Chapter XI: Section VII (1)

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES (ANIMALS WILD AND TAME)--NOTES ON FLORA--AGRICULTURE AND CATTLE-BREEDING--FISHERIES AND FISHING--INDUSTRY AND EMIGRATION.

§ 1. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES AND SPORT.

Iceland, which is an exaggeration of Scotland, whilst Greenland exaggerates Iceland, is supposed to number seven families and thirty-four species of mammals, but of these twenty-four are “water creatures.” Two quadrupeds have been considered indigenous, though evidently imported, the first is the mouse of many fables, the second is the fox. An old Iceland tradition asserts that Reynard was spitefully imported by a king of Norway, as magpies were sent to Ireland by the hated Saxon. Some are still floated over on the ice, but they seldom appear upon the east coast. A premium upon vulpecide dates from olden days, and increased demand for the robe has made the animals comparatively rare. Formerly they did immense damage amongst the newly-dropped lambs, and the farmers ignored the Scotch “dodge” of applying a streak of tar to the shoulder or to any part of the youngling. The people divide foxes into tame and wild: the latter grapple the sheep by their wool and never loose them till they fall exhausted.

Horrebow the Dane (Nat. Hist. of Ice.) mentions dark-red foxes, but Hooker neither saw nor heard of them. Kerguelen refers to red as well as to black,[209] blue, and white foxes. Uno Von Troil declares that some of the animals ate called “Gras tóur” (or grass-eating tod);[210] usually two varieties are recognised, _C. lagopus_ (Mel-rakki) and _C. fuliginosus_; but the _Isatis_ or white Arctic and the sooty-brown are probably the same animal at several seasons. Some assert the former to be white all the year round, but no hunter ever pretends to have found a white cub. The blue fox, which haunts certain places, very seldom comes to market, because the chief chasseur is dead. The white coat is cheap, the fine brown is rare and dear. Iceland, of course, abounds in folk-lore and Æsopian tales of Skolli (the skulker), as well as of mice, gulls, and ravens; the string of foxes hanging over the cliffs, and the contrivance of the vixen to escape from the hounds, show ingenuity in the inventor.[211]

The history of the imported reindeer (_C. tarandus_) is well known. In 1770 Hr Sörensen, a merchant, embarked thirteen head from Norway; of these ten died on the passage, and three fawned before 1772. They were never used for sledges: as the mule is the familiar of the Latin family, and the camel of the nearer East, so the reindeer can be developed only by the Lapps, Finns, and Tungusians. Moreover, the reindeer is fitted only for a snowy country; the skin and hair do not readily throw off water, and the animals suffer severely from wet--hence Iceland proved anything but the expected paradise. The average life of the Havier (stag) is said to be sixteen years. The young horns were eaten by the old Norwegians, and, when hard, they were cut into cramp-ring like those of the elk (_Alce equicervus_)--a _curatio per contrarium_. Some of these attires are grand as those of the Canadian Wapiti. There are now only two known herds upon the island, and details concerning them will be given in the Journal.

The Fjárhundr or shepherd-dog (_C. Islandicus_), according to Mackenzie, is of the Greenland breed; the “prick-eared cur” certainly resembles the Eskimo, sometimes with a dash of our collie. Formerly they were far more numerous than men; and old authors mention several breeds--“lubbar” or shag-dogs; dýr-hundar, deer or fox hounds, and dverg-hundar, dwarf hounds or lapdogs. Foreign animals are now rare; the common sort is a little “pariah,” not unlike the Pomeranian; stunted, short-backed, and sharp-snouted, with ruffed neck and bushy tail, or rather brush, curling and recurling. The colour is mostly brown-black, some are light-brown, deep-black, white, and piebald. Those brought to Reykjavik appear shy, savage, and snappish as foxes. Formerly they were trained to keep caravan-ponies on the path; now they guard the flocks, loiter about the farms, and keep cattle off the “tún.”[212] Good specimens easily fetch $6; a horse may be exchanged for the most valuable, those which, they say, can search a sheep under nine ells of snow. They are accused of propagating amongst their masters, hydatic disease and intestinal worms (_Tænia echinococcus_); and this consideration induced the Althing, in 1871, _magno cum risu_ of the public, who asked why the cats were not assessed, to impose an annual dog-tax of $2 per head upon all exceeding a certain number on each farm--it will cause the premature death of many a promising pup. Half of the amount is the perquisite of the Hreppstjórar, the other moiety goes to the Treasury. The danger would be less if the dogs were not so often allowed to lick the platters clean, and to perform other and similar domestic duties.

Cats are common, especially in the capital, showing that defence is necessary against rats and mice. Herds of swine are alluded to in the island Sagas; and Iceland, like the Færoes, is full of such names as Svína-fell, Svína-dalr, and Svína-vatn. Not a single head is now seen except at Reykjavik, where a few are annually imported for immediate slaughtering. The peasants cannot afford to rear such expensive animals, which, moreover, damage the “tún.” A few goats are said to linger about the northern parts of the island; formerly they were common, but about 1770 they began to be proscribed for injuring the turf-roofs--where they can find no vines.

There are six families and some ninety species of birds, fifty-four of the latter being water-fowl. A valuable list of the air-fauna may be found in Appendix A. to Baring-Gould’s volume, “Notes on the Ornithology of Iceland,” by Alfred Newton, M.A. Almost every traveller has dipped into the subject, but Mr Newton has twice visited the island to study his specialty. His conclusion is thus stated: “The character of the avi-fauna of this country, as might have been expected from its geographical position, is essentially European, just as that of Greenland has American tendencies.” Of course many are emigrants from the south, and, treating of this subject, we should not forget the poetical, and apparently practical, theory of Runeberg the Skáld of modern Sweden. He makes the object light, not merely warmth: “The bird of passage is of noble birth; he bears a motto, and his motto is ‘_Lux Mea Dux_.’”

The most interesting of the game denizens is the ptarmigan (_Tetrao lagopus_). The people recognise only one species, but in these matters they are of no authority, and foreigners suspect the existence of two as in Norway. The small mountain-ptarmigan (_Lagopus vulgaris_) of the Continent is white in winter and grey speckled black at other times; its note is compared with the frog’s croak, the sheep’s cough, or the harsh cry of the missel-thrush. The Danish Skov or Dal-rype (wood or dale ptarmigan) is some seventeen inches long, white-plumed in winter, and during the rest of the year clad in warm yellow-brown, like the red grouse; the “cluck” can be heard a mile off. Metcalfe recognised in Iceland a modified cluck, while Faber and Yarrell believe the islander to be a new species. The cock is locally called Rjúpkarri, and the hen Rjúpa (Reb-huhn), evidently from the cry. It carries the young on the back, and is said to be stupid as the Touraco; this was not the author’s experience. Mackenzie appears to be in error when he makes the Scotch ptarmigan haunt the hills, and the Icelander prefer the lowlands. The bird enters largely into folk-lore: the fox of fable blinds it by throwing the snow in its eyes; and when the ger-falcon pierces its heart, he screams for sorrow to find that he has slain a sister.

Flocks of geese, also mentioned by the Sagas, are now found, like swans, only in the wild state; yet there is little apparent reason for the change. The raven will be treated of in another place; there are no crows except stragglers blown to sea by the southern gales. Poultry is still bred in small numbers about the farms, and, if the proportions were greater, they would be useful in clearing the ground of the injurious lumbrici. But the traveller observes that gallinaceous birds, originally natives of the tropics and of the lower temperates, though easily acclimated to the higher latitudes, will not thrive beyond the habitat of the civilised cereals. At any rate in Iceland their productiveness is limited.

It is generally known that there are no snakes in Iceland as in Ireland. Islands disconnected from continents by broad tracts of sea like Annobom and St Helena, notably lack venomous reptiles; the latter, however, have passed over the nineteen miles between Fernando Po and the Camarones mainland. Papilios and sphinxes, newts and lizards, frogs and toads, also shun the cold damp air. Mackenzie found a coccinella near the Geysir; and Madame Ida Pfeiffer secured two wild bees which she carried off in spirits of wine. The pests are gnats, midges, and fleas; the pediculus is well known, but the cimex, as in older England, has not yet become naturalised.

Mr J. Gwyn Jeffreys kindly obliged the author with the following note concerning a small collection forwarded to him.

“WARE PRIORY, HERTS, _5th October 1872._

“MY DEAR SIR,--.... The Iceland shells are as follows:

_Marine_--

1. Littorina obtusata, Linné; var. = L. palliata, Say. = L. limata,
Lovén.

_Land_--

2. Helix arbustorum, L.

3. Succinea putris, L.; var. Groenlandica, Beck.

_Fresh-water_--

4. Pisidium nitidum, Jenyns; var. Steenbuchii, Müller.

5. Limnæa peregra, Müller; var. Vahlii, Beck.

“Most of the land shells of Iceland are usually thin, from a
deficiency of lime or calcareous material. This is not the case
with the succinea, or with the fresh-water shells, and much less
with the marine.

“Nearly all your shells were broken.--Yours truly,

(Signed) “J. GWYN JEFFREYS.”

Baring-Gould (p. 114) found “fossil fresh-water shells on the sand formations between the trap-beds.”

The sportsman must not expect to see in Iceland that “abundance of game,” promised by old and even by writers of the last decade; he may content himself with No. 5 shot--No. 1, or swan shot, being now useless. Fur is hardly to be had; no foreigner has yet brought down a reindeer; and the seals belong to the owner of the shore. The people kill Reynard with “fox-shot”--but vulpecide will scarcely commend itself to the Englishman. Feather is nearly as rare. Eider ducks are defended by law, and the author, after visiting the most likely places, can count the ptarmigan flushed; they are generally “potted” sitting in the snow when they approach the farms. Only four whoopers showed themselves _dulcibus in stagnis_; these singing swans, whose music is mentioned by every winter-traveller, are becoming strangers as in the Orkneys and Shetlands. The great auk is gone--for ever gone; all his haunts have lately been ransacked in vain. Eight or nine years ago the lakes and ponds swarmed with duck; now their places know them no more. Sandpipers, common and purple; malingering golden plover,[213] oyster-catchers, curlew, and whimbrel, and the characteristic whimbrel (_Numenius phæopus_, Icel. Spói), all of them detestable eating, with an occasional snippet or snipe, especially the Hrossa-gaukr[214] (“horse-snipe,” _Gallinago media_), so called from its neighing cry, and, perhaps, from the popular idea of its throwing somersaults in the air, can hardly be called inducements--except to a Cockney gun. The one sufficient reason for this disappearance of birds is the systematic robbery of their nests; an ever-increasing population with decreasing means must eat up everything eatable.

§ 2. NOTES ON THE FLORA.

The vegetation of Iceland, like Greenland, is that of Scandinavia, which Dr Hooker has shown to be one of the oldest on the globe. The popularly adopted computation gives 407 species of Phanerogams, of which one-eighth are grain-bearing; one-eighth leguminous; one-ninth cyperaceæ; one-seventeenth composite, and about one-eighteenth crucifers.

That the present poverty of bread-stuffs is comparatively modern, may be proved by such names as Akrey, Akureyri, Akranes, Akra-hverar, and a host of others, all derived from Akr, a corn-field; the Aker of Lappland (ἀγρός, ager, acker, acre). We have also the distinct testimony of ancient literature. The Landnámabók (p. 15) mentions the Arðr[215] (aratrum) and ploughing with cattle. The Njála says, “Bleikir akrar en slegin tún”--the corn-fields are bleached (to harvest) and the tún is mown. Though the island is now placed north of the barley-limit, crops of barley and rye have apparently been grown.

Forbes and other writers attempt to explain away the significance of “akr,” by suggesting that the indigenous wild oat might have been cultivated in former days, and hence the traces of tilled and furrowed fields which have been allowed to relapse into the savage state. This grain of many names (_Avena arenaria_, _Elymus arenarius_, _Granum spicatum_, _secalinum maritimum spicâ longiooe_, and _arundo foliorum lateribus convolutis acumine pungente_) is popularly called Melr;[216] and old authors divide the “sea-lyme grass” of Iceland into two species--(1.) _Avena arenaria_, and (2.) _Avena foliorum lateribus convolutis_. The opinion is untenable for two reasons. Firstly, the cereal is a local growth, nourishing chiefly in the Skaptarfells Sýsla and in the Mýrdals and Skeiðarár Sandur; it exists in the north-east of the island; but it does not yield food. Secondly, transplantation has often been tried during the last few years, for instance, to the Borgarfjörð, and other highly favourable spots, with one effect--like Kangaroo grass in Australia, the grain refused to ripen. Finally, we may observe, Ólafsson and Pállsson on their journey through Iceland, nearly a century ago, mention wheat growing in the southern districts.

The cause of the change, sometimes attributed to oscillations of temperature, is simply disforesting, which has promoted the growth of bog and heath now covering half the island, which allows storm-winds to sweep unopposed over the surface, and which, since the Saga times, has necessarily rendered the cold less endurable to cereals. A number of local names, beginning with Reynir, the sorb apple (_Sorbus edulis_),[217] proves that groves of the wild fruit-tree, whose pomaceous berries, rich in malic acid, were munched by the outlaw, once flourished where there is now not a trace of them. The Landnámabók (chap, i., p. 7) expressly declares that Iceland was wooded from the sea to the mountains, or inner plateau (var thá skógr milom fjalls og fjöru); and tells us how, as in Madeira Island, the woods were destroyed by fire. Vain attempts have been made to remedy an evil which is now all but irreparable; without nurseries and walls, the young plants are always wind-wrung. As in the Orkneys and Shetlands, the only trees now growing wild are rowans; birches (_Betula alba_, _nana_, and _fruticosa_), and ground-juniper (_J. communis_, Icel. Einir); the dwarf red, grey, and green-grey willows (_Salix Lapponum_, etc., Icel. Grá-Víðir), of which sixteen species have been collected, hardly ever exceed the size of sage, which, indeed, the Selja (_S. caprea_) greatly resembles. The twiggy birch-thickets seldom surpass six feet in height, the northern part of Iceland being the extreme limit of the growth; and a tree whose topmost leaves rise fifteen feet excites general admiration. The verdant patches labelled Skógr (forest), and scattered in the map, especially about the Lagarfljót, the Thjórsá, and the Hvítá, denote this scrub. Yet the bogs supply tree stumps a foot and more in diameter.

The wild flora of Iceland is small and delicate, with bright bloom, the heaths being especially admired; and the traveller is at first surprised to find no difference in the vegetation of the uplands and the lowlands.

Baring-Gould (Appendix C.) gives of Dicotyledons, Ranunculaceæ (14 species), Papaveraceæ (2), Cruciferæ (22), Violaceæ (4), Drosereæ (2), Polygalaceæ (1), Caryophyllaceæ (25), Linaceæ (1), Hypericaceæ (1), Geraniaceæ (3), Leguminosæ (8), Rosaceæ (20),[218] Pomeæ (2), Onagraceæ (9), Haloragaceæ (2), Portulacaceæ (1), Crassulaceæ (17), Saxifragaceæ (19), Umbelliferæ (7), Araliaceæ (1), Cornaceæ (1), Rubiaceæ (10), Valerianaceæ (1), Dipsacaceæ (2), Compositæ (26), Campanulaceæ (2), Vacciniaceæ (4), Ericaceæ (7), Pyrolaceæ (3), Gentianaceæ (15), Polemoniaceæ (1), Boraginaceæ (6), Scrophulariaceæ (18), Labiatæ (8), Lentibulariaceæ (2), Primulaceæ (3), Plumbaginiæ (2), Plantaginaceæ (6), Chenopodiaceæ (3), Sceleranthaceæ (1), Polygonaceæ (13), Empetraceæ (1), Callithrichaceæ (2), Ceratophyllaceæ (1), Urticeæ (2), Betulaceæ (3), Salicaceæ (17), and Coniferæ, only one J. Communis.

The Monocotyledons are Orchidaceæ (13), Trilliaceæ (1), Liliaceæ (1), Melanthaceæ (3), Juncaceæ (11), Juncaginaceæ (2), Typhaceæ (1), Naidaceæ (7), Cyperaceæ (47), and Gramineæ (50). The Acotyledons are Polypodiaceæ (13), Ophioglossaceæ (2), Lycopodiaceæ (8), and Equisetaceæ (6).

The traveller refers for details to his own pages, to Hooker’s Journal (1813), to Zoega’s “Flora Islandica,” to Preyer and Zirkel’s “Reise nach Island,” to Dr W. L. Lindsay’s “Flora of Iceland” (Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, July 1861), and to Dr Hjaltalín’s “Grasafræði” (Handbook of Icelandic Botany, 8vo, 1830).

Building-wood is wholly imported. Fuel, here used only for the kitchen, is supplied by the Argul of the Tartar, “chips” (_fimo bubulo pro lignis utuntur_); by peat, which varies in depth from two to twenty-seven yards; and by driftwood, which adds considerable value to the shores receiving it. There are two chief deposits, the northern supplied by Septentrional Europe, and the western by the New World; the latter has of late years so much diminished that the islanders expect soon to see it cease.

Concerning the origin of that miocene growth, Surtar-brand,[219] or Iceland lignite, there are two conflicting opinions. Older writers believe it to be a local production, a growth like that which created the coal of the carboniferous period. The more modern support the theory that it is accumulated driftwood, semi-fossilised like Zanzibar copal, by heat and pressure. The question is still open to new light; but as fossil leaves of plants were brought from Disco by Sir Edward Belcher’s Expedition; as we have convincing proofs that those latitudes were once inhabited by forests presenting fifty to sixty species of arborescent trees, elm, oak, pine, maple, and plane; and, what is more remarkable, by apparently evergreen trees and quasi-tropical flora, showing that these regions must have had perennial light; we must incline to the old opinion. Early in this century, the Danish Government promised rewards to “persons who shall find out easier methods of breaking and using Surtar-brand from the rocks” (Hooker), but we do not hear that any one has deserved such generosity.

The greatest deposits of Swart-brand are on the north-western Fjörðs, where it has been mined to a small extent, and whence specimens have been sent to England. It is mostly found bedded in layers three or four inches thick, alternating with trap. The surface is usually black and shiny, flaking, and otherwise behaving like lignite; burning with a weak flame and a sour smell like wet wood. The smiths formerly preferred it to sea-coal, “because it did not waste the iron;” when powdered, it preserved clothes from the moth, and, being an antiseptic, it was used internally against colics. The author was shown a specimen of true pitch-coal from the Hvítá valley; it is mentioned by Mackenzie (p. 368), who describes it as highly combustible, but not existing in large quantities. This source of wealth, as well as Iceland spar, Iceland moss, cryolite, and especially the sulphur fields, will be noticed in future pages; further details about the interesting Surtar-brand will also be given in the Journal.

§ 3. AGRICULTURE.

At present the grass lands are the wealth of the island, as they pasture the flocks and herds, which form the chief means of subsistence, and the most important articles of industry and commerce. The meadows are grassed over by nature, not ploughed nor harrowed, such implements being rarely used. Nor are they seeded, although Dillon (p. 125) speaks of the weedy grass crop being _sown_ in May, growing about June in weedy pastures where, shortly before, no vegetation had been, and being fit for mowing in later August, when the snow is off the hills,[220] and when garden-stuff is ripe. The grass is soft and thick, much like our red-top, and about six inches high; only in rare places the ponies wade up to their knees in through the rich meads. The hay is carefully “sheared,” and is exceedingly sweet. White clover (_Trifolium repens_, Icel. Smári) flourishes; and on the streams it is found growing spontaneously with carraway (_Carum carui_); the red species wants, they say, the fructifying insect.

Mackenzie, and other old travellers, assure us that the island requires nothing but active and intelligent men, able to combat the prejudices and to stimulate the exertions of the peasantry. The latter complain of the neglect of the Danish Government, and call upon Hercules, but will not help themselves. It is conceded that draining, ploughing, and manuring would improve the soil. But the question still remains, Is the short summer sufficient to ripen grain? Late experiments with seed-corn have proved failures, one quarter of a barrel yielded only half a barrel; this suggests that in the older day seed was imported. Moreover, the taxes and the tenure of land militate against improvement; whilst the excessive labour and expense required for the first steps, such as levelling the soil, place the preliminary operations beyond the reach of most Bændr. Governor Thodal (1772) sowed barley, which grew very briskly: a short time before it was to be reaped, a violent storm scattered the grains from the ears (U. v. Troil, p. 47). Governor Finsen tried oats in his compound, but they stubbornly refused to ripen. Many a summer will pass before an island poet will again sing the “Georgics of Iceland,” and before the island can bear the motto, “Cruce et Aratro.”

At the close of the eighteenth century the Crown of Denmark established, in the northern district of the Húnavatn, model farms, chiefly directed by foreigners. The grains experimented upon were mostly oats, barley, and rye, autumnal and vernal (_Secale cereale, hybernum et æstivum_). When protected by walls, the rye almost ripened, but the ears were seldom fecund. Still remain for trial various German ryes (_Johanniskorn_ or _Studentenkorn_); spelt (_Triticum spelta_); the buckwheat of Tartary (_Polygonum Tataricum_); the _Triticum monococum_, and sundry kinds of barley, the square autumnal (_Hordeum vulgare hybernum_); the square vernal, so useful to middle Europe (_H. v. æstivum_); and, above all, the Lapland barley, which Linnæus says may be planted at the end of May, and reaped on July 28. Abyssinia and the Western Hemisphere will supply the island with edible meadow-grasses and millet-grasses, Poas, and Festucæ (_Ovina_ and others),[221] and especially with the Quinoa (_Chenopodium quinoa_) of the Peruvian Andes, which ripens where no other corn grows. And let us hope that the indigenous cereals have not yet had a fair chance.

In the last century Hr Haldorsen introduced the potato, which has now extended over the island. Dillon calls it a pigmy, and compares it with a tennis ball; but it has improved since his day. Turnips would flourish, especially upon the warmer coasts, where the sub-soil is palagonitic sand, and where manure of seaweed abounds. Radishes, as now cultivated, are hard, coarse, and woody: spinach is a success, and much might be done to fatten the indigenous sorrel. The Stranda Sýsla to the north-west has attempted with various fortunes, sundry kinds of caules; the broccoli, which grows quickly; the turnip-cabbage (_Brassica oleracea gangloides_), eaten in summer; the curled cole-wort (_B. o. sabellica_), kept for winter use; the red cabbage, strong to resist cold; the large growing white variety (_B. o. capitata alba_), and the cauliflower, which hardly exceeds the size of a man’s fist--it is found, however, that the two latter refuse to seed. The other pottage-plants are lettuces, common in gardens; beetroot, red and yellow; carrots; onions, garlic, and shalots (_Al. asculonicum_); chervil (_Scandix cerefolium_); black mustard, which, considering the climate, attains unusual dimensions; water cress; radishes; horse radish (_Raphanus niger_); and parsley, the latter taking six to seven weeks before it rises above ground. In 1865, there were about 7000 garden plots.

The tenure of land is either by lease from the Crown and the Church, or held in fee simple; the latter is the old Óðal,[222] preserved in modern Norway. Since ancient times, there has been a fourfold division of estates: (1.) King’s land, bearing a succession duty of 1 per cent., and assigned to a family as long as it pays its rent; (2.) Church land; (3.) Freehold, held by contributing land-tax; and (4.) Land charitably bequeathed to the poor. Crown property may be granted either by the Sýslumaðr, whose income is often eked out by a temporary tenure gratis; or by the Umboðsmenn,[223] of whom there is generally one for every two Sýslas. They are also paid by grants of Government farms; they receive a percentage upon those they lease, and they report to the Land-fógeti (treasurer). Church property is under the Amtmaðr, controlled by the bishop, but, as a rule, it is sub-leased by the parish priest in whose living it is. A large proportion of farms is thus held. The poor lands are let by the rector and the Hreppstjórar, superintended by the Sýslumenn. The tenant, besides agreeing to support one or more paupers, pays ground-rent for all buildings upon the farm, and he can underlet it in parts, the sub-tenant paying, perhaps, a barrel of rye per annum.

Mackenzie compares the tenure of land leased to the farmer with the Scotch “steel-bow;” the rent is paid in two ways:

1. Landskuld, lease-money or rent owed by the tenant to the Crown, the Church, or the landowner. It is taken in specie or in kind, at the rate of $2 to $3 per $100. The latter is supposed to be fixed by ancient valuation; practically, it is very unsettled; and in Iceland, as elsewhere, the landlord will strive to obtain the terms most favourable to himself.

2. Lausa-fè, the rent on movable property, especially kine and sheep, opposed to land, or even land with its cattle. It is generally levied in butter, one of the articles of currency. Each tenant is bound to take over from his predecessor the permanent stock on certain conditions, and to leave the same number when he quits.

Property cannot be entailed. The estates of those dying intestate are distributed amongst the children; formerly, whole shares fell to sons, half shares to daughters--all now share equally. This process justifies De Tocqueville, who, expressing his surprise that ancient and modern publicists had paid so little attention to succession laws, regarded them as the most important of political institutions.

Dufferin seems to think (pp. 141, 142) that almost perpetual leases are the rule in Iceland: the contrary is the case; and the small proportion of freehold is a crying evil. Many farms are let to tenants at will from year to year, with six months’ notice: evictions are allowed by law for neglect or misconduct, easily proved by the rich against the poor; and the ejected farmer’s only remedy is to disprove the charges by a survey of the Hreppstjórar, and of two respectable neighbours. The instability of landed tenure, the undefined state of the tenant-right, and the certainty of rents being raised by the parson or the Umboth-superintendent, if profits increase, for instance if minerals be discovered, are potent obstacles to regular and energetic improvement. The remedy evidently lies in the sale of Crown property, and in the secularisation of Church lands, with due compensation to the actual holders.

The farms are all named, mostly from natural features. There are, however, not a few which have borrowed from the outer world, for instance a Hamburg in the Fljótsdalr: even “Jerusalem” is not unknown--the result of Crusading days. The best are on the north side of the island; yet the three most generally cited as models are Viðey off the west coast, and Hólmar and Möðrudalr, to the east. The south-western (not the southern) shore supports a fishing rather than a pastoral or agricultural population. The non-maritime people live in scattered homesteads, which nowhere form the humblest village: this is the unit of the constitutional machinery of Iceland, as the township was amongst the Anglo-Saxons. The only settlements are the trading-places on the sea-shore.

Drainage and fencing are not wholly neglected. In 1856 there were 40,202 fathoms of ditching, and 44,671 fathoms of railing, these improvements being all modern work. Each farm has, besides the “tún,” a bit of lowland upon which grass is grown, and a large extent of barren hill and moorland, where the sheep graze during the fine season; this is always assumed to belong to the property. Hence the Shetland phrase, “fra the heist off the hill to the lawest off the ebbe” (milli fjalls og fjöru). The “Bær” is divided from its neighbours by Vörður (“warders”), or landmarks, natural and artificial; the latter are stone heaps, the former some marked limit, as a hill, a rock, or a stream. The boundaries are a perpetual cause of dispute, and some of the most complicated lawsuits have thus arisen. Not a few of the wilder peasantry live in a chronic state of land-feud; they “make it up” over their cups, and they return to the natural belligerent condition when sober.

The tenants of an Iceland farm usually number six classes.

1. Bonders (Bændr),[224] the Shetland Boonds, franklins, farmers, or yeomen; the “upper ten.”

2. Húsmenn, or tómthúsmenn, who have houses upon the farm, but are not allowed pasturage or haymaking. They have been confounded by travellers with--

3. Kaupamenn, labourers working for hire.

4. Hjáleigumenn (crofters), those who occupy the hjáleiga, or a small farm, an appendage to the larger establishments.

5. Servants (Icel. Vinnumenn).

6. Paupers (Icel. Ómagar or Niðursetningr).

Much harm is done by the multitude of lazy loons that gathers round the farmer, a practice dating from ancient days, all striving to live upon the best of the land, with the least amount of work.

Thus we see that “agriculture,” being absolutely confined to haymaking, is a mere misnomer in Iceland, nearly three-quarters of whose population is pastoral, though not nomad. The wealth of the country consists of sheep, horses, and black cattle; goats are spoken of in the north, but the author did not see a single head.

Since the first third of the nineteenth century, Iceland has witnessed a gradual and regular increase of population, and a proportionate decrease of live stock.[225] The following are the numbers of animals given by Mackenzie for 1804:

Cows, 15,595 Heifers, 1,556 Bulls and oxen, 1,132 Calves, 2,042 ----- Total of cattle, 20,325

Milch ewes, 102,305
Rams and wethers, 49,527
Lambs, 66,986
-------
Total of sheep, 218,818
Total of horses, 26,524

In 1834-35, according to Mr John Barrow, jun., repeated in 1854 by Mr Pliny Miles, the total of sheep, the chief staple of the land, was 500,000. M. Eugène Robert gives 617,401 for 1845. But in 1855 appeared the disease (_scabies_) which, according to the “Oxonian” (p. 389), in two years killed off 200,000 head: in many parts of the island it still rages.

In 1863 Paijkull assigned 350,000 sheep and 22,000 head of black cattle to 68,000 souls. In 1871 the official numbers are:

Milch ewes and lambs, 173,562 Barren ewes, 18,615 Wethers and rams above one year old, 55,710 Yearlings, 118,243 ------- Total, 366,130

or a falling off of 134,000, where the population has gained since 1834-35 upwards of 13,700.

The next source of profit in Iceland is breeding black cattle. According to the same traveller, the total in 1834 was 36,000 to 40,000 head. The official tables for 1871 give:

Cows and calves, 15,634 Bulls and bullocks above one year old, 828 Yearlings, 2,649 ------ Total, 19,111

or a falling off of nearly half, when the population has increased about one-fifth.

The following table shows the comparative numbers:

1855 there were of sheep, 489,132 of horned cattle, (?) of horses, (?) 1860 ” 309,177 ” (?) ” (?) 1866 ” 393,295 ” 20,357 ” 35,241 1867 ” 368,591 ” 19,003 ” 33,768 1868 ” 351,167 ” 17,968 ” 31,796 1869 ” 356,701 ” 18,342 ” 30,835 1870 ” 352,443 ” 18,189 ” 30,078 1871 ” 366,130 ” 19,111 ” 29,688

Thus, not including 1871, the number of horses since 1855 has decreased upwards of 25 per cent., horned cattle 23 per cent., and sheep a little more than 31 per cent.

Black cattle, according to Mackenzie, resemble the largest Highland breed; the author thought them far more like our short-horns in general, and especially Alderneys. Dillon makes them generally hornless,[226] and the breed has remained unchanged. The cows yield an abundance of milk, sometimes ten to twelve quarts a day. There has been no disease amongst the “slaughter-creatures,” as Icelanders call black cattle, but the gold of California and Australia has affected even Ultima Thule. In 1830-40 the price of a cow, $4, had increased to $28 in 1870; in 1872 it had risen to $50-$80, and the animal often cost $100 to $120 in rearing. Twenty years ago the pound of beef fetched eight to ten skillings (farthings); now it averages one mark (fourpence) to one mark three skillings. Few householders own more than eight head of cattle, and probably half that number would be a high average. The community lives chiefly upon milk and fish; hence the sale of a cow is to the children the death of a friend, causing tears and lamentations.

The large but scattered flocks of sheep are the chief support of the islandry. The peasants pay rent and debts in June and July by the wool which is then washed and ready for sale; and in September and October by wether-mutton smoked and cured; by grease and tallow, and by sheep-skins and lamb-skins with the coat on. They reserve the butter and cheese mostly for bargains and for household use. In 1770 the wether sold for $1; in 1810 it had risen to $2, and even $5, and in 1872 to $9. Besides supplying food, the animals yield material for local industries--coarse cloth, clothes, frocks and jackets, mittens, stockings and socks, made by the women, and used or exported. The fleece, which may average two to four pounds,[227] is not sheared, but “roo’d,” or plucked when loose, with little pain to the wearer. Though coarse it is long, while under the hard outer coat (Icel. Tog or Thel) there is a fine soft tog, not a little resembling the “Pashm” of Persia, Afghanistan, and Northern India. The price varies considerably, the usual limits being tenpence to a shilling. Of course it depends greatly upon the export, which in some years has reached 1,750,000 lbs.; in 1868 about 625,000 lbs. were shipped to England. The “scraggy,” long-legged animal suggests, on the whole, the old Scotch breed. Intermixture of merino and other blood has been partially tried, but it is a disputed point whether improved form and quality of wool have or have not brought increased liability to disease. The surest way to improve the island-sheep is to feed it better, but the peasant is too lazy to shear the hills for hay not absolutely necessary.

The exportation of live stock unaccompanied by proportional emigration may end in a calamity. Fatal famines deform the island annals, and in any year another may result from an inclement summer, producing scarcity of grass. It would be justifiable to part with necessaries if the profits were laid out upon improvements; but this is far from being the case. The peasant sells his cattle and sheep to buy for himself vile tobacco; “bogus” cognac; brennivín or kornschnaps, and perhaps even “port” and “sherry;” and for his wife chignon and crinolines, silks and calicoes, instead of the homely but lasting frieze cloth. His grandfather infused Iceland moss; he must drink coffee, while raisins or cassonade are replaced by candied or loaf sugar. Figs boiled with rice and milk were then offered to guests, and angelica root was a _boccon ghiotto_. And so with other matters. The Althing has attempted to curb the crying evil of ever increasing drunkenness, the worst disease of the island because the most general, by a tax which will be described under the head of cesses; and sensible men would see it increased.

During the last forty years the number of horses has gradually fallen to half; in 1871 the total was only 3164 over the 26,324 which Mackenzie gave for A.D. 1804. In 1834, according to John Barrow, jun., a careful observer, though apparently his figures do not come from official sources, the census varied from 50,000 to 60,000; and the same is given for 1835 by Mr Pliny Miles (1854), who may have copied his predecessor. In 1845 the census numbered 34,584. In 1862 the late Professor Paijkull counted 37,000, or 0·5 per head of population; during that year 828 (?) were exported to Scotland viâ Belgium. The last census, for June 6, 1871, shows:

Horses and mares, four years old and upwards, 23,059
” ” under three years, 6,629
------
Total, 29,688

The following figures denote only the exportation from the capital; though many animals are bought in other parts of the island, they are usually driven to Reykjavik, and the people complain that the west, where horse-flesh is scarcest, sends out the most. Those embarked at the chief port, sometimes in troops of 400, were either two-year olds or upwards of ten-year old, and many appeared to the author fit only for the knacker’s yard.

In 1861 (Consular Reports, 1865) were imported into Great Britain, 444 head. ” 1862 total export (Paijkull) 828 head; Parl. Rep. give 856 “ ” 1863 Consular Report ” 345 “ ” 1864 ” and official figures on island ” 470[228] “ ” 1869 official figures ” 507 “ ” 1870 ” ” 906 “ ” 1871 ” ” 1018 “ ” 1872 a conjecture perhaps understated ” 2000[229] “

For three years Dr Hjaltalín advised the Althing to impose a heavy tax on exported horses, and to expend the income upon road-making: the plan was too sensible to suit the majority. The theorists, who are not a few in Iceland and Denmark, object to unfree trade, and look only at present profits--when will nations learn that to imitate one another often produces not a copy but a caricature? Upon the subject of horse-flesh, further details will be found in the Journal.

To resume: Mr Consul Crowe (Report, 1870-71) gives the following value-tables of farm-produce:

-------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 1864. | 1865. | 1866. | 1867. | | |-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | Salt meat, brls. | 1,902 | 716 | 2,206 | 2,985 | | Tallow, lbs. | 453,279 | 461,193 | 452,261 | 556,254 | | Salted sheep- | | | | | | skins, pieces, | 8,438 | 2,870 | 11,552 | 14,592 | | Sheep-skins, do. | 8,411 | 31,649 | 30,729 | 26,886 | | White wool, lbs. | 1,215,162 | 1,393,161 | 1,547,169 | 1,223,580 | | Black ” ” | 15,893 | 21,858 | 25,886 | 8,303 | | Mixed ” ” | 109,538 | 116,241 | 132,394 | 96,881 | --------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------- | | 1868. | 1869. | | |-----------+-----------| | Salt meat, brls. | 2,003 | 2,758 | | Tallow, lbs. | 530,798 | 451,655 | | Salted sheep- | | | | skins, pieces, | 8,861 | 14,746 | | Sheep-skins, do. | 12,393 | 15,862 | | White wool, lbs. | 1,423,392 | 1,218,067 | | Black ” ” | 7,779 | 7,942 | | Mixed ” ” | 122,456 | 97,618 | --------------------------------------------

Of which the annual exported value is--

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | S. AMT. | W. AMT. | N. & E. | WHOLE ISLAND. | | | | | AMT. | | | |----------+----------+----------+----------------+----------| | | Value | Value | Value | Quantities. | Value | | | Rix dols.| Rix dols.| Rix dols.| | Rix dols.| | |----------+----------+----------+----------------+----------| | Salt meat, | 3,150 | 2,185 | 35,910 | 2,095 brls.| 41,245 | | Tallow, | 15,334 | 5,813 | 61,394 | 484,240 lbs. | 82,541 | | Salted sheep- | | | | | | | skins, | 826 | 112 | 8,602 | 10,176 pcs. | 9,540 | | Sheep-skins, | 525 | 331 | 893 | 20,988 ” | 1,749 | | White wool, | 121,218 | 65,847 | 205,354 | 1,336,755 lbs. | 392,419 | | Black ” | 2,253 | 835 | 1,201 | 14,610 ” | 4,289 | | Mixed ” | 6,922 | 4,126 | 12,394 | 112,521 ” | 23,442 | | |----------+----------+----------+----------------+----------| | Total, | 150,228 | 79,249 | 325,748 | ... | $555,225 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

§ 4. FISHERIES.

Faber mentions forty-five species of fish, seven of them being inhabitants of fresh waters; but the list is evidently incomplete. Of Cetaceæ alone the Iceland seas produce thirteen varieties: we shall visit the headquarters of whale-catching on the eastern coast. The Hákall, or edible shark, is also an animal of importance far surpassing the seal. The halibut (Spraka) is rare in the south, but it is found in abundance in the north-west; the sole is wanting, and the herring (Síld) is unaccountably absent, except in the north and east; the latter sometimes enters the bays and gives a little work about Seyðisfjörð and Akureyri, but it does not pay.[230] Mackerel, lobsters and oysters, shrimps and prawns, are unknown; there are crabs which contain little meat, and a variety of limpets (_Patella_), and mussels (_Mytilus edulis_), eaten and used for bait. The principal fish upon the coast are the true cod (_Gades morrhua_); the ling (_Lota morrhua_), with the long dorsal fin; the hake (_G. merlucius_); the haddock (_G. æglefinnus_); the coal-fish (Icel. Isa; _G. carbonarius_); the skate (_Raia_; Icel. Skata), and the stinging-ray (_R. trygon_; Icel. Graðskata or Tindabikkja). The rivers teem with salmon (_S. salar_); the lakes and ponds with trout (Silungr) and char (_Salmo Alpinus_).[231]

Ichthyological study is everywhere in its infancy, and awaits its full development, when the greatly increased density of earth’s population will enhance the difficulty of supplying it with a sufficiency of food. The late Professor Agassiz ably vindicated the superiority of fish-diet for brain-workers, as well as for the poor classes of society,--it abounds in phosphorus and “ohne Phosphor keine Gedanken.” The noble fisheries of Iceland are still in the most primitive style of development; the appliances are of the poorest, and the people display neither energy nor intelligence, which must be aroused by an impulse from without. The returns, as we shall see, are considerable, but they might be indefinitely augmented if modern improvements and commercial enterprise were enlisted to make the best of this generous source of wealth.

For the ocean is emphatically the poor man’s larder. With equal capital and labour it is made far more productive than the earth, and the ratio is ever increasing in its favour. Whilst land-animals give birth to one or two young at a time, fish produce their millions, and the bulk far exceeds anything that walks the earth. Whilst, at most, one-eighth of Iceland is capable of yielding food in any appreciable quantities, the circumpolar seas swarm with profuse life, tier upon tier extending thousands of feet deep. “In hot latitudes the deep-sea temperature diminishes till the mercury stands at 40° (F.); in the parallel of 70° the ocean, many degrees warmer than the land-surface, is of the same temperature at all depths.”[232] And as the voyager advances toward the poles, the diffusion of animal life increases prodigiously. The waters around Iceland, as about Greenland, produce endless forage for their tenants, such as the squids (_Sepiadæ_), and the _Clio Borealis_, the favourite pasture of the whale; whilst fine and nutritious grasses occupying the shore and the shallows yield pasture for the seals.[233] The rivers rolling glacier-water, and the white streams tinged by _detritus_, are, it is true, barren; but they bear down the alluvium of cultivated lands, and the drainage serves to augment the supply of food.

The abundant sea-harvests, especially of cod, soon attracted the attention of foreign nations; and as early as A.D. 1412, thirty European ships or crafts frequented the coasts of Iceland. Until 1872, the maritime territorial limits of four Danish, or nearly twenty English, miles, laid down by the law of 1787, were preserved with all its wholesome provisions, pains, and penalties. The new retains the old ordinance in case of necessity, but annuls certain objectionable parts; for instance, it allows the necessary landing and warehousing of fishermen’s stores on the payment of a moderate and conditional charge to the local poor-box.

It has been shown that the fisheries of Iceland are worked by 3500 boats, manned by upwards of 5000 souls, only one-tenth of those employed upon the farms. But this would give a false idea of the important industry which, depending upon the peculiar character of the people, has determined more than anything else the modes and the inspiration of national life. Especially between February and May, the “fishing peasants” flock to the shore; the seaboard farms and factories become populous, and the whole energy and interests of the island are turned to its characteristic occupation. Off the south-western county there is perennial fishery--salmon in spring, and cod nearly all the year.[234]

Cod fishing is carried on along the coast generally, sometimes even in the inner harbours. The western shores are peculiarly rich; and that most favoured is the southern coast between Keflavík and Hafnafjörð. Desolate in appearance beyond all other regions, excepting the giant Jökulls to the south-east, the south-western peninsula has deserved the name Gullbríngu Sýsla, “gold-bearing county,” from its sulphur diggings and magnificent fisheries.[235] And a glance at the map will show the admirable spawning-grounds off the western coast.

A royal decree, dated A.D. 1292, forbids the sale of dried cod to foreigners on the ground of an expected famine. Before the Reformation, England fished for herself; and as late as James I. the Iceland waters, where few are now seen, employed 150 vessels. Little by little, France, with patient and strenuous action, established a hold on, and afterwards a monopoly of, the Iceland deep-sea fishery; thus securing, as in Newfoundland, not only a source of national wealth, but a powerful reserve of experienced seamen. Certainly, no better school for sailors can be imagined than the dangerous and intricate navigation of the Iceland Fjörðs. In 1859, there were 269 French smacks and ships, varying from forty to eighty tons burden, and manned by 7000 fishermen; in 1872, even after the Prussian-French war, these figures were 250, averaging ninety tonneaux, and 3000 hands (_Revue Maritime et Coloniale_). They are protected by two, formerly three, men-of-war, which cruise about, repressing disorders, and aiding their compatriots with spars, provisions, and medical comforts. Collisions between natives and foreigners take place when the latter are driven, by the weather, the currents, and the movements of the fish, within the prohibited limits, now one league (= three miles) from the coast: also entanglement of gear often ends in a free fight. Forbes (Commander, R.N.) tells us (p. 208) that no such powerful reserve of trained seamen exists, except those engaged in the same occupation, and under similar regulations, on the cod-banks of Newfoundland.

Mr Consul Crowe (1865-66 and 1870-71), whose exhaustive Reports must be consulted for details which cannot find room in these pages, divides the Iceland “fisheries of the present day into three kinds, viz., the cod-fishery, shark-fishery, and whale-fishery.”

According to him (p. 30), the large cod, here not a migratory fish, remain during the winter near the island, and from February to March approach the south and west coasts to spawn, their course being from the west and south. The earliest and best fishings begin with early spring in the more temperate waters, and farther northwards about latter June or early July, ending with August. The fish, where it keeps close to the bottom, is landed by small drift-nets; it is “more squat and plump, with smaller head,” than those caught on the hook. Fishing with the ordinary long lines, and deep-sea or hand lines, opens about mid April; the little extension given to it arises from the poverty of the people. From one to four lengths of a strong thick line, each measuring sixty fathoms, are spliced together; and hanging lines six feet long are fastened at distances of from six to nine feet: the French can afford to use lines measuring 1500 to 2000 fathoms. The hook is the ordinary tinned English (No. 5), baited with mussels. “In order to obtain a white flesh, the first operation is to rip up the belly, the head is cut off, and the body is gutted, the liver and roe being separated and carefully kept. The backbone (blód-dalkr) is next extracted, as far as the third joint below the navel, after which the carcase is washed in salt water, and salted, one barrel (about 224 lbs.) being used to 352 lbs. After lying in salt for three or four days, the fish is washed and laid out singly on the rocks to dry; it is protected from dust and damp, and is frequently turned by the women, that both sides may be alike.” For home consumption, the cod is split and hung up unsalted in the “wind-house.” It is known by its shrivelled appearance, and, like the refuse heads, it is eaten uncooked. Although Hamburg pays 12s. 6d. per cwt. for fish guano, Iceland neglects this exportation. Finally, the cod-fish is sent in great part to Northern Europe (Denmark and Hamburg), and at least one-half to Spain and the Mediterranean; in fact, wherever the old world keeps Lent, and eats “baccalá.” The French, although great consumers, of course supply themselves.

Details concerning the whale and the shark will be found in the Journal (chap. xiii.). The supply of salmon from the northern and western coasts has been pronounced “literally inexhaustible;” yet mismanagement of rivers shows that they can greatly be damaged. The Laxá, near Reykjavik, in Mackenzie’s day (1810), yielded from 2000 to 3000 lbs. per annum; in 1872, the catch was nearly nil, although in the summer of 1873 it somewhat improved. Salmon was exported as early as 1624, but in small and irregular quantities, till taken up by Messrs Ritchie of Peterhead and Akranes. The house still employs nine Scotch hands to preserve the fish caught in the Borgarfjörð, the embouchure of the great Hvítá. But, although salmon began to appear in the returns as a regular article of export, the 22,000 lbs. of 1858 fell to 4000 in 1868, on account of the river being overworked. During the early season of 1872, the take was small, but it afterwards so increased that tins were wanting for preserves: the superintendent at Akranes pays thirteen skillings (3¼ d.) per lb. to the Borgarfjörð fishermen.

Iceland lacks the _Otaria_ or eared seals, sea lions, elephants, and wolves, of which one species, the _O. Falklandia_, supplies such valuable pelts; all its Phocæ are inauriculate. Naturalists give six species, viz.:

1. _Phoca fœtida._

2. _Callocephalus vitulinus_ or _Phoca littorea_, the common land-seal.

3. _Phoca barbata_, the great seal.

4. _Phoca Grœnlandica_ or _oceanica_, the harp-seal.

5. _Cystophora cristata_ or _leonica_, hooded or hood-cap seal (_Stemmatopus_).

6. _Phocula leporina_, haaf-fish or open-sea seal.

Old authors mention four kinds, viz., Rostungr (walrus), Vöðruselr, Blöðruselr, and Gránselr. Modern Icelanders preserve, like the Scotch,[236] three great divisions: 1. The land-seal, which keeps near the shore, and breeds there in spring; 2. The open-sea seal, that affects the distant rocks and reefs; and 3. The Greenland seal, which, during winter, haunts the Fjörðs. Further details will be found in the Journal.

The Iceland waters show four porpoises, viz.:

1. _Delphinus phocœna_, the common porpoise, smallest of the Cetaceæ.

2. _Delphinus bidens_ or _bidentatus_, Baleine à bec, the bottle-head or bottle-nosed whale; the “ca’ing whale” of the Scoto-Scandinavian islands.

3. _Delphinus orca_, the grampus.

4. _Albicans_ or white Beluga.

The following are approximate returns for fish and their products exported from Iceland in--

1806 1849 1870 Fish, 650,000 lbs. (Danish) ... ... Dried fish, 750,000 lbs. 938,080 lbs. 527,040 lbs. Salt cod, 150 barrels 5,248,000 lbs. 7,507,840 lbs. Cod oil, 807 ” } Shark oil, 1,663 ” } 3,259 barrels 9,424 barrels Seal oil, 24 ” } Fish liver, 12 ” ... ... Salted salmon, 28 ” 5,810 lbs. 245,392 lbs. Salted shark skins, 1,568 ” ... ...

The subjoined table shows what has been the export of cod and oil during the last six years.

------------------------------------------------------- | | 1864. | 1865. | 1866. | | |-----------+-----------+-----------+ | Salt-fish, lbs. | 6,296,224 | 2,917,024 | 3,855,104 | | Dried do. | 139,040 | 13,728 | 79,904 | | Salt-roe, brls. | 2,390 | 452 | 770 | | Liver oil, | 6,572 | 9,520 | 8,952 | -------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------- | | 1867. | 1868. | 1869. | | |-----------+- ---------+-----------| | Salt-fish, lbs. | 8,026,656 | 3,916,000 | 5,243,744 | | Dried do. | 335,280 | 266,464 | 442,816 | | Salt-roe, brls. | 1,962 | 578 | 977 | | Liver oil, | 13,083 | 8,757 | 7,744 | -------------------------------------------------------

The noteworthy point is the falling off of the salt-fish: perhaps the reason may be the expense of imported salt. During the last century the State established a saltern at Ísafjörð, but it was soon closed for want of patronage--Mr Consul Crowe remarks, “The very high temperature of the numerous hot springs which are quite accessible, would give an ever ready heat applicable for evaporation, and, I believe, a fresh attempt to utilise them would repay itself.” But salting is ever difficult.

It must be observed, of this table, that no account is kept of the quantity reserved for home consumption, which is doubtless large--the daily bread of some 70,000 souls. The general belief, however, is that the greater proportion of the catch is exported. Mr Consul Crowe thus calculates, according to the prices current during their respective years, the value of the average year’s export.