al intercourse. The
commonest peasant takes off his cap to another when they meet, and
shaking hands and snuff-taking are conducted on the most ceremonious
principles. They do not, however, wholly confine themselves to
stimulants for the nose. As soon as they get down to Reykjavik and
finish their business, they are very apt to indulge in what we call in
California "a bender;" that is to say, they drink a little too much
whisky, and hang around the stores and streets for a day or two in a
state of intoxication. At other times their habits are temperate, and
they pass the greater part of their lives among their flocks, free
from excitement, and as happy as people can be with such limited means
of comfort. The uniformity of their lives would of course be painful
to a people possessed of more energy and a higher order of
intelligence; but the Icelanders are well satisfied if they can keep
warm during the dreary winters, and obtain their usual supplies during
the summer. Sometimes a plague sets in among their sheep and reduces
them to great distress. Fire, pestilence, and famine have from time to
time devastated the island. Still, where their wants are so few, they
can bear with great patience the calamities inflicted upon them by an
all-wise Providence. Owing perhaps to their isolated mode of life,
they are a grave and pious people, simple in their manners,
superstitious, and credulous. They attend church regularly, and are
much devoted to religious books and evening prayers. No family goes to
bed without joining in thanksgiving for all the benefits conferred
upon them during the day. Living as they do amid the grandest
phenomena of nature, and tinctured with the wild traditions of the old
Norsemen, it is not surprising that they should implicitly believe in
wandering spirits of fire and flood, and clothe the desolate wastes of
lava with a poetic imagery peculiarly their own. Every rock, and
river, and bog is invested with a legend or story, to the truth of
which they can bear personal witness. Here a ghost was overtaken by
the light of the moon and turned to stone; there voices were heard
crying for help, and because no help came a farmer's house was burned
the next day; here a certain man saw a wild woman, with long hair, who
lived in a cave, and never came out to seek for food save in the midst
of a storm, when she was seen chasing the birds; there a great many
sheep disappeared one night, and it was thought they were ki