for every bear that is killed, and by
purchaling the ikin o f the man who
killed it. Thefe ikins are a prerogative
of the king, and are not allowed
to be fold to any other perfon.
It is as abfurd to fuppofe, that this
floating ice coniifts principally o f falt-
petre, as that it might be employed
in making gun-powder ; and yet there
are fome perfons who pretend to fup-
port this opinion ; but they are certainly
undeferving the trouble o f re-*
futation.
I muft mention two other inconve-*
niencies to which Iceland is fubje<T,
the Skrida and Snioflod: the name o f
the firft imports large pieces o f a mountain
tumbling down, and deftroying
the lands and honfes that lie at the foot
o f it. This happened in 1 554, when the
whole farm of Skideftedr in Vatndal
was ruined, and thirteen people buried
alive : the other fignifies the eifecfts
o f a prodigious quantity o f fnow,
that covers the tops o f the moun-*
tains, which rolling down in immenfe
mafles does a great deal o f damage,
Tftere was an inftance o f this in the
year
year 1699, f tu™g the night, when
two farms, in the fyiTel o f Kioiar,
were buried in the fnow, with all their
inhabitants and cattle *.
The climate is not unwholfome, as
the ufual heat is not extreme, nor the
cold in general very rigorous. However,
there are examples o f the mercury
in Fahrenheit’s thermometer falling
quite down into the bulb, which
is 24 degrees under the freezing point;
when at other times it has rofe to 1 04
degrees.
It cannot be determined with any
degree of certainty how much the
cold has increafed or decreafed prior
to 1749, year when Horrebow began
his obfervations on the weather ;
they were afterwards continued by
the provoft Gudlaug ThorgeirfTon to
the year 1769 : fince which period
obfervations have been made by Mr.
Eyolfr Jonfon, who was formerly aflift-
1 . 1 , , I
* Snioflod, or Snowflood, Is a very exprefllve word
for this dreadful accident, which is not uncommon in
all alpine countries, efpecially Switzerland. T h e
Italians call fucJi a rolling down of mafles of fnow,
Lavine; the French, Laivaches ; and the Germans,
Lauihnen.
D 3 ant