REIKEVIG. 
278 
in its parts, having a short and a sharp nose 
much resembling that of a fox, and small erect 
ears, of which the tips only, especially in the 
young animal, hang down: the hair is coarse, 
straight, and thick, very variable in color, but 
most frequently of a greyish brown; the tail long 
and bushy, and always carried curled over the 
back. Had I been the only person to witness the 
following circumstance concerning the dogs in 
Iceland, I should scarcely have ventured to relate 
the anecdote; but my scruples are removed, as, 
so far from this having been the case, I was not 
even the first who saw it; for Mr. Browning, an 
officer of the Talbot, whose ill health confined 
him to a room on shore, called my attention to it, 
by more than once remarking to me that he had, 
from his window, in the morning of several suc¬ 
cessive days, observed at a certain hour a num¬ 
ber of dogs assemble near his house, as if by a 
previously concerted arrangement, and, after per¬ 
forming a sort of sham fight for some time, dis¬ 
perse and return to their homes. A desire to be 
an eye-witness of so singular a fact, led me to 
go to this gentleman’s room one morning, just as 
these animals were about to collect. The spot 
they frequented was across the river, which there 
are but two ways of passing from the town with¬ 
out swimming; the one a bridge, the other some 
stepping stones, each situated at a small distance 
