, 1876-01-26
&c E L A N D..
From the Times J

The other day a meeting OF the British
Scandinavian Society was held in the hall
of the Society of Arts, John-Street, Adel-
phi; General de Bulow, the Danish Min
lister, 10 the chair. There was a crowded
attendance. The chairman briefly intro
duced Mr.. George Browning, a member Of
the Icelandic Literary Society, who deliy-
cred q lecture on The National Life,
Manners, Mode of Travelling, &C., in Ice
land in the Present Day" In the course
of his remarks he said, during the last IL
or Is months, episodes had occurred in
the national life of Iceland not only of
interest to the Icelanders themselves, but
also to the whole Of Europe. These
episodes, however, were not altogether
bright-they had, indeed, their joyful side
and their sorroWful side, the Joyful side
being the millennium festival celebrated
last July, and the sorrowfuI side the vol
canic eruptions. lie then glanced at the
early history of the colonization of Iceland,
and attributed the settling of the Norwe-
gian Vikings in that i" far-off northern
cline" to necessity rather than will,
Since 1869 Iceland had been almost going
to sleep, but at the end Of the 18th centu-
ry a great flood of light had come over
the land, and many OF the greatest men in
Northern Europe came from Iceland.
The communication between Europe and
Iceland was extremely small for months
the Icelanders heard nothing of what was
going Oh in Europe, and the land was
one more for contemplation than invention
or progress. AS to volcanoes, the geogra-
phies told them there were % but he
thought there were probably $500. With
regard to travelling in Iceland, it was en-
tirely on horseback. There were no
bridges in the country, aud he might also
say no roads. People who travelled in
Iceland had to take a guide and a whip
perrin" for the horses, and three or four
persons who wished to see anything of
the country would have to provide them
selves with 12 or IA horses, which made
the country one of the most expensive in
Europe for travelling in. AS to the Gus
toms of the country, they were in a GER
tain degree very much the same as in the
rest of Europe, one of the principal cha
racteristics being the cordiality OF the peO-
pie. With regard to education, the chill
dren were educated at home in the farm
houses, and the pastors, at stated periods
during the year, examined them, and very
seldom made complaints. AS to the natu-
raj industries of Iceland, he thought much
more might be done, and he believed it
only required a little interest on the part
of the Danish Government to organize the
matter, when the whole face of Iceland
might be changed. With regard to the
development of the country, the first thing
to be done was the making of roads. The
lecturer then pointed out the principal
objects of interest in an chronological COL
lection which was exhibited, consisting
of national dresses, silver ornaments, MSS,
&c, from Iceland, the Farce Isles, and
Greenland. The collection, stated to be
the only one OF it's kind in Europe, is in
tended for America. He said one of the
chief causes which led him to take up the
subject on which he had lectured was his
opinion that more interest ought to be Ia
ken in the language, literature, and culture
:. of the North, and, in conclusion, he urged
the Importance of the study of Denmark,
Norway, and Sweden, because from the
North we might learn how to surmount
many Of the difficulties now surrounding