118 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



Unfortunately the two clergymen to whom the spiritual care of the islanders is 

 confided seem to have but a very indifferent flock, for their neighbors on the 

 mainland give rather a bad character to the inhabitants of Heimaey, describing 

 them as great sluggards and drunkards. 



The population, which was formerly more considerable, amounts to about 

 200 souls, but even this is more than might be expected from the dreadful mor- 

 tality which reigns among the children. The eggs and the oily flesh of sea-birds 

 furnish a miserable food for infants, particularly when weaned, as is here cus- 

 tomary, at a very early age ; but the poor islanders have nothing else to give 

 them, except some fish, and a very insufficient quantity of cow's or sheep's milk. 

 This unhealthy diet, along with the boisterous air, gives rise to an incurable in- 

 fantile disease, called Ginklofi {tetanus). Its first symptoms are squinting and 

 rolling of the eyes, the muscles of the back are seized with incipient cramps and 

 become stiff. After a day or two lock-jaw takes place, the back is bent like a 

 bow, either backward or forward. The lock-jaw prevents swallowing, and the 

 cramps become more frequent and prolonged until death closes the scene. The 

 same disease is said to decimate the children on St. Kilda in consequence of a 

 similar mode of life. 



The only means of preserving the infants of Heimaey from the Ginklofi, is to 

 send them as soon as possible to the mainland to be reared, and thus a long con- 

 tinuance of bad weather is a death-warrant to many. 



Who would suppose that the Westman Islanders, doubly guarded by their 

 poverty and almost inaccessible cliffs, could ever have become the prey of free- 

 booters ? and yet they have been twice attacked and pillaged, and w^ell-nigh ex- 

 terminated by sea-rovers. 



I have already mentioned, in a previous chapter, that before the discovery of 

 the banks of Newfoundland, the English cod-fishers used to resort in great num- 

 bers to the coasts of Iceland, where some of them — now and then — appeared 

 also in the more questionable character of corsairs. One of these worthies, who, 

 like Paul Clifford, or Captain Macheath, so effectually united the suaviter in 

 modo with the fortiter in re, as to have merited the name of " Gentleman John," 

 came to the Westmans in 1614 and set the church on fire, after having previous- 

 ly removed the little that was worth taking. After this exploit he returned to 

 Great Britain, but King James I. had him hung, and ordered the church orna- 

 ments which he had robbed to be restored to the poor islanders. It was, how- 

 ever, written in the book of fate that they were not to enjoy them long, for in 

 1627, a vessel of Algerine pirates, after plundering several places on the eastern 

 and southern coasts of Iceland, fell like a thunderbolt on Heimaey. These mis- 

 creants, compared with whom John was a " gentleman " indeed, cut down every 

 man who ventured to oppose them, plundered and burnt the new-built church, 

 and every hovel of the place, and carried away about 400 prisoners — men, 

 women, and children. One of the two clergymen of the island, Jon Torsteinson, 

 was murdered at the time. This learned and pious man had translated the 

 Psalms of David and the Book of Genesis into Icelandic verse, and is spoken 

 of as the " martyr " in the history of the land. The other clergyman, Olaf Egil- 



