JFntminville'* Voyage to tJte North Pole. 91 



world, lead men to act the part of butchers to each other. 

 The Icelanders may, however, be characterised as indolent, 

 and, in some respects, tf an apathetic turn. An intimate union 

 subsists among them; those of the same family seldom separate. 

 The tenderness of parents for their offspring-, the piety of 

 these towards the authors of their being, are virtues of which 

 we witnessed illustrious and affecting examples. No suspi- 

 cion or distrust, one of the other, can be found here ; theft 

 and robbery are absolutely unknown ; and, even during ab-, 

 sence, the doors of their huts or cabins are always left open. 



At the first glance, one would conceive the Icelanders to be 

 the most wretched of men, the most destitute of the conve- 

 niences of life, and their condition to be the most frightful ; 

 but when we reflect on their ueagitated character, on the few 

 wants they feel, and the facility with which they can provide 

 for them ; if we consider, likewise, the sweet and intimate 

 union that links them in the bonds of friendship, we mast 

 adopt another way of thinking, and even consider them as 

 happier than the Europeans, whose enjoyments are mingled 

 with so many perplexing circumstances, originating in ambi- 

 tion, in disappointments, in bodily infirmities, and the illusions 

 and disquietudes of a thousand different passions. 



The Icelander, satisfied with his lot, prefers his dreary 

 .country to all the charms of a more polished society in Eu^ 

 rope. Such of them as have visited Copenhagen, in lieu of 

 being smitten with the rural scenery of Denmark, were ever 

 regretting their burnt mountains and eternal snows ; and 

 though numbers of them will turn out and volunteer, as sea- 

 men, on board Danish, pr other vessels, they are sure in the 

 end to return to their native isle, to mingle their ashes with 

 those of their ancestors. 



Although exiled, as it were, and having little communica-f 

 lion with the rest of the world, the Icelanders are gifted with 

 a quickness of intellect, and supplied with a measure of in- 

 struction which raises the lowest of them above the class of 

 our villagers. In general, they speak Latin pretty well. In 

 the eleventh century, science and literature were successfully 

 cultivated here, while, at the same period, Europe was im- 

 mersed in the depth of ignorance. Their MSS. composed at 

 a period so remote, treat of astronomy, of physics, of natural 

 history, of morals, and philosophy in general. Sir Joseph 

 Banks, a celebrated naturalist, and worthy companion of Cap- 

 tain Cook, was in Iceland in 1772 ; he brought away 162 va- 

 luable' MSS. which he presented to the British Afuseum. 



The native language of the Icelanders is a very ancient 

 .dialect of the Celtic ; it is not without its poetical effusions, 



N2 



