Ultima Thule; or, A Summer in Iceland. vol. 1/2

by Sir Richard Francis Burton

MEN					WOMEN.
Years.	Married.	Unmarried.	Widowers.	Separated.	Married.	Unmarried.	Widows.	Separated.
1		801				777
1-2		1530				1570
3-4		1814				1798
5-6		1828				1768
7-10		3073				3090
11-15		3713				3715
16-20	3	3693			39	3706
21-25	143	2374	2	350	2301	14	3
26-30	843	1601	16	7	1031	1691	55	9
31-35	1224	814	44	12	1384	1046	126	17
36-40	1869	650	96	17	1867	916	226	31
41-45	1377	307	107	18	1225	523	289	22
46-50	1125	171	131	29	1067	350	343	23
51-55	751	100	114	17	623	232	361	24
56-60	501	83	111	4	456	204	359	10
61-65	424	67	154	6	360	203	383	9
66-70	341	64	208	7	282	208	494	8
71-75	178	42	174	2	130	113	346	3
76-80	70	10	126	1	50	60	206
81-85	28	3	54		16	24	88	1
86-90	5	1	12			7	15
91-95		1	1		1	2	5
96-100			1			2	3
Above 100[165]		none.					none.
	8882	22,740	1361	120	888	24,306	3313	160
	|				|
	33,103				36,660
	|
	69,763

According to Mr Consul Crowe (Report, 1870-71), the proportion between births and deaths was:

Year.	Births.	Deaths.	Computed Population.	Percentage.
1861	2525	2391	66,973	+ 0·20
1862	2693	2874	66,792	+ 0·27
1863	2648	2115	67,325	+ 0·80
1864	2760	2001	68,084	+ 1·13
1865	2757	2100	68,741	+ 0·96
1866	2662	3122	68,281	+ 0·67
1867	2743	1770	69,254	+ 1·42
1868	2449	1970	69,733	+ 0·69
1869	2177	2404	69,506	+ 0·33
1870	2276	1698	70,084	+ 0·83
Total,	25,690	22,445

The tables of 1855 gave an excess of 2865 women. Mackenzie (1801) shows 21,476 males to 25,731 females, or 4255 out of a total of 47,207. In 1865 the proportion of men to women was 1000: 1093. In 1870 the conditions had improved, the surplus being only 3554 out of 69,763, a small percentage of waste labour.

It is easy to account for the preponderance of women, as well as their superior longevity, without entering into the knotty subject of what determines sex. They lead more regular lives, they have less hardship and fatigue, and they are rarely exposed to such accidents as being lost at sea or “in the mist.” According to Mr Vice-Consul Crowe, in 1865-66, of every forty-two deaths one was by drowning.

There is a tradition that Iceland during its palmiest days contained 100,000 souls, but it seems to rest upon no foundation. On the other hand, the old superstitious belief that some fatal epidemic invariably follows an increase beyond 60,000, has, during the last few years, shown itself to be equally groundless. It is probably one of the post hoc, ergo propter hoc confusions so popular amongst the vulgar; and, unhappily, not confined to the vulgar.

§ 2. General Considerations.

“The first inhabitants of the northern world, Dania, Nerigos, and Suæcia,” says Saxo Grammaticus, repeated by Arngrímr Jónsson, “were the posterity and remnant of the Canaanites quos fugavit Jesus latro—expulsed from Palestine about A.C. 1500 by Joshua and Caleb.” Duly appreciating the ethnological value of this tradition, we may remark that the occupation of Ultima Thule, which the ancients evidently held to be inhabited—tibi serviat must mean that there were men to serve—has not yet been proved. But Mongoloid or præ-Aryan colonies in ancient days seem to have overrun all the Old, if not the New World, and we must not despair of tracing them to Iceland.

The modern Icelander is a quasi-Norwegian, justly proud of the old home. His race is completely free from any taint of Skrælling, Innuit,[166] or Mongoloid blood, as some travellers have represented, and as the vulgar of Europe seem to believe. Here and there, but rarely, a dark flat face, oblique eyes, and long black horsehair, show that a wife has been taken from the land

“Where the short-legged Esquimaux
Waddle in the ice and snow.”