Ifi among all ranks ; for that men, women and children,
of all ages and conditions—the bishop, the
stiftamptman, the tatsroed, the landfogued, the
amptman and the sysselman, the doctor, the midwife,
the Avasherwoman and the tailor— mipo-ht all be
seen conversing with each other Avithout restraint,
and on terms of perfect equality; that with regard
to the fish, the men, and the Avomen too, had only
to Avade into the pool, seize them in their arms,
and heave them out upon land, where others collected
them into AA'Ooden panniers to be conveyed to
Reikiavik, and there prepared for drying or salting,
as the case might be ; and that in this way it was
not unusual to catch from two to three thousand
salmon in one day.
All this Avould have been delightful enough to
behold ; but I discovered, before we started, that
reform had found its Avay even into the salmon-
fishery of Iceland, and that on avait changé tout
cela; that the fish are noAv caught in a more quiet
and rational way, once or twice in the week, according
to the demand ; that the quantity of fish,
howcA'er, that frequents this river had not perceptibly
diminished; and that it was still a curious
sight to see such a multitude of large fish assembled
at the foot of the falls in the river.
As it Avas deemed prudent to take a man with
us in the boat Avho Avas acquainted with the navigation
of the shores of the bay and of the river,
Ave engaged a person to pilot us. Arriving at its
123
mouth, we found its channel hemmed in between
two high banks of rugged and cellular lava, and
in various places rocks of lava were seen to rise
out of the water above the surface, and in many
others were hid below it ; so that whenever our
men attempted to pull heartily, the pilot checked
them, saying, if they went at that rate, they would
soon have a pointed rock through the bottom of the
boat. Multitudes of eider-ducks were swimming
about the mouth of the river, as well as on and near
the rocky islands in the bay, and gulls and several
other species of sea-fowl innumerable. The eider-
ducks were so remarkably tame as to make it evident
they are but little disturbed in Iceland : indeed so
familiar are they said to be with man, especially in
the breeding season, which was now just over, that
they frequently make their nests close to the houses,
and in spots which have been prepared by ridges
of stones artificially built up for them ; and in such
places, while incubation is going on, these innocent
birds are so tame, that it is not unusual
for the female to remain on the nest, and suffer herself
to be fondled without any attempt to fly away.
The lining of their nests, being the downy substance
plucked off their own breasts, is taken
away, even a second and third time, when the poor
bird has plucked herself nearly naked ; after this
she is left undisturbed. Eider-down is used for
stuffing bed-coverlets for the winter, and furnishes
also a small article of export ; their eggs too are
g 2
ÏI
rr M‘|