The soleless shoes of ox-hide or sheepskin, made by the women
out of a single piece, are strapped to the instep.
* * * * *
Having made herself generally acquainted with the Icelanders and their
mode of living, Madame Pfeiffer began to visit the most romantic and
interesting spots in the island accessible to an adventurous woman. At
first she confined herself to the neighbourhood of Reikiavik. She
journeyed, for instance, to the island of Vidoe, the cliffs of which are
frequented by the eider-duck. Its tameness while brooding is very
remarkable. "I had always looked," she says, "on the wonderful stories I
had heard on this subject as fabulous, and should do still had I not been
an eye-witness to the fact. I approached and laid my hands on the birds
while they were sitting; yes, I could even caress them without their
attempting to move from their nests; or, if they left them for a moment,
it was only to walk off for a few steps, and remain quietly waiting till
I withdrew, when they immediately returned to their station. Those whose
young were already hatched, however, would beat their wings with
violence, and snap at me with their bills when I came near them, rather
allowing themselves to be seized than to desert their broods. In size
they resemble our common duck; their eggs are of a greenish-gray, rather
larger than hens' eggs, and of an excellent flavour.
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