its walls and roofs are composed entirely
of turf, though so neatly cut, and so well
joined, as to present a perfectly smooth and
even surface. The doors are ornamented
with carved lines, and painted green. The
windows, of which there is a double row,
are well made, and glazed, and are not in
the roof of the building, as in most other
Icelandic houses, but in the wall. There are
several out-houses for cattle, for provisions,
implements of husbandry, drying fish, &c.,
all which stand apart from the dwelling-
house, and are built with equal neatness,
and wholly of turf, except the fish-house,
which is of wood, formed in such a manner,
divinse testimonio; cum sylvser domestic®, Betulae tan-
turn, ut existimo, feraces, vastis sdificiis non suffice
rent ; quee tamen etiam magno fuere subsidio, cum
his quae incolae, quoties volebant, ex vicina Norvegia, et
fortasse etiam Gronlandia, petebant: utroque enim
navigationes annuas longo tempore Islandi habuere,
Villarum itaque domus in suo fundo quilibet contiguas
fere habebat: praeter armentorum stabula, aliquanto
intervallo ac ipsis penatibus plerumque sita: item igni-
aria quoedam, non prorsus contigua, ad ignis periculum
vitandum: fortasse etiam penuaria quaedam quae soli-
taiia auram et siccantes vent os melius imbiberent.”
De regno Danice et Norvegia: Tractatus, p. 411—413.
that a free passage is left to the air at the
same time that the inside is protected from
the rain. At no great distance, also, stands
the church, a small and neat, though ancient,
edifice; and not far from this cluster
of buildings rises the steep and rocky front
of Akra-fiel, forming a singular contrast
with the green plain of Inderholme.
Wednesday, Immediately after breakfast the
August 2. Etatsroed, his son a young man of
eighteen years of age, and myself, set off
for Hvamore, about twenty miles distance,
the residence of the Amptman Stephen sen,
brother to the Chief Justice, our intention
being thence to continue our journey to the
hot-springs of Snorralaug, and other remarkable
places in the vicinity. This excursion
was rendered highly interesting by my having
such agreeable companions, and I looked
forward with great confidence to deriving
from it no small information, as well from
the ability of my host to converse with me
in English, as from his perfect knowledge of
the country, and particularly his intimate
acquaintance with its history, in which he is,
perhaps, superior to any other person. Our
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