Some Time After The Dancing Commenced,
The Bishop's Lady, And Two Others, Appeared In The Proper Dress Of
The Country.
"We found ourselves extremely awkward in dancing what the ladies
were pleased to call English country dances.
The music, which came
from a solitary ill-scraped fiddle, accompanied by the rumbling of
the same half-rotten drum that had summoned the high court of
justice, and by the jingling of a rusty triangle, was to me utterly
unintelligible. The extreme rapidity with which it was necessary to
go through many complicated evolutions in proper time, completely
bewildered us; and our mistakes, and frequent collisions with our
neighbours, afforded much amusement to our fair partners, who found
it for a long time impracticable to keep us in the right track.
When allowed to breathe a little, we had an opportunity of remarking
some singularities in the state of society and manners among the
Danes of Reikjavik. While unengaged in the dance, the men drink
punch, and walk about with tobacco-pipes in their mouths, spitting
plentifully on the floor. The unrestrained evacuation of saliva
seems to be a fashion all over Iceland; but whether the natives
learned it from the Danes, or the Danes from the natives, we did not
ascertain. Several ladies whose virtue could not bear a very strict
scrutiny were pointed out to us.
"During the dances, tea and coffee were handed about; and negus and
punch were ready for those who chose to partake of them. A cold
supper was provided, consisting of hams, beef, cheese, &c., and
wine. While at table, several of the ladies sang, and acquitted
themselves tolerably well. But I could not enjoy the performance,
on account of the incessant talking, which was as fashionable a
rudeness in Iceland as it is now in Britain. This, however, was not
considered as in the least unpolite. One of the songs was in praise
of the donors of the entertainment; and, during the chorus, the
ceremony of touching each other's glasses was performed. After
supper, waltzes were danced, in a style that reminded me of soldiers
marching in cadence to the dead march in Saul. Though there was no
need of artificial light, a number of candles were placed in the
rooms. When the company broke up, about three o'clock, the sun was
high above the horizon."
{29} A man of eighty years of age is seldom seen on the island. -
Kerguelen.
{30} Kerguelen (writing in 1768) says: "They live during the
summer principally on cod's heads. A common family make a meal of
three or four cods' heads boiled in sea-water." - ED.
{31} This bakehouse is the only one in Iceland, and produces as
good bread and biscuit as any that can be procured in Denmark. [In
Kerguelen's time (1768) bread was very uncommon in Iceland. It was
brought from Copenhagen, and consisted of broad thin cakes, or sea-
biscuits, made of rye-flour, and extremely black. - ED.]
{32} In all high latitudes fat oily substances are consumed to a
vast extent by the natives.
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