Cod fishing is carried on along the coast generally, sometimes even in the inner harbours. The western shores are peculiarly rich; and that most favoured is the southern coast between Keflavík and Hafnafjörð. Desolate in appearance beyond all other regions, excepting the giant Jökulls to the south-east, the south-western peninsula has deserved the name Gullbríngu Sýsla, “gold-bearing county,” from its sulphur diggings and magnificent fisheries.[235] And a glance at the map will show the admirable spawning-grounds off the western coast.

A royal decree, dated A.D. 1292, forbids the sale of dried cod to foreigners on the ground of an expected famine. Before the Reformation, England fished for herself; and as late as James I. the Iceland waters, where few are now seen, employed 150 vessels. Little by little, France, with patient and strenuous action, established a hold on, and afterwards a monopoly of, the Iceland deep-sea fishery; thus securing, as in Newfoundland, not only a source of national wealth, but a powerful reserve of experienced seamen. Certainly, no better school for sailors can be imagined than the dangerous and intricate navigation of the Iceland Fjörðs. In 1859, there were 269 French smacks and ships, varying from forty to eighty tons burden, and manned by 7000 fishermen; in 1872, even after the Prussian-French war, these figures were 250, averaging ninety tonneaux, and 3000 hands (Revue Maritime et Coloniale). They are protected by two, formerly three, men-of-war, which cruise about, repressing disorders, and aiding their compatriots with spars, provisions, and medical comforts. Collisions between natives and foreigners take place when the latter are driven, by the weather, the currents, and the movements of the fish, within the prohibited limits, now one league (= three miles) from the coast: also entanglement of gear often ends in a free fight. Forbes (Commander, R.N.) tells us (p. 208) that no such powerful reserve of trained seamen exists, except those engaged in the same occupation, and under similar regulations, on the cod-banks of Newfoundland.

Mr Consul Crowe (1865-66 and 1870-71), whose exhaustive Reports must be consulted for details which cannot find room in these pages, divides the Iceland “fisheries of the present day into three kinds, viz., the cod-fishery, shark-fishery, and whale-fishery.”

According to him (p. 30), the large cod, here not a migratory fish, remain during the winter near the island, and from February to March approach the south and west coasts to spawn, their course being from the west and south. The earliest and best fishings begin with early spring in the more temperate waters, and farther northwards about latter June or early July, ending with August. The fish, where it keeps close to the bottom, is landed by small drift-nets; it is “more squat and plump, with smaller head,” than those caught on the hook. Fishing with the ordinary long lines, and deep-sea or hand lines, opens about mid April; the little extension given to it arises from the poverty of the people. From one to four lengths of a strong thick line, each measuring sixty fathoms, are spliced together; and hanging lines six feet long are fastened at distances of from six to nine feet: the French can afford to use lines measuring 1500 to 2000 fathoms. The hook is the ordinary tinned English (No. 5), baited with mussels. “In order to obtain a white flesh, the first operation is to rip up the belly, the head is cut off, and the body is gutted, the liver and roe being separated and carefully kept. The backbone (blód-dalkr) is next extracted, as far as the third joint below the navel, after which the carcase is washed in salt water, and salted, one barrel (about 224 lbs.) being used to 352 lbs. After lying in salt for three or four days, the fish is washed and laid out singly on the rocks to dry; it is protected from dust and damp, and is frequently turned by the women, that both sides may be alike.” For home consumption, the cod is split and hung up unsalted in the “wind-house.” It is known by its shrivelled appearance, and, like the refuse heads, it is eaten uncooked. Although Hamburg pays 12s. 6d. per cwt. for fish guano, Iceland neglects this exportation. Finally, the cod-fish is sent in great part to Northern Europe (Denmark and Hamburg), and at least one-half to Spain and the Mediterranean; in fact, wherever the old world keeps Lent, and eats “baccalá.” The French, although great consumers, of course supply themselves.

Details concerning the whale and the shark will be found in the Journal (chap. xiii.). The supply of salmon from the northern and western coasts has been pronounced “literally inexhaustible;” yet mismanagement of rivers shows that they can greatly be damaged. The Laxá, near Reykjavik, in Mackenzie’s day (1810), yielded from 2000 to 3000 lbs. per annum; in 1872, the catch was nearly nil, although in the summer of 1873 it somewhat improved. Salmon was exported as early as 1624, but in small and irregular quantities, till taken up by Messrs Ritchie of Peterhead and Akranes. The house still employs nine Scotch hands to preserve the fish caught in the Borgarfjörð, the embouchure of the great Hvítá. But, although salmon began to appear in the returns as a regular article of export, the 22,000 lbs. of 1858 fell to 4000 in 1868, on account of the river being overworked. During the early season of 1872, the take was small, but it afterwards so increased that tins were wanting for preserves: the superintendent at Akranes pays thirteen skillings (3¼ d.) per lb. to the Borgarfjörð fishermen.

Iceland lacks the Otaria or eared seals, sea lions, elephants, and wolves, of which one species, the O. Falklandia, supplies such valuable pelts; all its Phocæ are inauriculate. Naturalists give six species, viz.:

1. Phoca fœtida.

2. Callocephalus vitulinus or Phoca littorea, the common land-seal.

3. Phoca barbata, the great seal.

4. Phoca Grœnlandica or oceanica, the harp-seal.

5. Cystophora cristata or leonica, hooded or hood-cap seal (Stemmatopus).

6. Phocula leporina, haaf-fish or open-sea seal.

Old authors mention four kinds, viz., Rostungr (walrus), Vöðruselr, Blöðruselr, and Gránselr. Modern Icelanders preserve, like the Scotch,[236] three great divisions: 1. The land-seal, which keeps near the shore, and breeds there in spring; 2. The open-sea seal, that affects the distant rocks and reefs; and 3. The Greenland seal, which, during winter, haunts the Fjörðs. Further details will be found in the Journal.

The Iceland waters show four porpoises, viz.:

1. Delphinus phocœna, the common porpoise, smallest of the Cetaceæ.

2. Delphinus bidens or bidentatus, Baleine à bec, the bottle-head or bottle-nosed whale; the “ca’ing whale” of the Scoto-Scandinavian islands.

3. Delphinus orca, the grampus.

4. Albicans or white Beluga.

The following are approximate returns for fish and their products exported from Iceland in—

The subjoined table shows what has been the export of cod and oil during the last six years.

The noteworthy point is the falling off of the salt-fish: perhaps the reason may be the expense of imported salt. During the last century the State established a saltern at Ísafjörð, but it was soon closed for want of patronage—Mr Consul Crowe remarks, “The very high temperature of the numerous hot springs which are quite accessible, would give an ever ready heat applicable for evaporation, and, I believe, a fresh attempt to utilise them would repay itself.” But salting is ever difficult.

It must be observed, of this table, that no account is kept of the quantity reserved for home consumption, which is doubtless large—the daily bread of some 70,000 souls. The general belief, however, is that the greater proportion of the catch is exported. Mr Consul Crowe thus calculates, according to the prices current during their respective years, the value of the average year’s export.

The following figures show the export of cod from the beginning of the seventeenth century when the system of monopolies was introduced.

The peculiarity of this table is the immense irregularity of the figures.

A few model establishments, like the Newfoundland, scattered round the island would teach the best and cheapest way of curing fish—now a barbarous process of turning, scraping, splitting, and housing, without “stages,” “platforms,” or other necessaries. The substitution of improved decked and half-decked smacks for the open row-boats actually in use, would save the time and toil at present wilfully wasted: improvement of the fishing lines is also urgently wanted. But the initiative must come from Denmark or, at least, from abroad; Iceland has remained so hopelessly in the background that she has not the means, even if she has the will, to help herself.

Piscator in Iceland will do somewhat better than Venator: he will find the lakes, lakelets, and rivers which do not issue directly from snow-mountains, rich in fish. The salmon ascends the streams as far as their cataracts; it is finer for the table than that supplied by our home market. The trout, speckled and white-fleshed, is not worth eating: the Forelle,[237] or red char (Salmo Alpinus), called “sea-trout” in the Scoto-Scandinavian islands, and elsewhere “salmon-trout,” is coarse and rank—too trouty, as the red mullet of the Levant is too mullety. Some travellers limit the weight to four pounds; others increase it to ten and even fifteen. At the outlet of the Thingvalla Lake the maximum of twenty-five, brought to bank in a few hours, was seven pounds, and only two were under six pounds; but the char does not give such good sport as the white-fleshed. Fishing may be had within a few hours of Reykjavik, and a day shadowed with dense clouds after a burst of sun will soon fill the basket. But the sport is uncivilised like the land. The fish either rush at the bait, “snapping at flies,” as Icelanders say, and swallowing the food before it touches water, or they lie sulking and will not be persuaded to rise. Some travellers curiously assert that in a region full of gnats and midges, the fish, and especially the trout, are “unaccustomed to flies.” The contrary is the case, but the preference greatly varies; some find the only rule that darker colours are usually bit at most greedily; while others declare the fish fondest of artificial minnows, spoon-bait, or flies with any kind of tinsel, when not to be tempted by the ordinary loch fly. The author’s friends tried in turns the black midge; the grilse; the black hackle, with silver wing; the Hofland’s fancy, red body and partridge wing; the common cow-dung; the marsh brown; the red fly, with jay’s wing; and the woodcock wing, with body banded red and orange. The fisherman should bring out the ordinary trout-hook and salmon-bait which he uses at home, always remembering that the spring in Iceland is a month to six weeks later than that of Scotland. He must not neglect to provide himself with gloves and face-veil to keep out the “midges” which, under that humble name, sting as severely as the mosquitoes of the tropics.

§ 5. Industry.

The principal occupation of the women is spinning yarn during the summer, and knitting and weaving in winter. A rude loom fixed and upstanding, not a little like that of ancient Egypt and of modern Central Africa, and worked, as in negro-land, by both sexes, stands in every farm.[238] A good hand can weave three yards a day. The Vaðmál[239] is the Danish Vadmel, and the Wadmaal, Wadmal, or Shetland Claith of the Scoto-Scandinavian archipelago; it much resembles the tweeled cloth or frieze worn by the Leith fishermen and the Media-lana of Northern Italy.

There is only one kind of Wadmal generally worn, but in most parts of the island, and especially in the east, there are finer qualities used for “store-clothes” and woman’s attire. The Ormadúkr is worked like drill, the Einskepta like twill. It is sold by the ell, or two Danish feet (= 2⅜ English feet), at the following rates—the breadths being 2 to 2·5 feet and the length indefinite:

The manufacture varies in the several Quarters. The usual colours are grey, black, light-blue, and murret (Icel. Mórautt), the moret or russet-brown of the undyed wool; white is sometimes seen, but not the red—now confined to tradition. It is excellent stuff, durable, and, after a fashion, waterproof. The moderns prefer to this home-made article the cheap broad-cloths and long-cloths of European machinery; and so in West Africa we find the admirable “native” pagnes becoming too expensive for everyday work.

Details concerning the goldsmith’s trade will be found in the Journal. The principal is silver filagree, which will compare with that of Norway, but poorly with the work of Genoa, Malta, Delhi, and Trichinopoly.

A few hands find employment as pilots.[240] They are licensed without fee by the Sýslumenn; and in the district of a professional pilot, men cannot ply the trade without this permission. Found at all the commercial establishments, they are generally farmers; he of Vopnafjörð is a cooper: a flag hoisted at the fore is the usual signal. The pay is not settled; upon the eastern coast they demand $2 per mast; the “Queen” paid $6, her funnel, it is presumed, being counted as a mast. The Reykjavik pilot may make £10 per annum. All these gentry come or stay away as they please, even when the Danish steamer heaves in sight.

The post office, that best of standards for taking the measure of civilisation, also employs a few hands. The postmaster-general resides at Copenhagen; the departmental-chief at Reykjavik is Hr O. Finsen, an Icelander, brother to the Amtmand of the Færoe Islands. He keeps a book-store, and sells stationery, plain and fancy, in the Parson’s Green, opposite the French Consul’s; he speaks English, and nothing can exceed his civility to strangers. The tariff which he gave the author was as follows: Ship letters weighing three Danish kvints, or half-an-ounce English, pay 14 skillings for three postage stamps, one of 8, and two of 3 skillings, a total of 3½d., which is exorbitant. A similar sum is charged for every three additional kvints, or 8d. an ounce. Newspapers pay 3½d. for eight kvints; parcels 1s. 6d., and larger packages 9d. per cubic foot.

“Postal delivery” is of course unknown, even at the capital; the same was the case at New York fifteen years ago. The inland post was very poorly managed, but something was done in 1872 to remedy the main grievance. At Copenhagen the ship-postage could be paid, not the land transit; consequently the letters for the out-stations, unless re-posted by a friend, lay for an indefinite time at the Reykjavik office. It was common to see despatches written in January received on the eastern coast in July. The Althing has now established branches at the several stations where the steamers stop; and the sum of $30 per annum is paid for an immense amount of work; perhaps Iceland is not singular in this matter. There is a northern courier-road which takes five days viâ Reykholt and Arnarvatnsheiði to Akureyri, but in winter it is impassable. No regular overland communication connects the western with the eastern coast, which the postman visits a few times during the year; and if there be any duly prepaid letters for the dangerous southern shore, the same courier will run that way.

A favourite occupation in Iceland is gathering the eider down (Æðar-dún)—the Édredon so celebrated as a non-conductor of heat. It is best in the coldest climates, like Greenland; here it is good, especially after a wet season, when the birds lay most. In the Færoe Islands, and off the Northumberland coast, it is not worth collecting for sale; and the same is the case in the Orkneys and Shetlands. For instance, the people of Rousay, an island of some thirty square miles, do not preserve their “dunters” (Somateria dispar?); they eat the bird after the breeding season, in August or September, and they pickle the eggs for winter use. The eider is found in the Pacific, but only on the northern coasts of Asia and America.

The first lay of eggs, beginning in May and ending six or seven weeks afterwards, is from four to six; the second from two to four, and the third from two to three; if not carried off, they will accumulate from ten to sixteen. The duck gives about an ounce of down each time the house is robbed, or three nests yield a total of half-a-pound. After the third ponte, the drake contributes an ounce and a half of whiter material, easily distinguished; and if further outrage be offered, the unhappy couple quit the bereaved home. Older authors speak only of eggs (eggver), never of the down; and it is believed that the English trade in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries brought the name and the article into foreign markets. Jón í Brokey (born A.D. 1584), who learned the art and mystery of cleaning in England, introduced it here; and the rude process is still preserved. An open sieve is made of yarn stretched over a hoop, and the feathers are stirred with a pointed stick. Thus the finer material (gras-dún) remains above, the coarser stuff (thang-dún, or seaweed down) and the heterogeneous matter fall through—this operation reduces the yield to about half. The work is done by men and women, in autumn and winter. The Édredon taken from the dead fowl loses elasticity, and is of little value.

The annual supply of Iceland was 2000 lbs. in 1806; it gradually rose to 5000 or 6000, valued at about £5000; and in 1870 it was 7909 lbs. The two islets, Yiðey and Engey, off Reykjavik, have produced as much as 300 lbs. in a year. About 1½ lbs. are required for an average coverlet. The clean lb. in 1809 cost $3; in 1854 (Pliny Miles), 50 cents = 2s. 2d.; in 1860 (Preyer and Zirkel), from $2·66 to $4·53; in 1862 (Shepherd), 12s. to 15s.; and in 1872, $7 to $8. As the cleaned material sells in England for 18s. to 19s. per lb., and the uncleaned for 8s., little profit can be made out of it. In “Some Notes on Greenland, etc.” (Alpine Journal, Aug. 1873), Mr Edward Whymper says still more: “At Copenhagen, eider down is worth 20s. per lb., yet in London, quilts weighing 4½ lbs. are sold for 36s. How much chopped straw and old feathers has the British tradesman to insert in order to realise his honest profit?”

Eider down is the haute volée of its kind. Most of the sea-fowl, especially the Lundi or puffin (Fratercula Mormon), when purified of its peculiar pediculus, supply feathers for exportation. Since 1866, this branch of industry sent annually some 18,000 or 19,000 lbs.; and in 1870 it was 32,081 lbs. Almost every bed has its feather quilt; and the Devonshire superstition that no one can die comfortable on a mattress stuffed with goose feathers is quite unknown.

Iceland moss (Lichen Islandicus, Cetraria Islandica), by the people called Fjalla-grös (neut. plur.), is still an article of export. As the native name shows, it is the gift of the hills. We find it on the Brocken, in the Carpathians, the dolomites of Tyrol and Italy (where it is called “Lichene”), and in other parts of Europe. The brown-green leaf, with deeply palmated edges, much resembles sunburnt and withered dandelion. It must be washed in several waters, to remove the bitter astringent taste, before it is eaten with cream and sugar. Of late years, it has been partially superseded by the amylaceous “Carrigeen Moss,” grown on the green terraces of the Ardmore Cliffs. This succedaneum, after being sun-dried, and allowed to receive one or two showers, is again dried, packed in bags, prepared for sale, and used to make tea or blancmange. Uno Von Troil (p. 108), or rather Eggert Ólafsson, gives a list of five lichens, each with its Icelandic name; and Baring-Gould (p. 438) names eight lycopods. Peirce (p. 82) distinguishes this “Fell-grass” from a “sort of fjall-grass, which is used for making gruel.”

A small quantity of wild Angelica (Archangelica; Icel. Hvönn), though held to be poisonous in the United States, is exported for comfitures; in Iceland, it no longer, as of old, flavours ale, nor is it used as a vegetable. The warm root is chewed, or put into soup; and when cut into pieces, it is stored in bottles of brandy and schnaps, giving an aromatic taste. The Umbellifer, grown near houses, is less valued than the hill plant; animals seem to despise both. The Færoese “Quonn” has a stem thick as a man’s wrist; the bitter, astringent rind is removed before the plant flowers and becomes woody, and the stalk, preserved in sugar, is eaten like the leaves, with sweetened milk.

The simples collected for use are the Holta-rót (Silene acaulis, or moss campion); the Alchemilla or Burnet, a sanguisorb; the Geldinga-rót (Statice armeria); the Speedwell (Veronica officinalis); and various gentians. The “ptarmigan-leaf,” or mountain avens (Dryas octopetala, the Holta-Sóley of older travellers, and the modern Rjúpa-lyng) makes a tea good for jaundice; the root also is eaten. The half-digested flowers of the blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and the bog-whortle (V. uliginosum) are taken from the ptarmigan’s crop to make ptisane. The reindeer moss (Cenomyce rangiferina), a small pale-green species, with hollow stem, is gathered for sheep-feeding. The wild geranium also produces a blue tint, of old called Odin’s dye.

Of late years, a little business has been done in women’s hair for the European market. First three Jews came out, then two, and lastly one was found sufficient to manage the trade—we shall meet him in the Journal. They cleared about £300, exaggerated to £3000, especially by the blond cendré, the most expensive item of the £300,000 annually imported by England. As a rule, Iceland demands, instead of supplying, false hair; in 1871 about 200 lbs. were introduced in the shape of chignons and braids.

Another produce of the island is Iceland spar, which is mentioned in Fortia’s “Sweden” as “calcareous spar which doubles the object.” This “Silfr” or “Silbr-berg,” the “Calcite” of Dana, is crystallised carbonate of lime, useful for polarising-instruments. The main axis being disposed at a different angle from the minor or bi-axis, causes it to be doubly refracting; moreover, the former expands, whilst the latter contracts. Thus all blood-crystals, to specify no other rhombs and hexagons, show two parallel lines where only one exists: the white spaces receiving the light transmit it to the retina.

Calcite is produced chiefly on the eastern coast, but its existence is reported in many places where the peculiar tenure of ground deters the farmer from attempting to better his property. The author heard of it on the slopes of the Esja and at Berufjörð. The principal mine is at Reyðarfjörð—not at Seyðisfjörð as generally asserted. The present contractor is a certain Hr Tullenius, who, by private arrangement, pays one-fourth to the Crown and three-fourths of the lease to the Church in the person of his father-in-law, pastor of the Hofs parish. His establishment is at Eskifjörð to the north-west of Reyðarfjörð, and he transports the material in winter by sledges to the coast where it is shipped direct for England.

The spar is taken from calcined basalt, apparently infiltrated there in small veins alternating with a green mineral supposed to be the plutonic stone transformed; the surface is often rough with a zeolitic or calcareous coat. Large pieces have been found: Paijkull mentions one in the Copenhagen museum which was bought for $400 and weighed 176 pounds. Till late years it was rare and expensive; the geological museum in Jermyn Street contained (1872) only a shabby little bit, and a certain professor bought for £6 what was worth £60. In these days Mr T. Tennant (naturalist, the Strand) and Mr J. Browning (optician, Strand and Minories) can produce hundreds of pounds lying useless. The smaller pieces now cost one shilling to one shilling and sixpence per pound. The best and most valuable specimens are the large prisms; the worst when cut show spotted surfaces or prove full of flaws running right through; some, like amber, contain red clay, drops of water, and other heterogeneous substances. They can be tested only by the electric light, and even that sometimes fails to detect faults which appear after working. A friend commissioned the author to bring home a large specimen, purchaseable after trial—he knew little of the islandry. It is dearer, as usual, in Iceland than in London: the people think that all the world wants their one popular mineral.

The following branches of industry still await development:

Iron-ore certainly exists, but it is hard to see, with the present scarcity of coal and wood, what use can be made of it: should peat companies prove a success, it may still appear in the market. Copper has been reported to occur in the jasper formation, and cupriferous specimens have, it is said, been brought to Reykjavik from the great Hrauns of the Skaptárjökull, the centre of supply being at the Blængr mountain in the Vestr Skaptár Sýsla. Professor Winkler of Munich found, on dit, quicksilver at Möðruvellir on the way to Akureyri. The Tindastóll Range, west of the Skagafjörð, has yielded galena embedded in amethyst-quartz: and we shall see silver glance. The cryolite, so abundant in Greenland,[241] is found here and in Norway: the late Mr Anderson met with large blocks, they say, at Vestdalr; and the Abbé Baudoin assured the author that he had seen it on the Seyðisfjörð, which opens to the north-east, near a stream north of, and about twenty minutes’ walk from, Vestdalr. There are large supplies of fine obsidian, jasper, zeolites, and chalcedonies.

Mr Consul Crowe (Report, 1870-71) supplies the following statistics of “domestic industry,” which, however, is confined to woollen articles:

Of which the annual exported value is:

The same Report shows:

“The value, therefore, of an average year’s export of fish, farm-produce, and domestic industry was in 1870 $1,103,936; to this may be added the other known articles of export, such as”—

The conclusion to which the reporter arrives from these tables is, that “nearly all the cod and roe is fished and exported from the western districts, and that the shark fishery and export of liver-oil takes place from the north side.

“On the other hand, the cattle and sheep-rearing, whose produce is greater than that of the fisheries, centres in the northern and eastern parts of the island, where the excellent natural grass pastures are formed in abundance.”

§ 6. Emigration.

Modern emigration was not attempted till fourteen years ago, and the islanders chose the worst destination they could find—the Brazil. In 1862, the trial was renewed by some eighty head, with the same want of success, except in two or three instances; and ten years later, about fifty left to “plant man” in the tropical empire. The report is, that they were decimated by cholera at Hamburg. A far more auspicious movement was made to Minnesota, Milwaukee, and Wisconsin: the head was a retired trader, Einar Björnsson, who bought an island in Lake Superior. Shortly before the author’s arrival at Reykjavik, a small party of fourteen or seventeen had sailed, not 714, as asserted by certain English papers. The later emigrants sent home glowing reports of the country and, although those in the towns were not so successful, the rural settlers did remarkably well. And the movement will be beneficial to the islander, who, instead of dawdling away life at home, will learn to labour and to wait upon a more progressive race.

In the summer of 1873, these pioneers were followed by 200 to 220 recruits, of whom a portion preferred Canada, and is said to be doing well. The autumn of 1874 sent out 340; the men were employed on the Toronto railway, and some 40 women went into service. As yet, emigration has not had a fair trial; and Icelanders, a pastoral and fishing race, are wholly unaccustomed to agriculture and manufacturing. At the same time, they have the advantage of being to a certain extent mechanics as well as labourers. The Norwegian papers, which are translated and spread over the island, strongly recommended the movement; consequently the authorities at Reykjavik, and the official class in general, as strongly opposed it; but, it need hardly be said, their prejudices are not shared by the distinguished Dr Hjaltalín. If this be, as we apprehend, the movement of a people seeking, like the Irish and the Basques, a new “racial baptism,” it may assume important dimensions. It might well be worth while for the Dominion to secure a number of these sturdy and strong-brained Northerners, who would form admirable advanced posts along the valley of the Sasketchawan. The author’s companion in travel, Mr Chapman, had the acuteness at once to see the use that might be made of the movement, and proposed recommending the Government of New Zealand to take advantage of it. The common order of Icelanders show the greatest interest in America, and strangers are always subjected to cross-examination on the subject. If the current be allowed to set that way, efforts to arrest it will not be easily checked: for many years the author has wondered how and why a poor man ever lives in Europe, or a rich man in America.

SECTION VIII.

TAXATION—COINS, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES—PRICES AND IMPORTS—COMMUNICATION AND COMMERCE—VISIT TO THE STORE.

The system has the serious drawback of being complicated and troublesome; on the other hand, it dates from olden days, and is familiar to the people. The island is not, and of late years never has been, self-supporting. The whole revenue does not exceed $44,000, and the expenditure for official salaries, ecclesiastical and legal establishments, and education, being about one-third more ($62,000), the Home Government must supply the deficiency.[242]

It has before been observed that property in Iceland, as in older England, is measured not by extent, but by produce, the area in fact never being ascertained. The basis of calculation is the ell of Wadmal, or its equivalent, two heads of fish and a fraction bringing it up to nearly 2·50. The hundred[243] was either tísætt hundrað (the decimal hundred, 10 × 10), introduced with Christianity, and now chiefly used in ecclesiastic and scholastic matters, or tólfrætt hundrað (duodecimal, 12 × 10), the latter being the root of the English system, which has hitherto successfully resisted foreign innovations. Hence our farmers long retained in selling cheese the great hundred (120 lbs.) and the little hundred (112 lbs.) The old adage says—

And the “shock,” or half (60), is preserved in the German threat, “Shock schweren noth” (You want five dozen)!

In old times, there was a double standard: (1.) The hundrað talið, hundred (of wool, etc.) by tale = 120 ells; and (2.) The hundrað vegið (weight) or sifrs (of silver), in rings, coin, and so forth, the latter = 2½ marks = 20 ounces = 60 örtugar, the half örtug being probably the unit. The phrase, “Six ells to an ounce” (i.e., 120 ells = 20 ounces), refers to silver and Wadmal at par; but, as the coinage was debased, the 6 became successively 9, 10, 11, and 12.

In 1810, the absolute value of the hundrað represented:

One milch cow or two horses (each = 60 ells).

A proportionate number of sheep (= six to eight) and lambs (= eighteen); each milch ewe = 20 ells in spring, and each wether = 10 ells.

One fishing-boat, with six oars, nets, and lines.

$46 in specie.

In 1872, the proportion was:

One bull, bullock, ox, or cow, calf-bearing or not.

Two horses or three mares, four years old or upwards; riding-horses = two-thirds of the hundred.

Six milch or eight milkless ewes; six wethers, three years old, and older; ten wethers, two years old; or eighteen sheep, one or two years old.

All boats, large and small:[244] the oars are not counted, but the nets and lines which follow the boat are reckoned at half-a-hundred. The half-decked vessel, with nets and lines, ranges from 100 to 1·50.

$40 in specie: $20 represent the half hundred, and nothing below it is cessible.

240 head of fish, which must weigh 2 lbs. In 1770, 48 head were = $1 (specie); the value often changes, but the modern rate of the Fiskvirði (worth) may be assumed at about 12⅜ skillings (or in round numbers, 3d.).

In 1770, 24 ells of Wadmal = $1: now the ell may represent 24¾ skillings.

Former travellers represented the direct taxes to be tithes, church and poor rates, with the Sýslumenn’s stipends ($1·50 specie, according to Hooker). They also divided the items of taxation into five, viz.:

1. Skattr, Scat, or tribute,[245] originally the poll-tax levied by the king on the franklins (Skattbændr), and afterwards more generally applied. This cess is paid when movable property in hundreds (cows, sheep, etc.) exceeds the number of individuals composing the household, or to be maintained upon the form. De Kerguelen describes it as a “tax of twelve francs contributed by heads of houses whose income surpasses sixty francs.” In 1810 it was represented by 4·50 skillings per ell of Wadmal, converted into specie, or so many fishes, twenty-four to thirty head being = $4 to $5. In 1872 it is neither more nor less than forty; for instance, a household of seven souls and eight hundreds pays forty fishes, and the same sum would be levied upon seven souls and ten hundreds. All officials, priests, and candidates of theology, are exempt from this tax.

2. Gjaf-tollr (gift toll) was so called because at first it was supposed to be, or rather it was, a voluntary payment to the Sýslumaðr and Prófastr for overlooking or winking at small offences punishable by a fine. It is said to have been paid as early as 1380. The French traveller, who held it to be a voluntary contribution for supporting legal establishments, lays it down at sixty centimes to six francs. The rate of Gjaf-tollr, which also is levied only on movable property, now represents:

3. Lögmannstollr dates from the days of Icelandic independence, and, representing the salaries of the Presidents of Things (assemblies), was preserved in memory of the ancient grandeur of the island. Formerly, it was thirty-five centimes per head of house. It is independent of hundreds, and paid in money at the rate of 6¾ skillings per farm. In case of sub-letting, it increases; for instance, if a proprietor leases half his land to another man, both pay 4½ skillings. The Sýslumaðr receives one-sixth for the trouble of collecting it, and the rest is paid into the public Treasury of Reykjavik under the Landfógeti.

4. Althingistollr was a property tax paid, according to Cadastre, for the support of the Diet. Each deputy formerly received nine francs per diem, and now $3, besides his travelling expenses coming and returning home.

5. Tíund, or tithe, paid to the Crown: these have been discussed in the ecclesiastical section.

The present complicated system will best be explained by a copy of the Thinggjaldskvittunarbók or Receipt Book for the Thinggjald, the general taxes. Each large farmer keeps one, and the forms are printed either at Reykjavik or at Akureyri. The following will be filled up as the specimen of cesses levied upon a large merchant who hires a farm from the Church:

The Skattur forms the chief item of the income of the Sýslumaðr.

The Lögmannstollr is still devoted to paying law taxes.

The Thinghústollr, or charges for provincial assemblies, is always four skillings; the householder where the meetings take place pays the same sum, and receives it back as part of the hire of the room. It directly derives from the old Thingfarar-kaup (fee for travelling to the Parliament, as judges, jurors, witnesses, etc.) levied upon every franklin; and those who did not pay it could neither sit as arbiter nor as “neighbour.” The Thingheyjandi (Thing-performer) received a sum proportioned to the number of days’ journeys he and his retinue had to travel.

The Jafnaðarsjóðsgjald is also called Sakamálatollr, i.e., a repartition fund paid to the Amt or Quarter for public purposes, posts, roads, criminal prosecutions, and other unforeseen expenses. All who have one and a half hundreds in movable property must contribute, and the Amtmenn settle every year the sum required, and the proportion appertaining to individuals.

The merchant contributes no Althing-money, because he is not a landed proprietor. This tax is taken from all landed property in the country, except that belonging to the Crown and the Church; three-fourths are paid upon immovable, and the remaining one-fourth upon all movable possessions. Every year, the Hreppstjórar, aided by two landowners of the parish, estimates how much Landskyld (rent) is paid either by the owner of the farm or by his tenants and sub-tenants. The Stiftamtmaðr (governor) having decided upon the sum required, the amount is duly reparted on landed property.

In addition to these taxes the Iceland farmer pays three other tithes—viz., to the priest, the Church, and the poor (16·2 ells, or $4 each)—besides a ljóstoll or light-tax = 4 lbs. of tallow, to illuminate the church: its equivalent being seventy-two skillings. He feeds one lamb for the priest (lambsfóður, or heytollur—hay-tax), or pays its forage = $1, 48sk. Those who own property, movable or immovable, to the amount of twenty hundreds, must also make offur (offertory) to the priest, amounting to not less than $3. Those who own less property than five hundreds, work one day for the priest during the hay-making season, or pay an equivalent of $1, 4sk. By the law of 12th February 1872 an annual tax is levied on landed property, 1½sk. per hundred. For the money thus raised model farms are to be established and young men taught farming. By far the heaviest item of taxation is, however, the poor-rate (fátækra útsvar), over and above the poor tithes, for it is nowhere less than equal in amount to all the other taxes put together, and in some parishes it is even double the amount of all the other taxes. This tax is levied by the Hreppstjóri at the autumnal parish meeting. The pauperism is an evil fraught with imminent danger to the island, and requires the immediate attention of the legislature. It need hardly be suggested that emigration is the perfect cure for the sturdy vagrants who infest the land, and that free passages to America, or elsewhere, would be well laid out.

The taxes in kind (Wadmal, yarn, woollen stuffs, fish, butter, hay, oil, cattle, sheep, tallow, hides, skins, and all vendibles) are estimated by the Hreppstjóri, who transmits his account to the Sýslumaðr, and the latter checks the report by referring to the mean value of the parish. He then commutes what is paid to him into money, through some trading firm; and, as he is liable to loss by the fluctuations of the market, he is allowed to retain one-third by way of remuneration. A “crack collector,” to use an Anglo-Indian term, may make as much as $3000 per annum—though less than half that sum would probably be a high average.

The Sýslumaðr again reports to the Amtmaðr, who checks his accounts by reference to the mean amount of previous revenue, whence results the Kapitulstaxti verðlagsskrá, or chapter value. The specie is then remitted to the Bæarfógeti,[246] or assistant treasurers. These officers are three in number; at Reykjavik, where the holder is also the Sýslumaðr, at Ísafjörð (west), and at Akureyri (north). Thence the total revenue finds its way into the hands of the Landfógeti, or chief treasurer.

The taxes on movable property are considered just and equal. Those on land are not, because the meanest soil pays as much as the best. Another grievance is the unequal distribution of the poor-tax, which is managed differently in different Quarters. For instance, a clerk with a salary of $300 per annum will be charged $10, whilst the priest of the same parish with treble the revenue pays only $20.

§ 2. Coins, Weights, and Measures.

Accounts in Iceland are kept in skillings, marks, and dollars (rigsbankdaler or rixdollars, and specie). The following table shows the comparative English value in

The silver mark originally was worth eight ounces (eyrir)[248] of pure silver; and the eyrir = 6 peningar = 3 ertog. Each of the eight parts represented six ells of Wadmal, and thus the total was = 48 ells. In old times we read of the Örtug, a coin worth one-third of an ounce (eyrir) or twenty peningar (pence). In these days the Ort is worth only one-fifth of the specie dollar, and, being a Norwegian coin, it does not circulate in Iceland. The traveller must beware of Norwegian money, especially paper, which may be offered him by the Leith agent of the Danish steamer—it is perfectly useless, and Hr Salvesen must know it.

The following is the coinage current on the island:

Copper.—One skilling and a few old two-skilling bits.

Base metal.—Two (the penny), three, four, and eight skillings, the latter being half a mark. Of half-marks there are three or four issues. The old is inscribed “2½-Skillings Schleswig-Holstein’s Courent;” the second bears only “8 skillings,” and the third, or newest, has the figure 8 above and 2 below.

Silver.—One mark: of this coin also there are three issues; two old, marked respectively 5 and 6 skillings, and one new, marked 16 skillings. Two marks: now rarely seen. Three marks, or half the rixdollar: very common and very useful. Four marks: an old coin almost obsolete, and generally called “one-third specie,” because equal to eight rigsbank skillings. One specie dollar: presenting our crown, and very cumbrous.

According to a royal proclamation of 25th September and 29th December 1873, a new coinage is to take the place of the old one next year. It will consist of

In travelling through the island it is advisable to carry a few dollars (specie), many half-dollars, and an abundance of marks and half-marks, with smaller pieces useful to pay minor charges. And it is useless to burden one’s self with a huge bag on board ship: silver can generally be bought at Reykjavik, with a loss of some five per cent. The Danish bank-notes with Icelandic words on the back are to be avoided, as the peasants distrust an article which a wetting may reduce to a rag. In Denmark there are $5 notes (grey paper, with blue border); $10 (yellow paper, with brown border); $20 (light-green); $50 (brown paper, with straight lines in the ground); and $100 (light-brown paper, with wavy lines). For Iceland there are no bank-notes, but when Paraguay manages to raise a loan, she need not despair of civilising her currency.

In July 1810, according to Mackenzie, the war had made the English sovereign worth 15 paper rixdollars on ‘Change; and in 1812 it further rose to $25 paper. The rixdollar at par was then worth four shillings English; as has been seen, like all the smaller coins, it has fallen to a little more than half. In 1872 the metallic value of the English sovereign in Denmark was = $8, 5m. 0sk.; but at Copenhagen it was readily exchanged for $9 to $9, 0m. 4sk. The pound sterling in English silver was worth only $8, 1m. 11sk. At Reykjavik the merchants will not hesitate to offer $8, 4m. 0sk., and some will even attempt $8, 2m. 0sk. The author was once assured by one of the principal tradesmen that the Exchange at Copenhagen was $8, 5m. 0sk; but on consulting the newspaper it was found that this was the price of bills. Thus money-changing becomes a profitable business, realising from five to ten per cent., and strangers will call upon the traveller with the object of “turning” a quasi-honest penny. Yet the simplest way is to take from England sovereigns and ten-pound notes. The foreigner can hardly expect to have a cheque honoured after what has lately happened. The last blow to the English traveller’s credit was dealt in October 1871, when two yachtsmen “did a little bill” with Hr Thomsen, converted their dollars into sovereigns, and went their way. The names of the delinquents are well known, but that is no reason for quoting them.

Weights and measures in Iceland are simply Danish:

Sometimes the Norwegian weights are used, viz.:

Of the length measures:

The Norsk measures are the same, but the foot is = 1·029 English, and the mile is of 36,960 feet (= 13,320 English yards = 7½ English statute miles). The only Icelandic measure of length is the Thingmanna-leið, or journey of the Thingman, about twenty English statute miles.

The Danish Pot is = 0·300 gallons; the Kanne is about three quarts, and the barrel of oil contains between twenty-five and twenty-six English gallons.

§ 3. Communication and Commerce.

Export trade began in Iceland from the date of its official colonisation. Long before the Norman Conquest, the Norwegian kings and jarls trafficked with the island. Snorri Sturluson mentions that King Ólaf Haraldsson (Helgi, or the Holy) made much profit by his transactions with Hallur Thorarinsson of Haukdal; and an edict of King Magnús Erlingsson (A.D. 1174) alludes to the annual cargoes of flour and other merchandise sent by the Archbishop of Nidarós. Already in the thirteenth century we find Iceland in commercial relations with England, and a little later with Germany. This “free trade,” which was on a considerable scale, presently fell before protection, and it did not recover itself till about the middle of the present century.

In a historical sketch of the island trade, published in 1772, an Icelandic author makes the following deductions:

The union of Calmar (A.D. 1397) made it a royal monopoly, carried on only in vessels belonging to, or licensed by, the Crown. This system lasted till A.D. 1776, and, practically closing the country to all but a few privileged Danes, it was injurious as unjust. The island was thus threatened with the fate of Greenland, whose utter desolation probably resulted from want of home-supplies rather than from Eskimo attacks. English merchants were the principal interlopers, receiving fish in barter for meal and clothes: and in A.D. 1413 one of the first acts of Henry V. was to send five ships to Iceland with letters proposing that the harbours be opened to British hulls.

In A.D. 1602, and again in 1609, Christian IV. prohibited intercourse with the Hanse Towns, the powerful confederacy which had taken the commerce from the hands of the Norwegians and Danes; and in 1620 he bestowed it upon the guilds of Copenhagen, Malmoe, and other ports. They established the first Iceland company, which lasted from A.D. 1620 to 1662. The concession was granted on condition of its paying a small sum for the use of each haven, $2 to the governor for every ship that broke bulk, and contributing to the royal magazines in the Vestmannaeyjar. But when the great piratical irruptions in A.D. 1627 to 1630 proved them unable to provide for, and to protect, the island, as they had undertaken to do, the resentment of the Crown caused the shares of $1000 each to sink to half-price and eventually they fell to nothing.

After A.D. 1662 the trade of each haven was sold to the highest bidder once in every six years. In A.D. 1734 arose the second Iceland company, which paid an annual sum of $6000 to the Crown, and sent twenty-four to thirty ships, frequenting twenty-two havens. This monopoly again was a great grievance; it was injured by smugglers and interlopers, and, by its working, the island fell to its lowest condition. In A.D. 1776 arose the third Iceland company, nominally headed by the Crown, which directed a fund of $4,000,000, provided by the country. At the end of ten years, when the ships and stock were sold, the loss proved to be $600,000; the residue was placed under commissioners, and the latter had the power of lending money to those who embarked in the trade at the rate of 4 per cent.; 10 per cent. being then the legal limit. In A.D. 1787 the commerce, averaging $45,000 per annum, was exempted from all imposts for a period of twenty years, afterwards prolonged for five (A.D. 1812). As has been said, during the Danish war with Great Britain, a humane order in Council (1810) saved the island from absolute starvation. At length, after 250 years of a grinding monopoly, not, however, confined to Denmark, Iceland was finally reopened to free trade by the law which came into action in April 1854. At present there are no restrictions beyond taking out a licence or maritime passport at a cost of two shillings and threepence per ton of the ship’s burden. There are, or rather till 1872 there were, no duties on merchandise outwards or inwards, and foreigners now enjoy the same rights of trade, residence, and holding property as the natives.

After April 1854 the imports rose within ten years to a million and a half of rixdollars. Yet something remains to be done in facilitating trade, and especially in the matter of communication, seven mails a year being now utterly inadequate to local requirements.

Sea-passes are usually taken out by foreign ships from Copenhagen, after submitting to medical examination if not provided with clean bill of health, and paying all the legal shipping dues before bulk can be broken, otherwise they must be bought at one of the six following places:[253]

1. Reykjavik, in the south-west.

2. Vestmannaeyjar, south.

3. Stykkishólm, west.

4. Ísafjörð, north-west.

5. Eyjafjörð (Akureyri), north.

6. Eskifjörð, east.

Thus the “Queen” steamer, sent in 1872 for ponies to Berufjörð, could not land cargo without going to Eskifjorð, and returning to her destination—a useless or rather an injurious restriction. She had to pay the Sýslumaðr $1 per ton register, for transmission to the Danish treasury. This compensation for admitting goods duty-free, is a severe tax upon a small charter, and it would certainly be better and fairer to the merchant if the equivalent were levied upon the freight not upon the bottom. Where trade is so poor, every form of nursing should be attended to, and the minimum of protection is here the maximum of benefit.

The whole system of Iceland trade, like that of Shetland and the Færoes, is the “Trust” of the West African oil rivers, so troublesome to consuls and cruisers. The storekeeper must advance goods to the farmer, and the latter refunds him when he can, especially in June and July, September and October, when wool is pulled and wethers are killed. A few of the farmers have money at the merchants, who do not, however, pay interest; many are in debt, and the two classes hardly balance each other. Prices are generally high, but the prohibition category is unknown.