

 ungrateful. There is a considerable excess in the 

 female population, and the longevity of the women 

 is greater than that of the men, owing to the greater 

 hardships of the latter. In 1804, the farms amounted 

 to 4751, the horned cattle to 20,325, the sheep to 

 218,818, the horses to 26,524. Reikiavik, the chiel 

 place of the island, is the seat of the governor, the 

 episcopal see, the supreme court, and is the principal 

 mercantile station. It contains about 550 inhabitants. 

 About fifteen miles from the south coast are the 

 Vestmanna islands, fourteen in number. Only one 

 of them, Heimacy or Home island, is inhabited. 

 The inhabitants (only 160) support themselves by 

 fishing and bird-catching. In 1627, some Algerine 

 corsairs carried off the occupants. Those who sur- 

 vived were ransomed in 1636, but only thirteen per- 

 sons regained their native island. 



See the translation of Olafsen and Povelsen's 

 Travels in Iceland (published in Paris, 1802, 5 vols., 

 8vo) ; Letters on Iceland, by P'on Trail (London, 

 1780) ; Travels in Iceland in 1810, by Sir fj. S. 

 Mackenzie (Edinburgh, 1811); Journal of a Resi- 

 dence in Iceland, by E. Henderson (Edinburgh, 1818). 

 For the literature, see Mallet's Introduction to the 

 History of Denmark ', Schlozer's Fragments of 





