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of the Landfogued, or treasurer; and near the farthest
extremity is a sort of tavern, or society-house,
Avhere the Danish and other mercantile residents
assemble, forming a kind of club, where they play
billiards and other games, and have dinners, balls,
and other amusements occasionally.
The houses on the sea line are generally those of
the merchants, who are chiefly Danes; they are
built, as in Norway, of Avood, and covered Avith
shingles or planks, and to each is attached a storehouse
for their different articles of merchandize.
The only stone-built house is that of the governor,
situated at the eastern extremity of the line, and
this building Avas formerly the workhouse—not for
the maintenance of the indigent poor, but made use
of rather as the house of correction. The episcopal
residence is near to the coast, considerably
to the eastAvard of that of the governor a
very comfortable house, built of brick, and Avhite-
washed.
The cathedral stands apart behind the sea-line of
houses; it is built of stone, and has a large roof of
planks; the steeple is a square toAver of AA'ood, roofed,
and contains a couple of bells. Under the roof of the
church is the public library, said to contain about
six thousand A olumes, to which the inhabitants hav’e
free access, being alloAved, under certain restrictions,
to ha\'e books at their OAvn houses; and 1 Avas
assured that the residents Avere generally very fond
of reading. The hooks consisted mostly of general
and ecclesiastical history, in the northern languages—
German, SAvedish, Danish, and Norweg
ian ;—such as related to Iceland, their Sagas
and their E d d a s ; and it contained also a few
English books, generally the Avritings of our best
poets, and also a collection of the Greek and
Latin classics; besides some manuscripts, chiefly
theological, the production of the clergy of the
island. The Icelanders Avere once deservedly famed
for their literary productions ; and it is pleasing to
find that they still keep alive the spirit of research
and that literary pursuit for Avhich their ancestors
were distinguished.
Jleihiavfli Cathedral.
Near the church is a considerable space of
ground, set apart as a public cemetery, Avhich
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