40 ISLANDS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 



enduring mucli fatigue on little food, and so sagacious in finding its way that 

 the traveller always trusts himself confidently to its guidance. These animals 

 are highly prized in England, not only on account of their intelligence and 

 docility, but also for their small size, rendering them well suited for employment 

 in the mines. As many as 3,500, valued at £60,000, were exported to Great 

 Britain in 1875. 



The reindeer was introduced in the year 1770. Of the original stock three 

 only survived, but these have multiplied to sucb an extent that steps have been 

 taken to get rid of an animal which has proved of little use as a beast of burden in 

 such a rugged laud. Wild sheep are also met near Nûpstà'S, south of the Vatna- 

 Jokull. 



Next to the horse the m_ost valued animal is the sheep, which the natives 

 possess in relatively larger numbers than any other European people. Since 

 the middle of the century, however, they have been greatly reduced by 

 epizootic diseases, and they have even given rise to a serious disorder common 

 amongst the inhabitants. The parasite known as the Cœnunis echinococcus 

 swarms on the sheep, from which it passes as a tenia into the body of the 

 dog, and is thence transmitted to man. Hence the heavy dog-tax imposed in 

 the year 1871, for the purpose of diminishing their numbers and reducing the 

 danger. 



The Iceland waters teem with fish, the salmon and cod fisheries alone employing 

 5,000 of the natives, while many Scandinavian, English, and especially French 

 craft come in search both of the cod and arctic shark. The oil of the shark is 

 highly prized by the soap-makers, and of its skin the Icelanders make sandals 

 remarkable for their lightness and pliancy. In good seasons the western inlets 

 are crowded with fishing-smacks, and in 1877 the French fleet numbered 244, 

 averaging 97 tons burden, manned by 4,500 hands, and took 13,102 tons of fish, 

 valued at £330,112. 



Inhabitants. — Government. 



Previous to the historic invasions Iceland is supposed to have been uninhabited, 

 no trace of the stone or bronze ages having ever been discovered. No tumuli rise 

 above the headlands, no dolmens are anywhere visible in the interior. The first 

 European colonists seem to have settled on the east coast towards the end of the 

 eighth century. The Norwegians who met them spoke of them as papas, or 

 " monks," and the bells, crosses, religious books, and other articles left by them 

 lead to the belief that they were of Irish origin. In 825 some Scotch Celts reached 

 the island, but the systematic colonisation did not begin till 874, fourteen years 

 after its fresh discovery by Gardar the Dane. Some Norwegian chiefs, flying 

 from the sword of Harald the Fair, who wished to subdue and convert them 

 to Christianity, collected relatives, thanes, and friends, and with them sought 

 refuge in Iceland, where they founded pagan communities, which preserved the 

 old songs and traditions long after they had died out in the mother country. The 



