﻿Ml 



ICBLAmX 



lOUALDA. 



aboQBds on the isUix), but little one ii nwde of it Iron and 

 eonper are foiiDti, but are not worked for \rant of fuel. The rein-deer, 

 which were at flrat introduced from Norway, hare greatly multipliod, 

 and lire in a wild etate. 



loelaad ii divided for adminiatratire purpoaea into three large fiord- 

 nunga, or diatriota ; theaa diatriota are diTided into ayaaela, or aheriff- 

 doma, a ajaaelman being a magiatrate and reooiver of the Ung'a taxaa 

 fai each of them. There ia a goTemor-general, called atiftuntman, 

 appointed by the king for fire yeara, who reaidea at Raikjavik. He 

 haa under him two amtmen, or depnty-goTemora, one for the weatom, 

 and the other for the northern and eaatem diatriota. The aSnira of the 

 ialand are regulated by the nlthing, a council compoaed of 80 membera, 

 1 for the town of lieikjitvik, iind 1 for each of the 19 ayssala. 



JlettJarU!, the capital, in the only town in loeland. It oontains 

 about 900 reaident inhabitants, and is built on the south aide of an 

 inlet of the Kaxcfiord, on the south-west coast of the island. It con- 

 sists of two streets : one built only on one side, fW>nting the shore, and 

 entirely* occupied by merchauta and tradespeople ; the other, striking 

 off at an angie from it, contains the houses of the bishop of Iceland, 

 of the tataroed, or president of the supreme court of judicature, of 

 the landfoged, or receiver-general, and other persons not engaged in 

 trade. The house of the governor, the house of correction, and the 

 church, stand by themselves at tlie back of the town : the church 

 contains a free library of 6000 volumes for the use of the inhnbitants. 

 The houses, with two or three exceptions, are constructed of wood, 

 with a atorehouae and a small garden attached to them, in which most 

 of the common vegetables, as cabbages, Swedish tuniips, small pota- 

 toes, and parsley, are ciJtivated, but they never arrive at any degree 

 of perfectinn, and in some seasons entirely fail. To the south-west of 

 Beikjavik is the pcniunula of Alftaness, adorned with the church and 

 aehool of Beasestad, and a number of pretty cottages. Onid6, in the 

 •une neighbourhood, is the reeideuce of the archdeacon of Iceland ; 

 and Hafnarfionl, or Hamefiord, a small sheltered port some distance 

 south of Reikjavik, contains 18 or 20 houses and a dry-dock: the 

 population is about 100. The population of Reikjavik is more Danish 

 than Icelaudia 



In the northern district there is a kind of town or village, called 

 Eya6ordur, and a factory, called Husavik, on the Skialfiondafiord, 

 from which sulphur from the neighbouring mines is shipped. Holum 

 Iiai dwindled into insignificance. Other factories are scattered about 

 the coast, especially in the weet. These factories generally consist of 

 one or two merchants' houses, with warehouses, and perhaps a shop ; 

 and they are built at the most convenient places for shipping the 

 produce of the district, and also for the fisheries. 



The Icelanders are the genuine descendants of the old Scondina- 

 rians or Norsemen ; they are tall, but not generally corpulent, with 

 a florid complexion, flaxen hair, and an open frank countenance. The 

 women are diorter and more inclined to corpulence than the men ; a 

 certain degree of beauty ia not rare among the girls. Longevity is 

 not common : cutaneous disorders and pulmonary diseases are frequent 

 Contagious leprosy of the worst kind is indigenous in the country : 

 there ore four hospitals for lepers, but they are very inferior establish- 

 ments. 



Elementary education, and even a certain degree of superior infor- 

 mation, ia very generally spread among the Icelanders. There is a 

 high school, or college, with three professors, at Beeaestad, near the 

 capital Reikjavik, in which most of the clergy are educated ; but a few 

 visit Copenhagen to complete their studies. During the last century 

 the Icelandera have paid much attention to their early literature ; nnd 

 the Icelandic language and literature have of late years been studied 

 hj many scholars in Germany and England, but much more by those 

 of Denmark. 



The Icelandic language is the standard of the northern or Scandi- 

 navian dialect of the Gothic language : the Swedish, Danish and even 

 the Norwegian, have been more or less subject to the inSaence of the 

 Teutonic or German branch of the Gothic, whilst the Icelanders hiive 

 prcs«rved theirs pure as they imported it from Norway in the 9th 

 century. This was the language called Dunsk Tunga in the middle 

 agea, and was called by the Icelanders at first Nomcna, which word 

 corresponds to Nairn or Norae, the corrupt dialect spoken till lately 

 in part of the Orkneys. Since the language has been no longer spoken 

 in Scandinavia, it has been styled exclusively Icelandic 



loeUnd was discovered in the middle of the iHh century. The first 

 settlement was made in 874 by a Norwegian named Ingolf, who estab- 

 liahed himself at Reikjavik. He was soon followed by other Norwegians, 

 many of them of distinguished families, who fled from the dominion of 

 Harold liarfagra, tyrant of Norway. They established a republican 

 government, atinointed magistntea, and hod their annual Althing, or 

 national aaaembly, which waa held at Thingvalla in the south part of 

 the iaUnd. A few years bock the Society of Northern Antiquaries of 

 Oopenliagen published, under the title of ' Islsndinga Stigur,' (Historical 

 Monumenta of Iceland,) two very curious works on the discovery and 

 ■ettlement of Iceland, by the earliest Iceland historian, a clergyman 

 named Are Thorgillson, aumaroed Frode, or the learned, who lived at 

 the end of the 12th century. The works are entitled ' lalendinga 

 Bok/ and ' Landnamabok,' and enter into very minute details : they 

 were edited by the eminent Danish antiquaries J. Sigurdsaon and 

 C. C. Ba&L About the year 1000 Christianity woa established in Ice- 



land. In the year 1057, Isleif, bishop of Skalholt, introduced the 

 art of writing with the Latin alphabet ; the Runic characters having 

 been used till then only for inscriptions on stone, wood, or metaL 

 Oral leasons however had kept up the historical traditions, and the 

 feats of their anoeators were recorded in songs. Icelaiulio literature 

 began to bo cultivated immediately after the mtroductiou of writing. 

 Literary sooieties were formed for the purpose of mutual instruction 

 and education. The historical compositions called Sagas have been 

 ainca published, as wall aa many of their aonga and other poetry. In 

 1120 the Icelanders framed their coda of lawa called Origka, which 

 has been published at Copenhagao by F. W. SchlageL Snorro Sturle- 

 Bon, a native of Iceland, and an extraordinary parsonage, was one of 

 the writers or compilers of the Edda, and he also wrote a history of 

 Norway. Several monks, especially the Benedictines of the Thingeyra 

 monastery, contributed largely to loeUndio literature. In 1264 the 

 Icelanders, partly through intrigue and partly from fear, submitted to 

 Haco, king of Norway, on the condition however of their laws and privi- 

 l^es being maintained. In 1387 Iceland, together with Norway, 

 became subject to Denmark. About 1S29 the art of printing, and in 

 1550 the Lutheran Reformation was introduced into Iceland. 



(Henderson, Journal of a Raidtttet •'» Icdand; Sir O. Haekencie, 

 Travel*; Hooker, /oumof </ a Towr i% Icdmd ; Dillon, WkUtr in 

 Iceland ; Barrow, Vitit to Iceland, Ac) 



ICOLMKILU rioNA.] 



ICONIUM. [KONITKH.1 



ICUHSMA. [AjiGOULfcis.] 

 IDA. [Casdia; Thot.] 



IDLE. [YOKKSHIRE.] 



IDRIA. [KiiAiN.] 



IDUUJiA, usually called EDOM in the Old Teetament, included, 

 in the time of Christ, a considerable portion of the southern part of 

 Palestine, and extended on the south-west as far aa the Lake Serbonis 

 (Pliny, ' Nat Hist," v. 14) ; but in the writings of the Old Testament 

 it was used to designate the motmtainous district in the north of 

 Arabia which extended from the south of the Dead Sea to the Bay 

 of .^lona in the Red Sea. The country of the Edomitea, who wete 

 descendants of Edom, or Essu, the son of Isaac, was otherwise oidled 

 Mount Soir. (Gen. xxxii. 8 ; Ez. xxxv. 16.) This name it derived 

 from Seir, the patriarch of the Horims, its most ancient inhabitants. 

 (Deut ii. 12, 22; Gen. xiv. 6; xxxvi. 20.) The Edomitea were 

 governed by kings from the earliest times, and appear to have pos- 

 sessed considerable power when the Israelites invaded Canaan. They 

 were defeated by Saul ; and were mode tributariea of the Jews during 

 the reign of David. The conquest of Edom was of great importance 

 to the Jews, since it enabled Solomon, by obtaining possession of the 

 ports of Elath and Ezion Qebcr on the Red Sea, both of which were 

 in the land of Edom (2 Chron. viiL 17), to participate in the 

 advantages of the trade with India. 



After the division of the Jewish kingdom during the reign of 

 Rehoboam, the Edomitea continued subject to Judah till the reign 

 of Joram, when they revolted, and again established their inde- 

 pendence. (2 Kings, viii. 20-22). They were subdued again during 

 the reigns of Amaziah and Uzziah ; but in the reign of Ahaz the 

 Syrians seized upon Elath, and drove the Jews out of Edom. 

 (2 Kings, xvi. 6.) Edom, in common with the rest of Syria, appears 

 to have been subdued by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. xxvii. 2-7) ; but after 

 the downfall of the Babylonish empire, the Edomitea are again 

 mentioned as an independent people, who had obtained possession of 

 the southern part of Jodeea as far north as Hebron. (1 Haca, v. 65.) 

 They appear about this period to have been driven fl-om their original 

 settlements between the Dead Sea and the Bay of .lElana by the 

 Nabathsci, the descendants of Neboioth, the eldest son of Ishmael. 

 The Nabathici and their capital Petra were known to Greek and 

 Roman geographers and historians. The Edomitea were constantly 

 at war with the Jews after the return of the latter from Babylon, 

 till they were entirely subdued by John Hyroanus, who compelled 

 them to submit to circumcision and to observe the MoKaic law. 

 (JosephiM, 'Antiq.* xiii. 9, sec 1.) From this time the Edomitea 

 were regarded as a part of the Jewish nation, and were governed by 

 a prefect appointed by the Asmontmn princes of Judaia. (Josephus, 

 ' Antiq.,' xiv. 1, sec. U.) One of these governors, Autipater, a native 

 of Idumtca, waa appointed by Julius Ceesar prootirator of Judna 

 (Josephus, ' Antiq., xiv. 8, sec 5); uid was succeeded by his son, the 

 celebrated Herod, who afterwards became king of the whole country, 

 and put an end to the dynasty of the Asmontoan princes. 



The Iduniffions marched to the assistance of Jerusalem when It wai 

 besieged by Titus, and entered the city; they did not however 

 continue till it was taken, but returned to their own country laden 

 with plunder. (Josephus, ' Bell. Jud.,' iv. 4 ; vil 8, sec 1.) Wo have 

 no further mention of the Idumceans in history. Origen, in hix 

 ' CommentAry upon Job,' informs us that the name of Idumisa did 

 not exist in Lis day ; and that the inhabitant* of the ooontty were 

 called Arabs, and spoke the Syriao langnage. 



(Rclandi, Paletlina ; Vincent, Periptiu of Ike Rythrean Sea; 

 Michaelis ; Winer, Ac) 



IE8I. [AKC05A.J 



IGLAU. [Moiuwu.] 

 IQUALDA. [CatalcRa.] 



