INTRODUCTION. 
It 
mates the population at eighty thousand, and 
Von Troil in 1 77 2 at sixty thousand ; but, in con¬ 
sequence of the tremendous eruption of Skaptar- 
jokul in 1783 and other unfortunate events, the 
number is now reduced to forty-eight thousand. 
Independently of the destructive effects of vol¬ 
canoes, disease, and famine, which so often ra¬ 
vage the island, the quantity of those who die in 
their infancy for want of proper nourishment is 
extreme. It is remarked * that Barderstrand 
. Syssel in the year 1749 contained three thousand 
inhabitants, but that in the short space of thir¬ 
teen years (in 1762) this amount was diminished 
to two thousand one hundred and seventy-five. 
From the poverty of this district the want of ne¬ 
cessary nutriment for young children is increased, 
and two-thirds of the number born are supposed to 
perish in the cradle. It seldom happens that out 
of twelve or fifteen children, which the women 
sometimes produce, one-half of them live, and 
more commonly only two or three are brought 
up to manhood, though most of those survive 
that are preserved during their first or second 
year. What makes this period so peculiarly 
fatal, is the custom that prevails among the 
women of not suckling their infants at all or at 
* Voyage en Islande. 
