A dark, narrow passage, not more than four feet high,
leads on one hand to the living-room, on the other to the store-room,
where the provisions are kept, and where, in winter, the cows and sheep
are stabled. The fireplace is generally at the end of this passage,
which is purposely built low to keep out the cold. Neither the walls nor
floors of these huts are boarded; the dwelling-rooms are scarcely large
enough for people to sleep in or turn round in; and the whole furniture
consists of the bedsteads (very poorly supplied with bedding), a small
table, and a few chests--the latter, as well as the beds, being used for
seats. To poles fastened in the walls are suspended clothes, shoes,
stockings, and other articles; and in each hut is generally found a tiny
book-shelf supporting a few volumes. No stoves are needed in these
rooms, which are sufficiently warmed by the presence of their numerous
inmates.
Speaking of the better classes of the inhabitants of the Icelandic
capital, our traveller says: "Nothing struck me so much as the great
dignity of carriage at which the Icelandic ladies aim, and which is so
apt to degenerate into stiffness when it is not perfectly natural, or has
not become a second nature by habit. They incline their head very coolly
when you meet them, with less civility than we should use towards an
inferior or a stranger.
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