94 
THINGEVALLE. 
the church crowded with large old wooden chests, 
instead of seats, but I soon understood that these 
not only answered the purpose of benches, but 
also contained the clothes of many of the congre¬ 
gation, who, as there was no lock on the door, 
had free access to their property at all times. 
The bare walls had no covering whatever, nor 
the floor any pavement, except a few ill-shapen 
pieces of rock, which were either placed there 
intentionally, or, as seems most probable, had 
not been removed from their natural bed at the 
time of the building of the church. There was 
no regular ceiling: only a few loose planks, laid 
upon some beams, which crossed the church at 
about the height of a man, held some old bibles, 
some chests, and the coffin of the minister, which 
he had made himself, and which, to judge from 
his aged look, he probably soon expected to oc¬ 
cupy. The whole length of the church was not 
above thirty feet, and about six or eight of this 
was parted off by a kind of screen of open work 
(against which the pulpit was placed) for the 
purpose of containing the altar, a rude sort of 
table, on which were two brass candlesticks, and, 
over it, two extremely small glass windows, the 
only places that admitted light, except the door¬ 
way. Two large bells hung on the right-hand 
side of the church, at an equal height with the 
beams. I observed that the Icelanders pull oflf 
