the former case conveying the produce of
their flocks or wild animals; in the latter,
bringing back articles of foreign manufacture,
or, as is most usual, fish for their
winter’s supply. Among those returning
from the mart, I recognized my young
friend, the son of the priest of Thingevalle,
who had been disposing of a cargo of butter
and wool for his father. In passing by
such a collection of Icelanders, amounting
to many hundreds (a number which, for the
the space of a month in July or August,
is almost always to be seen in the immediate
vicinity of Reikevig), I could not
help reflecting on the singular situation of
our little party of Englishmen, not exceeding
in all five or six and twenty persons, removed
from all possibility of succour, enemies
to the sovereign of the country, and
having moreover, made the governor prisoner
and exercised dominion over the whole
island, yet, nevertheless, living unmolested
by a single native, and undisturbed, except
by a few, who seemed to have interested
motives in falsely representing the people
as ripe for insurrection. Our state of security
was undoubtedly owing to the willingness
of the natives to shake off the yoke
of the Danes, and to the full persuasion
they entertained that it was the British
alone who could supply them, in times of
scarcity, with necessary subsistence, and
keep them from a state of actual starvation.
Of the existence of such a feeling every
day’s residence at Reikevig furnished abundant
testimony; but still more satisfactory
were the proofs I received, as well during
the present as in my succeeding excursions,
when the satisfaction of the inhabitants, at
the prospect of being placed under English
government, was repeatedly expressed to
me, and that, not only by the poorer class
of people, but also by those high in power in
the island. On my arrival at Reikevig,
between six and seven o’clock in the morning,
so far from finding the Margaret and
Anne in readiness to sail, it was even doubtful
whether she would be so during the
course of the next week, which was to me,
and perhaps to me only, a fortunate circumstance,
as it afforded an opportunity of seeing
more of the country than I had lately expected
it would be in my power to do. I
determined therefore, following as well the