CHAPTER IV 



ICELAND, 1889 



In general, appearance the Icelanders are typical 

 Scandinavian, but, owing to their long isolation 

 and intermarriage, are certainly a slightly deterio- 

 rated form of the original stock. A physically fine 

 Icelander is difficult to find, but a mentally active 

 individual is common. It is doubtful if amongst 

 the nations of the world a better read or more 

 widely informed class exists amongst the peasants 

 than in this wild northern island. A labouring 

 man understanding several languages is no rarity, 

 and the traveller is much struck by the hetero- 

 geneous mixture of general information acquired 

 by a people who have never been beyond their 

 own farms and have seen but very few travellers. 

 Except in places like Reykavick, there are no ele- 

 mentary schools, and yet a child of nine that cannot 

 read is practically unknown. This is all due to the 

 excellent system of home teaching and the high 

 respect in which all learning is held by these intel- 

 ligent and amiable folk. During the long winter 

 months, when the people are forced to live in their 

 insanitary burrows beneath the ground — ^in many 

 cases opening into, or adjoining cattle-sheds — each 

 member of the family takes up some art, such as 

 the wood-carving of household vessels, or makes 

 a study of some foreign tongue, either English, 



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