REIKEVIG. 
27 
but, with the exception of these, almost all the 
houses of Reikevig, are of Norwegian construc- 
any one that the former country is not so proper for vege¬ 
tation as the latter. He proceeds, however, in page 37, to 
state, that, “ In the year 1749, when I came to Bessested, 
“ one of his majesty’s palaces or seats, in Iceland, I found 
the garden in excellent order, and full of all kinds of 
(t vegetables, fit for a kitchen: such as parsley, celery, 
“ thyme, marjoram, cabbages, parsnips, carrots, turnips, 
“ peas, beans, in short, all sorts of greens wanted in a 
“ family. I can vouch, with the greatest truth, that I never 
“ saw a garden with better things of the kind in it. They 
“ were all of good growth, and had all the properties that 
a good garden-stuff ought to have. They were all in such 
“ plenty, that considerable parcels of them were dried and 
“ laid by for the winter, such as sugar-peas, and the like. 
rf I, myself, have taken up a turnip that weighed two pounds 
(t and a half. Hereby, I do not intimate, that all were so big, 
ft but, only, that they are of a very good size. They have 
“ gooseberry-bushes, that produce fine and ripe berries.” 
I should be sorry to contradict any assertion of Mr. Hor- 
rebow’s, (who, in many respects, is entitled to considerable 
attention, and who appears to me to endeavor to separate 
truth from error, in several instances) to which he says, he 
was an eye witness ; but this I must be allowed to say, that 
I never heard at all, in the island, of many of the vegetables 
which he mentions, as coming to such perfection ; and, as 
to gooseberries, I have the authority of the Tatsroed, for 
stating, that they cannot be cultivated to the least advantage. 
Kerguelen, in confuting Mr. Horrebow’s affirmation, that 
he ate currants from the garden at Bessested, inclines too 
much to the opposite extreme, when he says, “ I believe it 
“ to be as difficult to raise turnips in Iceland, as pine-apples 
(t at Paris.” 
