“On the other hand, the cattle and sheep-rearing, whose produce is greater than that of the fisheries, centres in the northern and eastern parts of the island, where the excellent natural grass pastures are formed in abundance.”
§ 6. Emigration.
Modern emigration was not attempted till fourteen years ago, and the islanders chose the worst destination they could find—the Brazil. In 1862, the trial was renewed by some eighty head, with the same want of success, except in two or three instances; and ten years later, about fifty left to “plant man” in the tropical empire. The report is, that they were decimated by cholera at Hamburg. A far more auspicious movement was made to Minnesota, Milwaukee, and Wisconsin: the head was a retired trader, Einar Björnsson, who bought an island in Lake Superior. Shortly before the author’s arrival at Reykjavik, a small party of fourteen or seventeen had sailed, not 714, as asserted by certain English papers. The later emigrants sent home glowing reports of the country and, although those in the towns were not so successful, the rural settlers did remarkably well. And the movement will be beneficial to the islander, who, instead of dawdling away life at home, will learn to labour and to wait upon a more progressive race.
In the summer of 1873, these pioneers were followed by 200 to 220 recruits, of whom a portion preferred Canada, and is said to be doing well. The autumn of 1874 sent out 340; the men were employed on the Toronto railway, and some 40 women went into service. As yet, emigration has not had a fair trial; and Icelanders, a pastoral and fishing race, are wholly unaccustomed to agriculture and manufacturing. At the same time, they have the advantage of being to a certain extent mechanics as well as labourers. The Norwegian papers, which are translated and spread over the island, strongly recommended the movement; consequently the authorities at Reykjavik, and the official class in general, as strongly opposed it; but, it need hardly be said, their prejudices are not shared by the distinguished Dr Hjaltalín. If this be, as we apprehend, the movement of a people seeking, like the Irish and the Basques, a new “racial baptism,” it may assume important dimensions. It might well be worth while for the Dominion to secure a number of these sturdy and strong-brained Northerners, who would form admirable advanced posts along the valley of the Sasketchawan. The author’s companion in travel, Mr Chapman, had the acuteness at once to see the use that might be made of the movement, and proposed recommending the Government of New Zealand to take advantage of it. The common order of Icelanders show the greatest interest in America, and strangers are always subjected to cross-examination on the subject. If the current be allowed to set that way, efforts to arrest it will not be easily checked: for many years the author has wondered how and why a poor man ever lives in Europe, or a rich man in America.
SECTION VIII.
TAXATION—COINS, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES—PRICES AND IMPORTS—COMMUNICATION AND COMMERCE—VISIT TO THE STORE.
§ 1. Taxation.
The system has the serious drawback of being complicated and troublesome; on the other hand, it dates from olden days, and is familiar to the people. The island is not, and of late years never has been, self-supporting. The whole revenue does not exceed $44,000, and the expenditure for official salaries, ecclesiastical and legal establishments, and education, being about one-third more ($62,000), the Home Government must supply the deficiency.[242]
It has before been observed that property in Iceland, as in older England, is measured not by extent, but by produce, the area in fact never being ascertained. The basis of calculation is the ell of Wadmal, or its equivalent, two heads of fish and a fraction bringing it up to nearly 2·50. The hundred[243] was either tísætt hundrað (the decimal hundred, 10 × 10), introduced with Christianity, and now chiefly used in ecclesiastic and scholastic matters, or tólfrætt hundrað (duodecimal, 12 × 10), the latter being the root of the English system, which has hitherto successfully resisted foreign innovations. Hence our farmers long retained in selling cheese the great hundred (120 lbs.) and the little hundred (112 lbs.) The old adage says—
“Six score of men, money, and pins,
Five score of all other things.”
And the “shock,” or half (60), is preserved in the German threat, “Shock schweren noth” (You want five dozen)!