SKALHOLT. 
155 
Icelanders Likthrau; a species of leprosy, or 
more properly, according to Von Troil, elephan¬ 
tiasis. Her face was so corroded by the disease, 
that it presented the most disgusting spectacle I 
ever saw in my life, and her legs and hands were 
swollen to an enormous size, these latter being, 
also, covered with a thick and almost white skin, 
lying in great wrinkles; yet she still complained 
of no particular pain, and seemed to walk with 
tolerable ease. This terrible complaint is well 
known to be hereditary, but it nevertheless fre¬ 
quently happens, that the children of those af¬ 
fected are, for many generations, quite free from 
it; an instance of which presented itself in the son 
of this very woman, who was constantly with 
her, and yet showed not the least symptom of 
the malady; but, on the contrary, was one of 
the most healthy and beautiful children which 
this country had offered to my view. Neither, 
indeed, does it appear to me to be infectious, any 
more than another cutaneous disorder common 
in the island. It is said to have existed in Ice¬ 
land ever since the first colonization of the coun¬ 
try, and is supposed by many to have been 
brought over at that time from Norway, where, 
according to some accounts, it may be traced to 
a period of high antiquity. Its prevalence and 
virulence are, probably, in a great degree ascrib- 
