which serves themselves in part for nourishment,
and is also of importance as an article
of export. This too, when the Laplanders,
seated nearly in a similar country and under
the same latitude, find in these animals the
blessing of their lives. Could they but be
persuaded to see and to follow their true
interest in this respect, to them might be
applied what has been so beautifully said of
their neighbors, * “ Hi Lichene obsiti campi,
quos terram damnatam diceret peregrinus,
hi sunt Islandorum agri, haec prata eorum
felicissima, adeo ut felicem se prsedicet possessor
provincias talis sterilissimae atque Lichene
obsitae. Pécora enim bene perferunt
clima illud; habent sufiiciens alimentum ; red-
dunt pastori et vestimenta et alimenta.” We
found the priest, who was the object of our
visit, smoking his pipe in the front of his
house, surrounded by his wife and numerous
domestics, who had all come out to gaze at us.
* FI. Lapp. p. 347.
f This is a luxury in which only the richer Icelanders
can afford to indulge. A pipe in the mouth of an Icelander
is, therefore, not a common sight, and is mostly
confined to Reikevig, where they learn the custom from
the Danes, who are always smoking.