The Down Is Sold At About Twelve Shillings
Per Pound, So That The Produce Of Each Nest Is About Three
Shillings.
The eider-duck is nearly as large as the common goose;
and some have been found on the Fern Islands, off the coast of
Northumberland.
- ED.
{35} The same remark applies with equal force to many people who
are not Icelanders. It was once the habit among a portion of the
population of Lancashire, on returning from market, to carry their
goods in a bag attached to one end of a string slung over their
shoulders, which was balanced by a bag containing a stone at the
other. Some time ago, it was pointed out to a worthy man thus
returning from market, that it would be easier for him to throw away
the stone, and make half of his load balance the other half, but the
advice was rejected with disdain; the plan he had adopted was that
of his forefathers, and he would on no account depart from it. - ED.
{36} The description of the Wolf's Hollow occurs in the second act
of Der Freyschutz, when Rodolph sings:
"How horrid, dark, and wild, and drear,
Doth this gaping gulf appear!
It seems the hue of hell to wear.
The bellowing thunder bursts yon clouds,
The moon with blood has stained her light!
What forms are those in misty shrouds,
That stalk before my sight?
And now, hush! hush!
The owl is hooting in yon bush;
How yonder oak-tree's blasted arms
Upon me seem to frown!
My heart recoils, but all alarms
Are vain: fate calls, I must down, down."
{37} The reader must bear in mind that, during the season of which
I speak, there is no twilight, much less night, in Iceland.
{38} The springs of Carlsbad are said to have been unknown until
about five hundred years ago, when a hunting-dog belonging to one of
the emperors of Germany fell in, and by his howling attracted the
hunters to the spot. The temperature of the chief spring is 165
degrees. - ED.
{39} History tells of this great Icelandic poet, that owing to his
treachery the free island of Iceland came beneath the Norwegian
sceptre. For this reason he could never appear in Iceland without a
strong guard, and therefore visited the Allthing under the
protection of a small army of 600 men. Being at length surprised by
his enemies in his house at Reikiadal, he fell beneath their blows,
after a short and ineffectual resistance. [Snorri Sturluson, the
most distinguished name of which Iceland can boast, was born, in
1178, at Hoam. In his early years he was remarkably fortunate in
his worldly affairs. The fortune he derived from his father was
small, but by means of a rich marriage, and by inheritance, he soon
became proprietor of large estates in Iceland. Some writers say
that his guard of 600 men, during his visit to the Allthing, was
intended not as a defence, as indicated in Madame Pfeiffer's note,
but for the purposes of display, and to impress the inhabitants with
forcible ideas of his influence and power.
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