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tity o f work they are bound to perform
in a day is ordered: they feldom
do fo much work now, therefore
it is only called mcdelmans vdrk, or
the work o f a man o f middling
ftrength. According to thefe by-laws,
á man is to mow as much hay in
one day, as grows on thirty fathoms
fquare of manured foil, or forty fathoms
fquare o f land not manured, or he is
obliged to dig 700 pieces of turf
eight feet long and three broad. I f
fo much fnow falls as to reach to the
horfes bellies, which they call quedfnio,
he is to clear away daily the fnow for
a hundred iheep. A woman is to rake
together as much hay as three men
can mow, or to weave three yards of
'wadtnal in a day.
The wages of a man are fixed at four
dollars, and twelve yards o f wadmal \
and thofe of a woman at two dollars
and five yards o f wadmal. When the
men are fent a fifhing out o f the country,
there is allowed to each man, by
the bya-lag, from the 25th o f September
to the 14th o f May, fix pounds of
butter and eighteen pounds o f dried
fifli
fifli every week. This may appear to
be too great an allowance ; but it muft
be remembered, that they have nothing
befides to live upon. When
they are at home, and can get milk, & c,
every man receives only five pounds
of dried fifh and three quarters o f a
pound o f ljutter each week.
As the compuation o f time among the
Icelanders is not determined according
to the courfe of the fun, but by their
work, this is perhaps the moft proper
place to fay fomething o f it. Though
they have, like us, four different fea^
I fons, they only count tw o ; the fum-
mer, that begins the Thurfday before
the 16th of April ; and the winter,
that commences on the Friday
before the 18th o f Oaober. During
the firft feafon they perform their fum-
mer-work, and in the latter attend to
their winter amufements. Thefe two
feafons are afterwards divided into
twelve months, as with ns, which have
their common names ; but In antient
records, and among the lower clais o f
people, they are called, i , Midjvetrar.
2. Fdjiugangs m. 3. lafndaegra ?n. 4.
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