Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-05-07
LIFE AMONG THE ICELANDERS.

odd IN Its way as the famous Lap City
OF Hammerfest, the most northern in
Europe. In 1874, when they celebrated
the 1,000th anniversary of the founda-
ton of their republic-two years before
America made such fuss about her lit
tie one hundred years-there has been
spirit Of European innovation abroad
which threatens in time to destroy the
native characteristics of the place. Al
ready the houses on the outskirts of the
city begin to appear over ground, and
at q glance one gets fair idea of the
place. In the past the people Of Reyk-
javik were troglodytes, as most Of the
other jewellers On the island are yet.
They lived in bees, Or holes in the ground
covered with peaked roofs and so sodded
over that at short distance one could
not tell them from the surrounding
sward. In riding about the interior Of
the island one comes most Unexpectedly
on these houses in the midst of the
plain, without surrounding fences OF
anything else to give indication of hui
man habitation. OF all the dirty holes
in the world these native bees are the
dirtiest, and how people live in them is
beyond comprehension. One-helf Of
their dirt in temperate climate would
breed pestilence. In the winter time
the cattle, chickens, dogs and sheep
herd together here. The bees are about
twenty feet long by ten wide, and al
ways two of them are built close to-
gether and connected by a narrow
passage. In one, which has no fur
niture, the cooking is done at an open
fire built on the ground, from which the
smoke escapes, when SO inclined, through
hole in the roof. At all times the
floor Of this apartment, which is on the
ground. is dank and soft. This fire in
winter is the only means Of warmth the
natives have, and SO they accumulate
the animals in their dwellings, to borrow
some of their heat. To attempt to
warm bee with one of these fires
is about equivalent to trying to
warm the United States with a
match. The fires are Of turf and
seaweed, and, what with tho binding
smoke, emitted by the fuel, the smell of
the cattle and the not sweet odor of the
father, mother and litter of young brats,
one imagines what good metropolitan
sewer might be. This is not the excep-
ton but the rule, for in Iceland, as else
where, owing to the non-adaptability of
means to ends, there are more poor peo-
pie than rich. Reykjavik proper is
mostly made up of well-constructed
houses as comfortable as could be
wished. AS with the Germans, fine
linen is the ambition of every thrifty
housewife, and have dined from off
damask as thick as channels, and wiped
the sparkling drops Of Danish whisky
from my lips with napkins as soft as
Pongee silk. Some Of them are proud
of their pedigrees, too, and dined with
charming lady who allowed me to stir
the sugar in my tea with silver spoon
with which her honored and piratical
ancestor used to mix his punch. Tea
out of an iron spoon Of contemporaneoa
manufacture has tasted quite us good.
In some Of the houses I saw bits of cabi-
net work and wood carving that would
so intensity the bitterness of the adorers
of broken china and dreams in wood as
to make their present rawlings seem
mathematical and scientific. They were
all pirates here at one time, even as the
Englemen, the ancestors Of the English
nation were, and it so happens that I'M
less you can reach back your pedigree
to piratical times you don't belong to
the aristocracy. Some Of the descend
ants of the pirates have been so busy
getting a living that they have lost the
count further back than their grand
fathers, and so the aristoeracy here, as
all the world over, is confined to those
who have nothing else to do than to
think of their great-grandfather's great
grandmother. Among the lower classes
the women are not treated as well as
one could wish, but they have some in
estimable privileges. I need not en-
large on this topic. Public spirit is
liberal enough to allow women to ride
astride; but they have no voting ca
pacity, and in the matter of labor they
are much favored.
In other respects, the people here Go
credit to their 1000 years of civiliza-
ton. They support five newspapers,
which, for country of $4,000 inhabl-
tants, very scattered, is good--Reyk-
jauik Cor. NetD York Herald.