1878.] 119 [Kneeland. 
General Meeting. December 4, 1878. 
Vice President, Mr. 8. H. Scudder, in the chair. Twenty- 
four persons present. 
The following paper was read : 
TRACES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN NATIONS IN THE NORTHERN 
OcEAN. By Dr. S. KNEELAND. 
Dr. Kneeland called attention to a few specimens, most of which 
he had collected in Iceland, in 1874, as showing traces of the Med- 
iterranean Nations in the region of the Northern Ocean. 
It is interesting to follow the wanderings of nations by the arts of 
domestic life, which leave traces as permanent as those of language 
and customs, and are much more apparent to the ordinary observer 
and traveller. 
The first specimens were of stockings from Fair Isle, a small rocky 
island midway between the Orkney and Shetland groups. The 
coast is so precipitous that a landing can only be effected in calm 
weather, and sometimes not for weeks. About three hundred 
people dwell upon it, the men getting a living by fishing, and the 
women by knitting; the hosiery is much sought after in Great 
Britain for its softness and warmth. In 1588 one of the ships of the 
Spanish Armada, (fitted out by Philip II. to conquer England) 
beaten by the English and buffeted by the storm, was wrecked on this 
island. ‘Two hundred Spanish sailors were obliged to remain on 
the island all winter, causing great suffering both to the natives and 
to themselves from lack of food. The stockings exhibited are knit 
by hand in a very primitive way, from wool grown upon the island, 
and dyed in quaint colors by sea-weeds and mosses; though coarse 
they are very soft. The patterns and style of decoration are de- 
cidedly Moorish and Spanish; it is peculiar, and entirely unlike the 
fabrics of the neighboring Shetlands. It is highly probable that we 
see here the survival of patterns or ideas carried there by the sailors 
of the Armada. 
The next specimens were of filagree silver work, such as for cen- 
turies has been made in Genoa and the neighboring towns; thence 
carried to Lisbon and to Brazil by Portuguese sailors. It is well 
known that Columbus was in Iceland in the latter part of the 15th 
century; and very likely the same ideas had been brought before to 
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