Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1886-04-06
LIFE IN ICELAND.
Guests Packed Away Promiscuoaasly Il
Narrow, Undesirable hunks.


All members Of an Iceland family
sleep in one room, and this, indeed,
often serves all purposes save that Of
kitchen, says a correspondent of the
Philadelphia Press. Very narrow, and
from six to twenty feet long. according
to the sizo of the family, with row of
low hunks on either side. leaving
space three or four feet wide down the
center, these rooms are lighted by one
small window at the end. ventilated bv
the door or trap through which they are
entered from below, and warmed bv
the heat Of the bodies collected In them.
The steeply-pitched roof, constructed Of
rafters and overlapping boards and
covered on tho outside with thick
layer of growing turf, rests on low
walls and makes it impossible to stand
upright except under the ridge. The
priests house and q few others have
giIest-chambers. with sometimes q stove,
which is only used on extraordinary
occasions, owing to the difficulty of
transporting fuel from the sea-ports.
Parties of tourists stop where there il Il
church and shiver out the night on the
eight-inch-wide benches. the vestment
4
one or two of you and no guest-room,
or that Is already filed, you generally
share, for experiences sake. in the
somewhat. .promiscuous nightly packing
of the family-for experience sake, e,mind
you, and you always get 1t, as well as
the only good idea of the home life of
the people.
Upon this evening found myself in
a room smokily and dimly lighted by
seal-oil, burned with Il wick Of cotton
grass in a lamp of brass, much like the
ancient lamps of the Greeks, but fur
nished with an overhanging arm and
Il swivel and boat-ho0k arrangement,
which permits of its being stuck or hung
wherever the user wishes Two hunks
on one side and one on the other were
literally full. In one man and two
boys, in another two women and child
rem, and in the third three men. all
sleeping like sardines in a box, the head
of one on the same pillow as the feet of
his next bed-fellows, and the space that
was not occupied by human beings
probably was by beings inhuman.
After shaking up the many boxes and
bundles under the rude mattress and
| giving an extra poke or two to the feath-
er or down-bed, which is the only form
of covering known i'm Iceland, one of
the girls m0tioned as to the bed where
we were TO sleep (an Iceland gentleman
| was TO share my bed), and then. as
if it were an everyday occurrence to
shock the senses of a modest traveller,
while we were undressing she. with
two others, proceeded to disrobe and
take possession Of the bunk opposite
ours, until .the last in bed put out the
light My companion somewhat sur
prised me by a warning to secrete any
valuables might have, but as he was
an Icelander thought il better to follow
his advice than to trust to the proyerbial
honesty of his countrymen. and after an
application from a box of rough on rats
no, we'll, never mind-I was soon un-
conscious, breathing carbonic acid gas
by the cubic yard. but in sweet oblivion
until awakened during the general turn
cut next morning.
The daylight revealed nothing new
except, perhaps, the many little articles
stuffed into every nook and crevice.
Furniture is scarce and n chest of
drawers luxury in an Icelandic habi-
tation, and odds and ends are hung on
nails in the roof, stuffed into the cracks.
or in boxes hidden away under the
mattresses in the hunks. Horn spoons,
knives and forks, bits of cloth. needles,
books, and iisll-hooks were tucked
promiscuously away, and old clothes
and fish hung over lines stretched length
wise of the ridge-p0le. 1t was interest
ing to see the men, after slipping into
the few clothes they had removed upon
retiring, sit on the edge Of the beds
chatting and slipping the coffee brought
bv the women.
Several times was reused from my
musings BY the rustling Of the disar-
ranged covering in bed which | had
supposed empty, and presently half
naked child would start up from the
depths and stare ii open-eyed wonder
at the stranger. who returned the gaze
with sense Of the ludicrous rising
within him. From beds where | had
counted three the night before four had
already risen. and how many more
were 10 follow? At the farther end of
the aisle mattress spread upon the
floor had served for The resting-place Of
three more girls. whose accustomed
bunk myself and companion had rrob-
ably occupied BIZ this time | had be-
| gun to feel the need Of little clean air.
and getting into nlv clothes. descend
ed to the guest-r0om, where I break
tasted on more mutton and tnrnipa, but
| lighted this time with cup Of chocolate
4 nrr III n4&sakxx In r,lszH& <..s. rsH~x.~.-