Another reason why the population does not increase is to be found in the
numerous catastrophes attending the fisheries during the stormy season of
the year. The fishermen leave the shore with songs and mirth, for a
bright sky and a calm sea promise them good fortune. But, alas, tempests
and snow-storms too often overtake the unfortunate boatmen! The sea is
lashed into foam, and mighty waves overwhelm boats and fishermen
together, and they perish inevitably. It is seldom that the father of a
family embarks in the same boat with his sons. They divide themselves
among different parties, in order that, if one boat founder, the whole
family may not be destroyed.

I found the cottages of the peasants at Reikjavik smaller, and in every
respect worse provided, than those at Havenfiord. This seems, however,
to be entirely owing to the indolence of the peasants themselves; for
stones are to be had in abundance, and every man is his own builder. The
cows and sheep live through the winter in a wretched den, built either in
the cottage itself or in its immediate neighbourhood. The horses pass
the whole year under the canopy of heaven, and must find their own
provender. Occasionally only the peasant will shovel away the snow from
a little spot, to assist the poor animals in searching for the grass or
moss concealed beneath. It is then left to the horses to finish clearing
away the snow with their feet. It may easily be imagined that this mode
of treatment tends to render them very hardy; but the wonder is, how the
poor creatures manage to exist through the winter on such spare diet, and
to be strong and fit for work late in the spring and in summer. These
horses are so entirely unused to being fed with oats, that they will
refuse them when offered; they are not even fond of hay.

As I arrived in Iceland during the early spring, I had an opportunity of
seeing the horses and sheep in their winter garments. The horses seemed
to be covered, not with hair, but with a thick woolly coat; their manes
and tails are very long, and of surprising thickness. At the end of May
or the beginning of June the tail and mane are docked and thinned, their
woolly coat falls of itself, and they then look smooth enough. The sheep
have also a very thick coat during the winter. It is not the custom to
shear them, but at the beginning of June the wool is picked off piece by
piece with the hand. A sheep treated in this way sometimes presents