, 1882-10-21
T 81 E ''Avlg,' %
gtrislinnslaa, 81, Sruiz,
SATURDAY Ast OCTOBER 1882.

an oversight Ill pIluCluS, ~ wac otdlC'A
that "the whole Of the island had remained
ice-bound throughout the summer" where
as it should have been " the whole OF the
north coast of the island &C."
We translate from the "Dagblad" q
portion ola letter from Iceland dated Reyk-
iavik 6 Sept
"On the 31st of last month the mail
steamer ValdemGr finally arrived here after
having for the first time this year steamed
around the island. She had not been
able to enter all the northwest ports, and
particularly the port Of Of0rd was block
ed by the ice.
At Cape Horn, the north western prOmOn-
tory, the steamer had also met with large
masses of ice, but had succeeded in sailing
round them by making a considerable de-
tour towards the north. The ice had then
not quite left the land, but the blockade is
no longer complete, only let US hope that
it has not been broken up too late. At
most of the harbours where the steamer
called, she brought the first supplies for
the present year. To alleviate the need,
the captain, i'll those northern ports where
the supply was too much under what was
required, had disposed OF many OF the
goods destined for the ports ofthe east and
south but it has only been a scanty aSSIS-
lance that has been rendered III tins man
ner; and as there are rumOurs that some
of the vessels bound for the Northern
ports have been lost, we are still anXlouSly
looking for more particular information.
According to the last news from the north,
which however is scarcer than usual be-
cause two of the newspapers on that coast
have had to stop for want Of paper, the
prospects with regard to the hay crop were
distressing, and it is feared that the people
VIII he forced to slaughter their cattle ex-
tenSiveIy in the autumn for want OF fodder.
The year 1882 will thus probably come to
rank among the worst of the many hard
years which our annals have to record.
In earlier times, when our means for I'M
porting supplies were still more imperfect
than they are now, the consequence OF
every "hard" year was a famine, and the
annals of Iceland tell of many a hard
year when the number of deaths was
three or four times that Of the births.
In the remote farms, where first the cat
tie had persisted for want of fodder, the
children and the aged died first for want
of sufficient food; those who were in their
prime made for the sea, but II then the
fisheries also failed, the misery only became
still greater. Our historians say that the
hard years come at the close OF each cen
fury. 1t is certain that q series OF bad
years passed over the country a hundred
years ago, partly on account OF ice
blockade and partly on account OF vol
canic eruptions, which especially devas-
tated the Vester-S kaftafelSsyssel IN the
south western part of the island, and
stories are still told of how the places near
the sea were invaded by people who came
from " the fire." and how there were found
on the mountain roads corpses of emaciat-
ed persons who had not been able to en-
dure the journey to the sea, and who had
suffered a similar fate with those members
of the jeanette expedition who persisted
from want of food and clothes in their
Journey over the Siberian desert. We
may hope, that, even if the hard years
which Iceland is now going through should
only be the introduction to a longer Sc
ries of like viSitations, there will be made
in good time provision to lessen the need,
partly by furthering the emigration OF
that part of the people who by the deS-
t"ructiOn of the live stock have lost their
principal means of subsistence, and part
ly by augmenting the supply OF food and
fodder for man and beast. 1t appears
thatin this regard the "Herreds commu-
ner'' established 10 years ago will be of
value. For each of the 10 "Herreder"
[Syslerl there is established a committee
consisting of representatives of the Sevc-
raj villages IBygderl. They have now,
in most places, taken the situation under
consideration, and although, so far as is
known, they have not been able to decide
on any measure other than to ask a loan
from the Land-treasury, yet that is