Ill 
MIDDALR. 
Thursday, This morning we had rain and squalls. 
July 13. p rea kf as t the priest came down, 
and begged that he might be allowed to accom¬ 
pany me to the Geysers; but this I could by no 
means consent to, as it was my full intention to 
proceed to Hecia, and to return by a another 
and those were all in Reikevig. Their morals are extremely 
correct. It is not without the most thorough contempt for 
the author of such a falsehood, that I read the following pas¬ 
sage, extracted from Anderson's History of Iceland; “ these 
“ people know very little of God, or his will ; for the value 
<e of two marks, or sixteenpence, they will perjure them- 
“ selves even to the prejudice of their nearest relations ; full 
“ of wrath and revenge, extremely lascivious and vicious, 
“ and errant thieves and cheats. What, then, can be expect- 
“ ed from a people that have no awe or check, and live in 
“ an unbridled licentiousness, without any restraint ashore 
“ and at sea, frequent opportunities unobserved, and con- 
“ sequentiy unpunishable, and continually indulging them- 
selves in the filthy sin of drunkenness?” These absurd 
falsities are scarcely deserving of refutation. Were such con¬ 
duct, as is here mentioned, really to exist, it could not but 
be productive of the most serious consequences to the na¬ 
tion: the prison-houses would be filled with persons, who 
would have been gradually led on to commit the worst of 
crimes. Yet, that such is not the case in Iceland, may be 
believed, when it is known that there is only one prison for 
48,000 inhabitants, and there, at our arrival, which was a 
little previous to a sitting of the court of justice, there was 
only one criminal in it, (and even this was more than had 
been the case for a long time), arid five or six persons con¬ 
fined for small offences. 
5 
