The population live
chiefly on the produce of their large flocks of sheep, and on the
down procured, often at great risk to human life, from the eider-
duck and other birds by which the island is frequented. - ED.
{20} I should be truly sorry if, in this description of our "life
aboard ship," I had said any thing which could give offence to my
kind friend Herr Knudson. I have, however, presumed that every one
is aware that the mode of life at sea is different to life in
families. I have only to add, that Herr Knudson lived most
agreeably not only in Copenhagen, but what is far more remarkable,
in Iceland also, and was provided with every comfort procurable in
the largest European towns.
{21} It is not only at sea that ingenious excuses for drinking are
invented. The lovers of good or bad liquor on land find these
reasons as "plenty as blackberries," and apply them with a
marvellous want of stint or scruple. In warm climates the liquor is
drank to keep the drinker cool, in cold to keep him warm; in health
to prevent him from being sick, in sickness to bring him back to
health. Very seldom is the real reason, "because I like it," given;
and all these excuses and reasons must be regarded as implying some
lingering sense of shame at the act, and as forming part of "the
homage that vice always pays to virtue." - ED.
