ther by a female, who took hold of my hand,
and led me through a dark passage and a
bed-room, where but a small portion of light
was admitted from an aperture in the roof,
into the cooking-room, whence so much
smoke was rushing out through the sleeping-
room, as the only vent, that I hesitated
about proceeding, till I found myself dragged
in. I with difficulty discovered two or
three filthy females^sitting on the ground,
or on some broken chests, and in the middle
of them Jacob on the bare earth. A fire was
also on the ground between his legs, over
which he held some fish cut in slices, in the
fryingpan, an article which caused considerable
astonishment among the women. Close
by him sat a pretty Icelandic girl, who had
won Jacob’s regards so much that he' every
now and. then, with his knife, turned out
a slice of the fish for her;, while she, in return
for every piece thus offered, rose from
the ground, hugged him about the neck and
kissed him. This innocent custom, in use
both among the male and female Icelanders,
upon the most trivial occasions, was here
exemplified in a very strong and ludicrous
manner, and so occupied the attention of
Jacob, (who, probably, mistook for a mark
of affection, what was in reality nothing
more than an expression of gratitude,) that
I was obliged to tap the honest fellow on
the shoulder, and remind him that I had
not yet had my dinner, and that I wished
to have some of the fish saved for me.
Before going out of the house I was anxious
to make some trifling present to the mistress
of it, a little, dirty, ugly, old woman, by
no means free from cutaneous diseases. I
presented to her a snuff-box; but her modesty
would at first only allow her to suppose
that I meant the contents of it for her.
As soon, however, as she was made to understand
that the box, also, was to be included
in the gift, I had the mortification to find
myself, before I was aware of it, in the
embraces of this grateful old lady, from
which I extricated myself with all possible
haste, and performed a most copious ablution
at the nearest stream. Of the poverty of the
clergy, as well as of the common people in
Iceland, I had heard much previously to my
coming to Middalr, yet was scarcely prepared
for what I here met with, though I had been
assured by the priest Egclosen that instances
VOL. I . K