52 



OLAFSEN AND POVELSEn's 



REMARKS ON THE INHABITANTS OF THIS DISTRICT. 



All idea of the conformation and constitution of the inha- 

 bitants of the district of Borgarfiord, may be easily conceived 

 from what has been said relative to its scite, temperature and 

 soil. This part of Iceland presents a variegated picture of 

 plains and hills, mountains and vallies intersected by rivers, 

 brooks, and springs of fresh and mineral water, as well as 

 thermal fountains. The inhabitants of this quarter are mostly 

 of a middling size, but in general strong, robust, and ruddy : 

 it cannot be said that they are subject to endemical diseases. 

 One very seldom meets with a person attacked with leprosy, 

 'while this disease is very prevalent in the southern part of the 

 island. Diseases of the breast are also vere rare ; but, o» the 

 other hand, epidemical and catarrhal fevers are frequent in 

 spring and autumn. 



Jn their moral character they are vivacious, laborious, and 

 careful ; they are excellent economists, and are very clean in 

 their apartments and clothes. Their houses are of the same 

 kind as those in other parts of Iceland, except that they are 

 higher, larger, and more regularly built; and each house ge- 

 nerally has attached to it a hovel or barn, well formed and 

 inclosed, and which serves as a magazine for their provisions or 

 fish, They have also another out-house, which holds their 

 harness, cords, saddles, and accoutrements of various kinds; 

 while the horses and other cattle which they keep, require four 

 or five stables for their accommodation, which are mostly built 

 in a line. The peasantry, who are in easy circumstances, com- 

 monly have another building, separate from their residence, and 

 in which are beds, tables, and benches, for the accommodation 

 of visitors. To this edifice the master of the house generally 

 retires in summer, because it is more cool and agreeable. 



The ancient inhabitants of this island knew how to estimate 

 the advantages of these summer-houses, or cabins, which w T ere 

 nothing more than their cow-houses and ox-stalls. As they 

 passed the summer in them with all their family, they took pains 

 to build them well, and render them capacious ; and in the 

 summer season, their winter habitations remained vacant, or only 

 one or two persons were kept to guard them : it, however, ap- 

 pears, that this feeble guard was sufficient to secure them from 

 banditti, since in their ancient sagas or histories, mention is only 

 made of two assassinations committed in this district during 

 the eleventh century. 



In their food the people of this district are more orderly and 

 economical than those in the south ; though the articles of 

 nutriment are not materially different. They have abundance 

 •f milk, fish, and butter, Their cupations likewise ar£ 



