ICELAND. 



647 



f 



: . conducts himself well, and manages his land properly, 

 he may quit his farm whenever he pleases. On every 

 farm there is a permanent stock of cattle and sheep, 

 which U transferred from tenant to tenant, and for 

 which certain fixed rent is paid. As many more cat- 

 tle and sheep as the farm can maintain may be kept. 

 Besides the rent for the stock, a land rent, landskuld, 

 is paid according to an old valuation. 



The public taxes are so inconsiderable, that they are 

 not sufficient to defray the expences of the civil esta- 

 blishment. Some of the taxes are levied on property, 

 regulated by an annual surrey made by the Hrepstiores. 

 In ancient times, the calculation was made according 

 to the number of ells of the cloth called wadmnl, which 

 each person possessed or could manufacture in a year, 

 and the tax was levied on every hundred ells. The 

 term hundred is now applied differently, and an Ice- 

 Under is said to posses* a hundred when he has two 

 horses, a cow, a certain number of sheep, a boat and 

 fishing materials, and forty dollars in specie. When a 

 person possesses more than five hundreds, he pays, over 

 and above the stated tax, twelve dried fish. This tri- 

 bute is called tumd,* and increases in proportion to the 

 amount of property, and is allotted equally to the pub- 

 lic revenue, the church, and the poor. There are se- 

 veral other taxes of small amount. The produce of the 

 taxes being chiefly in kind, is collected by the sysselmcn, 

 and by them paid over to the landfoged, or public trea- 

 surer, who disposes of them to the merchants. The 

 sysselmen are paid according to what they collect ; and 

 even when they are very successful, their trouble is but 

 ill rewarded. The landfoged is subject to the chance 

 at gain or loss in his transactions with the merchants ; 

 and he retains a third part of the whole as his salary. 



The taxes for the maintenance of the poor are much 

 more severe on the people than those levied for the 

 public. There is no regular establishment for the poor, 

 if we except three small buildings in different parts of 

 the country allotted for the reception of incurable le- 

 pers. Every farmer or householder is by law obliged 

 to receive and support his own destitute relations ; and 

 should he have none such, orphans, and those whose 

 age and infirmities render them incapable of support- 

 ing themselves. The cxpcnce thus incurred amounts 

 sometime* to twenty or thirty times the amount of his 

 public taxes, when a householder does not choose to 

 receive pauper* into bis family. 



The religions establishment of the country consist* of 

 a bishop, provost, and parish priests. The two sees of 

 >kalhoit and Hoolum happening to become vacant at 

 the same tine, they were united in the year 1797, in 

 tin person of Geir Vidalin, who now enjoys the title 

 of Bishop of Iceland, and is settled at ' Keikiavik. 

 The island is divided into 184 parishes, in most of 

 which there is more than one church, on account of 

 the scattered state of the population, the average of 

 which for each pariah may be about 260. There are 

 a, each of whom, besides the general 

 of hi* district, has the charge of a pa- 



The revenue of the bishop amounts to 1 800 dollars; 

 that of the parishes is very unequal, some being in va- 

 lue nearly equal to f 00 dollars, on account of the good- 

 DCM of the farms attached to the livings, while others, 

 with greater population, are scarcely worth thirty 



dollars. The glebes add considerably, however, to 

 their scanty allowances ; and as every farmer is obliged 

 to furnish the priest with a day's work, and to keep a 

 lamb for him, his farm costs him but little labour. He 

 also receives occasional small offerings, and perquisites 

 for officiating at marriages, baptisms, and burials. The 

 churches are in general neat but plain buildings, con- 

 structed of wood and turf. Some of them indeed are 

 little better than lioveh, while others are large and 

 comfortable. At Keikiavik, there is a large church 

 built of lava, and roofed with tiles. A more elegant 

 one of this kind is to be seen -at Bessestad. The church 

 in the Westmann islands is reckoned the most elegant. 



Young men destined for the church, after they have 

 left the school, and been admitted as probationers, earn 

 their livelihood by fishing and other labour, and after a 

 certain term are examined, and received into orders, after 

 which they await a settlement, the prospect of which is 

 often very distant, and when obtained does not yield ease 

 and comfort The habitations of the priests are seldom 

 better than those of the farmers, and are not better fur- 

 nished ; a bed, a table, and a few chairs, and those very 

 indifferent, being the whole stock, in addition to a few 

 boxes and chests, in which the clothes and chattels of 

 the family are kept. Here, however, learning and ge- 

 nius are to be found ; and an attention to the duties of 

 their station is displayed by the Icelandic priests, which 

 may well excite feelings of shame among those of other 

 countries, who have no privations to hinder them from 

 the proper performance of their duty. The following 

 description of a Sabbath scene in Iceland, is not more 

 elegant and affecting than it is correct. It is from the 

 pen of Dr Holland, and we quote it from Sir George 

 Mackenzie's Travels. " The Sabbath scene at an Ice- Sabbath 

 landic church is indeed one of the most singular and scene. 

 interesting kind. The little edifice, constructed of 

 wood and turf, is situated, perhaps, amid the rugged 

 ruins of a stream of lava, or beneath mountains which 

 are covered with never-melting snows ; in a spot where 

 the mind almost sinks under the silence and desolation 

 of surrounding nature. Here the Icelanders assemble 

 to perform the duties of their religion. A group of 

 male and female peasants may be seen gathered about 

 the church, waiting the arrival of their pastor ; and all 

 habited in their best attire, after the manner of the 

 country ; their children with them ; and the horses 

 which brought them from their respective homes gra- 

 zing quietly around the little assembly. The arrival of 

 new comer is welcomed by every one with a kiss of 

 salutation ; and the pleasures of social intercourse, so 

 rarely enjoyed by the Icelanders, are happily connect- 

 ed with the occasion which summons them to the dis- 

 charge of their religious duties. The priest makes his 

 appearance among them as a friend ; he salutes indivi- 

 dually each member of his flock, and stoops down to 

 give his almost parental kiss to the little ones, who are 

 to grow up under his pastoral charge. These offices of 

 kindness performed, they all go together into the house 

 of prayer." 



The trade of Iceland has never been managed in Commerce. 

 such a way a* to be of important benefit to the natives, 

 of whom but a small number are engaged in it. The 

 following Tables, taken from Stephenson's History of 

 Iff land during the 181/ Century, will serve to give a 

 correct idea of the state of commerce. 



WlMX*, pobaps, is 4fml u Scottish term TWr 



