ICELAND. 



87 



^entertainment, for hospitality is still reckoned a duty in Iceland, On reaching 

 the fishing-station, an agreement is soon made with the proprietor of a boat. 

 They usually engage to assist in fishing from February 12 to May 12, and re- 

 ceive in return a share of the fish which they help to catch, besides forty 

 pounds of flour and a daily allowance of sour curds, or " skier." 



All the men belonging to a boat generally live in the same damp and nar- 

 row hut. At daybreak they launch forth^ to brave for many hours the inclem- 

 encies of the weather and the sea, and while engaged in their hard day's work 

 their sole refreshment is the chewing of tobacco or a mouthful of skier. On 

 returning to their comfortless hut, their supper consists of the fishes of inferior 

 quality they may have caught, or of the heads of the cod or Hng, which are too 

 valuable for their own consumption. These are split open and hung upon lines, 

 or exposed on the shore to the cold wind and the hot sun ; this renders them 

 perfectly hard, and they keep good for years. In this dried state the cod is 

 called stockfish. About the middle of May the migratory fishermen return to 

 their homos, leaving their fish which are not yet quite dry to the care of the 

 fishermen dwelling on the spot. Towards the middle of June, when the horses 

 have so far recovered from their long winter's fast as to be able to bear a load, 

 they come back to fetch their stockfish, which they convey either to their own 

 homes for the consumption of their own families, or to the nearest port for the 

 purpose of bartering it against other articles. Haddocks, flatfish, and herrings 

 are also very abundant in the Icelandic seas ; and along the northern and north- 

 western coasts the basking shark is largely fished for all the summer. Strong 

 hooks baited with mussels or pieces of fish, and attached to chains anchored at 

 a short distance from the shore, serve for the capture of this monster, which is 

 scarcely, if at all, inferior in size to the white shark, though not nearly so for- 

 midable, as it rarely attacks man. The skin serves for making sandals ; the 

 coarse flesh is eaten by the islanders, whom necessity has taught not to be over- 

 nice in their food ; and the liver, the most valuable part, is stewed for the sake 

 of its oil. 



"We had observed," says Mr. Shepherd, "that the horrible smell which in- 

 fested Jsa-fjordr varied in intensity as we approached or receded from a cer- 

 tain black-looking building at the northern end of the town. On investigating 

 this building, we discovered that the seat of the smell was to be found in a 

 mass of putrid sharks' livers, part of which were undergoing a process of stew- 

 ing in a huge copper. It was a noisome green mass, fearful to contemplate. 

 The place was endurable only for a few seconds ; yet dirty-looking men stirred 

 up the mass with long poles, and seemed to enjoy the reeking vapors." 



The salmon of Iceland, which formerly remained undisturbed by the phleg- 

 matic inhabitants, are now caught in large numbers for the British market. A 

 small river bearing the significant name of Laxaa, or Salmon River, has been 

 rented for the trifling sum of £100 a year .by an English company, which sends 

 every spring its agents to the spot well provided with the best fishing appara- 

 tus. The captured fish are immediately boiled, and hermetically packed in tin 

 boxes, so that they can be eaten in London almost as fresh as if they had just 

 been caught. 



