The Columbus journal., 1886-03-17
VceLAND's HOSPITALITY.

OcElAND'S HOSPITALITY
~ Prinaesvs Maa.sr u Rsar1ns WhlcA
shocks . Traveller.
All members of m Iceland family
deep in one room, and this, indeed.
often serves all purposes save that Of
kitchen. Very narrow. and from six
to twenty feet long, according to tho
size of the family, with a 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 BY the
door OF the trap through which they
are entered from below and warmed BY
the heat Of the bodies collected in them.
The steeply pitched roof, constructed
Of rafters and overlapping boards and
covered on the outside with . thick
layer Of growing turf, rests on low
walls and makes It impossible TO stand
upright, except under the ridge. Tho
priests houses and q few others have
guest chambers, with sometimes . stove,
which is only used on extraordinary
occasions, owing to the difficulty OF
Transporting fuel from the seaports.
Parties of tourists stop where there is
q church and SILVER ont the night on
the eight-inch wide benches, the vest
ment chests OF the floor, but if there
are only 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 experiences
sake, mind you, and you always get it.
- well As the only good idea OF the
home life of the people.
Upon this evening I found myself in
. room smokily and dimly lighted by
seal oil, burned with . wick of cotton
grass in . lamp of brass, much like the
ancient lamps of the Greeks. but
furnished with an overhanging arm and
q swivel and boat-hook 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 q man and
two boys. in another two women and
children, 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-fell0ws, 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
feather or down bed which is the only
form of covering known in Iceland, one
of the girls motioned us to the bed
where we were to sleep ian Iceland
gentleman was to share my bed,) and
then. as If it were Al everyday &C.
currence to shock the senses of a modest
traveller, while we were still undressing
she, with two others, proceeded to take
possession of the bunk opposite ours,
until ''the last in bed put out the light"
NY companion somewhat surprised mt
by . warning to secrete any valuables l
might have, but as he was an lcelander
I thought it better to follow his advice
than to trust to the proverbial honesty
of his countrymen, and after an apple
cation from a box of rough on rats-no,
well never mind-I was soon uncon-
scious. breathing carbonic acid gas by
the cubic yard, but in sweet oblivion
until awakened during the general turn
out next morning.
The daylight revealed nothing new,
except, perhaps, the many little articles
stuffed into every nook aud crevice.
Furniture is scarce and q chest Of
drawers a luxury in an Icelandic habi-
A>on .nl oll, .rI ,~lc n.n ~
nails in the roof, stuffed into the cracks
or in boxes hidden away under tho
mattresses in the hunks. Horn spoons.
knives and forks. bits of cloth, needless
books and fishhooks were tucked pro-
miscuOusly away. and old clothes and
fish hung over lines stretched length
wise of the ridgepole. 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
by the women.
Several times l was reused from my
musings by the rustling of the disar-
ranged covering in a bed which I had
supposed empty, and presently a half
naked child would start up from the
depths and stare in open-eyed wonder
at the stranger. who returned the gazS
with q sense of the ludicrous rising
within him. From a bed where I had
counted three the night before, four
had already risen, and how many moro
were to follow? At the further end of
the isle a mattress spread upon the
door had served for the resting place
of three more girls. whose accustomed
bunk myself and companion had pfoba-
bly, occupied. By this time l had be-
gun to feel the need of a little clean
air. and, getting into my clothes, I
descended to the guest-room where I
b~reakfasted on more mutton and tur.
nips, but lightened this time with a cup
Of chocolate and some English crackers.
-Langf LcelandJ Cor. philadelphia Press.