young children is increased, and two-thirds 1
of the number born are supposed to perish
in the cradle. It seldom happens that out
of twelve or fifteen children, which the
women sometimes produce, one-half of them
live, and more commonly only two or three
are brought up to manhood, though most of
those survive that are preserved through their
first or second year. What makes this period
so peculiarly fatal, is the custom that prevails
among the women of not suckling their
infants at all, or at most only for a few days,
£fter which they feed them with cow’s milk,
which is taken through a quill with a piece
of rag fastened to one end for the sake of
softness to the mouth *.
The Icelanders in general do not attain to
an advanced period of life, though many live
to the age of seventy and enjoy a good state
^ A similar method of feeding' infants is mentioned
by Linnaeus, in his Lachesis Lapponica. When he was in
Lyckstle Lapland, he says, “ 1 remarked that all the
women hereabouts feed their infants by means of a
horn, nor do they take the trouble of boiling the milk
which they thus administer, so that, no wonder the
children have worms. I could not help being astonished
that these peasants did not suckle their children .
v. i. p. 178.
of health; but this is among the higher
class of people. The nutriment of the poor
and their manner of living is unfavorable to
longevity, independently of the dreadful
cutaneous diseases' to which they are subject.
Scurvy, leprosy; and elephantiasis are
no where, perhaps, more prevalent; and
they are likewise, according to Von Troil,
peculiarly afflicted with St. Anthony’s fire,
the jaundice, pleurisy, and lowness of spirits.
The climate of Iceland is not so settled as
that of equal latitudes upon continents. In
the winter the inhabitants are exposed to
frequent and sudden thaws, and in the
middle of summer almost as much so to
snow, frost, and'cold, so severe as effectually
to prevent all cultivation. The year’1809
was particularly unfavorable: I recollect that
in the early part of that summer Fahrenheit’s
thermometer varied in the course of
the day from about 41° to 45°, seldom
rising to 50°, and only once to 6o°. Mr.
Savigniac, however, assured me, that at
Reikevig one day the thermometer, exposed
to the sun, rose to 100°. In the beginping
of August there were severe frosts, and much