plague carried off great numbers from
1402 to 1404, many places have been
entirely depopulated by famine. In
the years 1707 and 1708, the fmall-
pox deftroyed 1 6,000 perfons ; fo that
the number o f inhabitants cannot exceed
60,000.
l e t t e r
L E T T E R IV.
To Chevalier I h r e .
O f the Arrival of the Norzuegians ; the
Government^ and Laws in Iceland.
Stockholm, June 13, 1774.
AS I have treated in my former
letter o f the nature o f the
country in Iceland, an enquiry how,
and when it was firft peopled, might
not perhaps be difagreeable to you.
We know very little o f the primitive
inhabitants of Iceland, who pofreiTed
the country when the Norwegians firft:
landed there. We are informed by
fome, that they were Chriftians, who,
according to the moft probable con-
jeilures, arrived there from England
and Ireland, and were called Papa
by the Norwegians *. They pretend
to
* The antient Norwegians, who firft landed in Iceland,
found there inhabitants who were Chriftians,
and were called by the Norwegians Papas, which is
conjedtured to figuify prieits. This is confirmed by
the preface of the Landnama Bok, or Book ct Colonization,
i
OI'