Gift-
$■’f '
11
11
i 52 ]
horfe for 156 fiili, and a farm for 6000
ells. A vatr is five lifpfund, and a
facriiig ten pounds. They reckon 163
quarts to a tiiii, and five to a kuttur.
The Icelandic ell is as long as the
Hamburgh ell, three of which make
a fathom.
l e t t e r
t 153 1
L E T T E R XIV.
To Chevalier I h r e *
O f the Icelandic Literature*
Stockholm, Dec* 4, 1774.
r I A h e hiftory o f antient times f liews
A us that our anceftors did not
defpife arts and fciences, though they
peculiarly cUftinguiilied themielves
by valour and heroic deeds. Their
religion, mixed with fables, was,
however, reduced to fome ru le ; and
their fyftem o f morality, though not
the pureft and beft, however inculcated
certain virtues that were in vain
ibught for among the more enlightened
Greeks and Romans. The long
voyages they made without knowing
the ufe of the compafs, is a proof
of their liavliig been much better acquainted
with aftronomy and geography,
than could have been expected.
Hiyfic, and particularly furgery, muft
have
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