TRAVELS IN ICELAND. 



17 



since the fermentation of the natural and superfluous juices is 

 performed in the same manner in game, whether quadruped or 

 volatile, as in fish, 



OF THEIR BEER AND OTHER FERMENTED LIQUORS. 



The Icelanders brew a tolerably good beer, but they do not 

 make a daily use of it ; their ordinary drink being skim or butter- 

 milk, to which they add a little water after it has acquired a cer- 

 tain degree of acidity and strength. By the old laws of the coun- 

 try they are compelled to form another drink from water and a 

 twelfth part of si/re, which is an excellent kind of butter-milk or 

 whey, that has been kept for some time. The fermentation of 

 their wheys takes place slowly, in consequence of which the top 

 is covered with a skum, while the grosser particles fall to the 

 bottom ; but these simple people do not know that this is ef- 

 fected by the fermentation itself, though they often find, that 

 the casks or other vessels, in which they preserve their whey, 

 burst, when air is excluded from them. They use this same whey 

 for pickling or preserving different articles ; but they likewise ex- 

 perience, that when it has not arrived at perfection by fermenta- 

 tion, the objects immersed in it spoil, though, when it is good^ 

 they acquire a nice taste, and will keep for upwards of a year. 



OF SWEET MILK. 



When the Icelanders receive company they present their guests, 

 as well as strangers who visit them, a draught of milk : this is 

 also their regaling drink on the days of their grand festivals ; and 

 they mostly use it without boiling : it forms the principal food 

 of their children, when at an early age, and they give it to their 

 sick, to whom it is very palatable. A tun of skimmed milk 

 costs twelve aln, or two marks six schillings, of Danish money. 



OF THE LABOURS AND HABITUAL OCCUPATIONS OF 

 THE ICELAND PEASANTRY. 



The men are employee^ during a part of the winter, in the 

 manufacture of woollen cloths, or in spinning and making 

 worsted stockings and socks, which is, nevertheless, a particular 

 occupation of the women. The inhabitants of Kialarnes are 

 employed in fishing, throughout the year, unless taken off by 

 temporary avocations. 



In the spring, all the men may be seen leaving Mosfell-Sweit 

 and Kiosen, for the fishery at Seltiarnes-Naes, or still farther to 

 the southward. The peasantry, who have no possessions of 

 their own, and who consequently occupy a habitation and ground, 

 which they rent from the Crown, are obliged to labour 

 from Candlemas to Easter in the king's boats, or procure a 



OLAFSEN.] C 



