HUTS OF THE ICELANDERS. 605 



Icelanders live are in fact nothing more than huts, with seldom 

 more than a single room. The walls are built roughly of 

 stones, with layers of turf between them to take the place of 

 mortar. The roof is made of such wood as can be obtained, 



REYKJAVIK, THE CAPITAL OF ICELAND. 



covered over with turf and sods. The floor is of earth ; small 

 windows are found in some of them, but most generally the 

 dependence for light is a hole in the roof covered with a piece 

 of transparent skin, or a bit of glass. A few stones placed 

 roughly together do duty for the hearth, while the chimney is 

 either a simple hole in the roof, or, if more carefully made, 

 consists of a barrel, or cask, with the two heads out, placed in 

 the hole in the roof. Ventilation or cleanliness, are modern 

 luxuries which are wholly disregarded, and on either side of 

 the room are ranged the bunks in which the twenty or more 

 inmates arrange themselves for sleeping. 



