QUADRUPEDS. 
283 
finest of the Icelandic wool is selected by the 
merchants at Copenhagen, and considered far su¬ 
perior to the best that Zealand produces. In the 
neighborhood of Reikevig, sheep sell at from three 
to four dollars a head, but in the interior of the 
country they may be bought at very much less. 
I have paid one dollar for a good sheep, and the, 
peasant has been more than satisfied. For a lamb 
of a moderate size, two marks (is. Ad.) is a fair 
price. These animals seem to be fond of various 
species of sea-weed, which they eagerly devour 
at the ebb tide upon the shores; but it is only 
when they are greatly distressed for other food, 
that the natives give them the refuse of the stock 
and wolf-fish. They are also said at those times 
to feed them with small narrow pieces cut from 
the belly of the shark. 
Goats are but seldom seen, and I believe only 
a few are kept in the northern and eastern parts 
of the island. To judge from the skins that I 
procured of two of these animals, they arrive at 
a large size, and, from their extreme hardiness, 
I should have supposed they would have answered 
well to an Icelandic farmer. Reindeer I have 
already noticed as having greatly increased in the 
mountainous and less frequented districts; and 
there is reason to hope that at some future period 
they may be of real importance to the Icelanders, 
