ALMANNEGIAA. 
175 
the one there figured. This old Icelander served 
likewise as fisherman to the priest, and had just 
drawn from the lake a considerable quantity of 
the Thingevalie trout, which are, at this season, 
to be taken in the greatest abundance; yet, it 
nevertheless does not appear that any means are 
employed for the purpose of curing them for a 
winter stock, in which state they might afford 
nourishment to a number of poor people who re¬ 
side in the neighbourhood. Indeed, I do not 
recollect seeing throughout this extensive piece of 
water more than two or three boats engaged in 
the fishery, and the peasants who lived only a 
few miles distant from Thingevalle-vatn seemed 
scarcely to know of the existence of such a fish 
as the forelle. A vast heap of Lycopodium alpi- 
num lying near the priest’s house drew my atten¬ 
tion, and, on inquiry, I found that it was used 
for the purpose of giving their wadmal a yellow 
dye # , which is done by merely boiling the cloth 
in water, with a quantity of the Lycopodium , and 
* For giving the same tint to woollen cloths, according 
to Povelsen and Olafsen, the inhabitants of Borgafiord 
and its neighbourhood make use of the Lichen islandicus 
in the following manner: they strew some of it upon the 
surface of the stuff intended to be dyed, to which it rea¬ 
dily attaches itself, and they then roll the cloth upon a 
cylindrical piece of wood and boil it for six hours in an iron 
pot; which done, they take it out of the water, unrol it, 
and lay it in the air to dry:—the color thus acquired is a 
