12 



OLAFSEN AND POVELSEN's 



OF THE INHABITANTS,, THE PREVAILING DISEASES, SvC. 



The inhabitants of this district are robust and well-made ; but 

 it is difficult to find any with that ruddiness of complexion 

 which is a general indication of good health ; on the con- 

 trary, they mostly have a wan look, because they are continually 

 fishing up to the middle in the sea, and often exposed to the rain 

 and wind. It has been remarked, that the people in the interior 

 of the country have a much better appearance than those who 

 live near the sea-shore. 



On the whole, however, they enjoy a good state of health till 

 the age of fifty, when they begin to lose their strength. The 

 following are the most common diseases to which they are sub- 

 ject : catarrhal fevers are very prevalent, but more so in the in- 

 terior than along the shores, probably from the circumstance, 

 that the inhabitants throw off their clothes during and after the 

 bay-season, and thereby expose themselves to colds. The fevers 

 are accompanied with a cough and expectoration ; and it has 

 been observed, that this expectoration is not the same with 

 young as with old people : the former only throw up phlegm, 

 while the letter expectorate a more viscid substance. Pleurisies 

 are also commonly accompanied with inflammatory fevers, 

 constipation, and pains in all the limbs • and thsse diseases 

 often becomes epidemic. Diarrhaeas are very common; par- 

 ticularly in Spring; towards the coast, in consequence of the 

 introduction of great quantities of fish and other fat aliment, 

 after a scarcity of other provisions. Our travellers found, in 

 this district, only two children affected with the Carcinoma in- 

 fantum ; white in that of Goldbringue, they are almost all sub- 

 ject to it from the second month to the third year of their age. 

 The inhabitants of this country are frequently afEicted with con- 

 tractions of the lower belly ; the women are subject to obstruc- 

 tions of the menses ; and the hypochondriacal affection is very ge- 

 neral ; but the inhabitants not knowing how to define it, give it 

 a name which answers the idea of a disease in the breast. 



The inhabitants of the district of Kiosar are indolent, taciturn, 

 and insensible to every thing which does not relate to their pri- 

 vate interest. 



OF THEIR HOUSES, IiVCLOSURES, &C. &C. 



The worst houses are in the southern part of the island, which 

 being inhabited principally by fishermen, contains nothing but 

 miserable huts. It is, doubtless, from this circumstance, that 

 Anderson, and other travellers, have given so unfavourable an 

 account of the houses of the Icelanders. Those who have tra- 

 velled through this country with a view to observation, must ad* 



