■1 /
SO called, because a settlement of Irish and Scotch
was established on them at a later period; and
that the name ;vas given to these islands from the
circumstance of the new settlers having come from
places ivest of Denmark.
The lower part of an Icelandic hut is built of
rude stones to the height of about four feet, and
between each row layers of turf are placed with
great regularity, to serve instead of mortar, and
in tact to keep out the wind. A roof of such
wood as can be procured rests upon these walls,
and IS covered with turf or sods. There are no
windows,—
^ v e one dull pane that, coarsely patch’d, gives way
To the rude tempest—yet excludes the d a y .”
And not always this; a cask or barrel with the
two ends knocked out answers the purpose of a
chimney; but the smoke is frequently allowed to
escape through a hole in the roof. The only fire
that is ever burnt within their walls is that of the
kitchen, Avhich forms a small separate apartment,
and is frequently detached from the house, with
which however it generally communicates by a dark
passage. On stooping under the door to enter one
of these cottages, I immediately found myself in
a narroAv passage with a clay or earthen fioor,
on each side of which, about midway, there was
a shelf some four feet from the ground. On
one of these shelves was spread out what appeared
to be a bed, but without any protection
on the side ; and on the opposite one was
placed a variety of articles of clothing. On the
ground beneath these shelves were piled up
a large quantity of dried fish, and odds and
ends of all sorts thrown together in the utmost
confusion. At the farther extremity of the passage
I entered the kitchen, in which a small
fire was smothering : the apartment was full of
smoke struggling to make its escape through the
small aperture above ; and as there was no window
to admit the light, it was no easy matter to grope
one’s way out again. This hut was by no means
of the worst description, though it appeared to me
Avretched enough ; but the miserable abodes of the
poorer inhabitants of a fishing village, than which
Reikiavik can set up no higher pretensions, are not
to be taken as a fair specimen of the cottages of the
peasantry of the interior, Avhich Ave have yet to see.
I cannot well conceiA'e a more dreary residence than
Reikiavik must be during the five winter months,
when the ground is covered with snow, the nights
long and cold, and generally stormy—when their
slumbers must be disturbed by the roaring of the
sea on the high stony beach, and the hoAvling of
the northerly blast, to which their houses are directly
opposed. During the summer there is some
society by the residence of the Danish merchants;
but most if not all of them take their deparmmmim
- f t .
'.u;!