(there being no church at Heiderbag), which
would be the means of his ultimately obtaining
a more lucrative situation. At present,
his income is extremely narrow, being
only six rix-dollars a quarter (twenty-four
shillings) from government, but the marriage
and burial fees amount to something more {
the former ceremony, I think, is performed
for two marks : in addition to that, he has
a house to live in free of expence, and some
glebe, which enables him to keep five cows,
and twenty-eight sheep. Three miserable
cottages, also, stand upon his glebe, for one
of which he receives four dollars, for another
three, and for a third two dollars per anriuin.
The chief employment of the female part of
his family, besides knitting, is making butter,
skiur, and sour whey, which constitute
almost their only food. In the winter, if the
weather is very severe, the priest is obliged
to kill some of his cow's and sheep, for Want
of a sufficient quantity of hay, and in such
cases, only, can they afford to IWe upon
flesh. After breakfast the priest visited his
nets in the lake, which had been set for the
first time for catching a fish, which the
Danes call Forelles, and which is allied to
our Char, but, I think, quite distinct. Although
I compared it accurately with the
descriptions of the various species of Salmo
in Shaw's Zoology, which I had with me, I
could not find that it agreed with any of
them. Only one was caught, which we
cooked, and found very delicious *. At
noon our friend was obliged to take leave of
us, as he was under the necessity of setting
off for Reikevig, where he was to preach a
sermon hefore the bishop on the following
(Monday) morning. He assured us, however,
as there was every appearance of a
continuance of the rain, which fell in torrents
the whole day, and of our being consequently
detained, that he would, if possible,
be home the following day, that he
might accompany us to Thingevalle, where
his principal, as he called him, lived, and
would receive us kindly. We hardly expected
to see him return at the time ap-
* The season of the year in which the Forelles abound
in Lake Thingevalle was now approaching: about the
29th of July they are caught in the greatest plenty,
and of a large size, some of them weighing from ten
to fifteen pounds.
VOL. I. H