FEATHER INDUSTRIES 189 



bulk it is one of the lightest commercial substances 

 known, having been utilized for thousands of years, 

 first by savages and then by civilized men, in bed 

 making and the manufacture of winter clothing. 

 It is so elastic and firm that a quantity which when 

 compressed might be covered with two hands will 

 serve to stuff an ordinary quilt. In softness it 

 is far superior to all other downs. 



Eider-ducks inhabit most northerly regions, 

 seldom traveling farther south in winter than the 

 edge of the ice-cap. They are still plentiful along 

 the coast of Norway, at Nova Zembla, in the Shet- 

 land, Orkney, and Faroe islands; and Iceland is 

 the home of hundreds of thousands. 



Although they have been severely treated and 

 virtually annihilated on the Labrador coast, eider- 

 ducks have been protected in other regions and in 

 some localities have become partly tame. Such 

 is the case in Iceland, where they form a means of 

 livelihood for thousands of people. The eggs 

 are rich in food constituents and palatable; the 

 flesh is edible; the down is a source of income; 

 and the skins, with the feather side turned in, 

 constitute warm undergarments which protect the 

 human body from the rigors of a cold winter. 

 Eider-ducks, therefore, are one of the chief eco- 

 nomic resources of Iceland. The birds are 

 guarded there as carefully as if they were domesti- 

 cated fowl, and the island is famous the world over 

 for its eider-down industry. 



