The best of their virtues is their honesty. I could leave my
baggage unguarded any where for hours, and never missed the least
article, for they did not even permit their children to touch any
thing. In this point they are so conscientious, that if a peasant
comes from a distance, and wishes to rest in a cottage, he never
fails to knock at the door, even if it is open. If no one calls
"come in," he does not enter. One might fearlessly sleep with open
doors.
Crimes are of such rare occurrence here, that the prison of
Reikjavik was changed into a dwelling-house for the chief warden
many years since. Small crimes are punished summarily, either in
Reikjavik or at the seat of the Sysselmann. Criminals of a deeper
dye are sent to Copenhagen, and are sentenced and punished there.
My landlord at Reikjavik, the master-baker Bernhoft, told me that
only one crime had been committed in Iceland during the thirteen
years that he had resided there. This was the murder of an
illegitimate child immediately after its birth. The most frequently
occurring crime is cow-stealing.
I was much surprised to find that nearly all the Icelanders can read
and write. The latter quality only was somewhat rarer with the
women. Youths and men often wrote a firm, good hand. I also found
books in every cottage, the Bible always, and frequently poems and
stories, sometimes even in the Danish language.
They also comprehend very quickly; when I opened my map before them,
they soon understood its use and application. Their quickness is
doubly surprising, if we consider that every father instructs his
own children, and sometimes the neighbouring orphans. This is of
course only done in the winter; but as winter lasts eight months in
Iceland, it is long enough.
There is only one school in the whole island, which originally was
in Bessestadt, but has been removed to Reikjavik since 1846. In
this school only youths who can read and write are received, and
they are either educated for priests, and may complete their studies
here, or for doctors, apothecaries, or judges, when they must
complete their studies in Copenhagen.
Besides theology, geometry, geography, history, and several
languages, such as Latin, Danish, and, since 1846, German and also
French, are taught in the school of Reikjavik.
The chief occupation of the Icelandic peasants consists in fishing,
which is most industriously pursued in February, March, and April.
Then the inhabitants of the interior come to the coasting villages
and hire themselves to the dwellers on the beach, the real
fishermen, as assistants, taking a portion of the fish as their
wages. Fishing is attended to at other times also, but then
exclusively by the real fishermen. In the months of July and August
many of the latter go into the interior and assist in the hay-
harvest, for which they receive butter, sheep's wool, and salt lamb.
Others ascend the mountains and gather the Iceland moss, of which
they make a decoction, which they drink mixed with milk, or they
grind it to flour, and bake flat cakes of it, which serve them in
place of bread.
The work of the women consists in the preparation of the fish for
drying, smoking, or salting; in tending the cattle, in knitting,
sometimes in gathering moss. In winter both men and women knit and
weave.
As regards the hospitality of the Icelanders, {45} I do not think
one can give them so very much credit for it. It is true that
priests and peasants gladly receive any European traveller, and
treat him to every thing in their power; but they know well that the
traveller who comes to their island is neither an adventurer nor a
beggar, and will therefore pay them well. I did not meet one
peasant or priest who did not accept the proffered gift without
hesitation. But I must say of the priests that they were every
where obliging and ready to serve me, and satisfied with the
smallest gift; and their charges, when I required horses for my
excursions, were always moderate. I only found the peasant less
interested in districts where a traveller scarcely ever appeared;
but in such places as were more visited, their charges were often
exorbitant. For example, I had to pay 20 to 30 kr. (8d. to 1s.) for
being ferried over a river; and then my guide and I only were rowed
in the boat, and the horses had to swim. The guide who accompanied
me on the Hecla also overcharged me; but he knew that I was forced
to take him, as there is no choice of guides, and one does not give
up the ascent for the sake of a little money.
This conduct shows that the character of the Icelanders does not
belong to the best; and that they take advantage of travellers with
as much shrewdness as the landlords and guides on the continent.
A besetting sin of the Icelanders is their drunkenness. Their
poverty would probably not be so great if they were less devoted to
brandy, and worked more industriously. It is dreadful to see what
deep root this vice has taken. Not only on Sundays, but also on
week-days, I met peasants who were so intoxicated that I was
surprised how they could keep in their saddle. I am, however, happy
to say that I never saw a woman in this degrading condition.
Another of their passions is snuff. They chew and snuff tobacco
with the same infatuation as it is smoked in other countries. But
their mode of taking it is very peculiar. Most of the peasants, and
even many of the priests, have no proper snuff-box, but only a box
turned of bone, shaped like a powder-flask.
