Land is held either in fee-simple,or let by the Crown to tenants on what may almost be considered perpetual leases.The rent is calculated partly on the number of acres occupied,partly on the head of cattle the farm is fit to support,and is paid in kind,either in fish or farm produce.Tenants in easy circumstances generally employ two or three labourers,who--in addition to their board and lodging--receive from ten to twelve dollars a year of wages.No property can be entailed,and if any one dies intestate,what he leaves is distributed among his children--in equal shares to the sons,in half shares to the daughters.
The public revenue arising from Crown lands,commercial charges,and a small tax on the transference of property,amounts to about 3,000pounds;the expenditure for education,officers'salaries (the Governor has about 400pounds a year),ecclesiastical establishments,etc.,exceeds 6,000pounds a year;so that the island is certainly not a self-supporting institution.
The clergy are paid by tithes;their stipends are exceedingly small,generally not averaging more than six or seven pounds sterling per annum;their chief dependence being upon their farms.Like St.Dunstan,they are invariably excellent blacksmiths.
As we approached Reykjavik,for the first time during the whole journey we began to have some little trouble with the relay of ponies in front.Whether it was that they were tired,or that they had arrived in a district where they had been accustomed to roam at large,I cannot tell;but every ten minutes,during the last six or seven miles,one or other of them kept starting aside into the rocky plain,across which the narrow bridle-road was carried,and cost us many a weary chase before we could drive them into the track again.At last,though not till I had been violently hugged,kissed,and nearly pulled off my horse by an enthusiastic and rather tipsy farmer,who mistook me for the Prince,we galloped,about five o'clock,triumphantly into the town,without an accident having occurred to man or horse during the whole course of the expedition--always excepting one tremendous fall sustained by Wilson.It was on the evening of the day we left the Geysirs.We were all galloping in single file down the lava pathway,when suddenly I heard a cry behind me,and then the noise as of a descending avalanche.
On turning round,behold!both Wilson and his pony lay stretched upon the ground,the first some yards in advance of the other.The poor fellow evidently thought he was killed;for he neither spoke nor stirred,but lay looking up at me,with blank,beady eyes as I approached to his assistance.On further investigation,neither of the sufferers proved to be a bit the worse.
The cook,and the rest of the party,did not arrive till about midnight;but I make no doubt that when that able and spirited individual did at length reascend the side of the schooner,his cheek must have burned with pride at the reflection,that during the short period of his absence on shore he had added to his other accomplishments that of becoming a most finished cavalier.I do not mean by that to imply that he was at all DONE.Although we had enjoyed our trip so much,I was not sorry to find myself on board.The descent again,after our gipsy life,into the coquettish little cabin,with its books and dear home faces,quite penetrated me with that feeling of snug content of which I believe Englishmen alone are susceptible.
I have now to relate to you a most painful occurrence which has taken place during my absence at the Geysirs;--no less a catastrophe,in fact,than a mutiny among my hitherto most exemplary ship's company.I suppose they,too,had occasion to bear witness to the proverbial hospitality of Iceland;salt junk,and the innocuous cates which generally compose ship-board rations,could never have produced such an emergency.Suffice it to say,that "Dyspepsia and her fatal train"having taken hold of them,in a desperate hour they determined on a desperate deed,--and rushing aft in a body,demanded of my faithful steward,not only access to the penetralia of the absent Doctor's cupboard,but that he himself should administer to them whatever medicaments he could come by.In vain Mr.Grant threw himself across the cabin-door.Remonstrance was useless;my horny-handed lambs were inexorable--unless he acceded to their demands,they threatened to report him when I returned!The Doctor's sanctuary was thrown open,and all its sweets--if such they may be called--were rifled.A huge box of pills,the first that came to hand--they happened to be calomel--was served out,share and share alike,with concomitant vials of wrath,of rhubarb and senna;and it was not until the last drop of castor oil had been carefully licked up that the marauders suffered their unwilling accomplice to retire to the fastnesses of his pantry.
An avenging Nemesis,however,hovered over the violated shrine of Esculapius.By the time I returned the exigencies of justice had been more than satisfied,and the outrage already atoned for.The rebellious HANDS were become most penitent STOMACHS;and fresh from the Oriental associations suggested by our last day's ride,I involuntarily dismissed the disconsolate culprits,with the Asiatic form of condonation:"Mashallah,you have made your faces white!Go in peace!"
