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stances. On riding up to the door he came out to us, and after learning who we were, he conducted us, with looks of kindness, into the best room in the house, and immediately provided us with cream to quench our thirst till his wife got something prepared for us to eat. In the meantime, our servants fixed the tents at the back of the house. On learning that I had Bibles with me, the peasant, who is a young man, and newly married, regretted that he had not been able, as yet, to furnish his house with a copy, and expressed a wish to see one of those I had in my trunks. Having taken a Bible and a New Testament to shew his wife, he soon returned, having resolved to take both, and paid the price with the utmost cheerfulness. I had scarcely turned to re-enter my tent, when two servant girls came running with money in their hands, and wished to have each a New Testament. As my stock was small, and I had a considerable extent of country to supply from it, chiefly as samples, I was sorry I was under the necessity of putting them off till next year, but testified my approbation of their wish to possess the word of God; and begged them to read, in the mean time, the copies that had come into the family.

Taking into consideration the remoteness of the surrounding cottages from the nearest market-place to which it was intended to forward Bibles next year, I sent for two of the poorest people in the vicinity, and gave each of them a Testament. One of them had a Danish Bible, which he endeavoured, as well as he could, to collect the sense of, but he understood the language very imperfectly. He thanked me repeatedly, with tears in his eyes, and rode home quite overjoyed at the gift he had received. The other, a young man about nineteen, had been dispatched by his poor and aged parents, to learn the truth of the message that had been sent them. There was an uncommon degree of humble simplicity in his countenance. On receiving the Testament, it was hardly possible for him to contain his joy. As a number of people had now collected round the door of my tent, I caused him to read the third chapter of the Gospel of John. He had scarcely begun, when they all sat down, or knelt on

the grass, and listened with the most devout attention. As he proceeded, the tears began to trickle down their cheeks, and they were all seemingly much affected. The scene was doubtless as new to them as it was to me; and, on my remarking, after he had done, what important instructions were contained in the portion of Scripture he had read, they gave their assent, adding, with a sigh, that they were but too little attended to. The landlady especially seemed - deeply impressed with the truths she had heard, and remained sometime after the others were gone, together with an aged female, who every now and then broke out into exclamations of praise to God, for having sent "his clear and pure word" among them. It is impossible for me to describe the pleasure I felt on this occasion. I forgot all the fatigues of travelling over the mountains; and, indeed, to enjoy ananother such evening, I could travel twice the distance. I bless God for having counted me worthy to be employed in this ministry; to dispense his holy word among a people prepared by him for its reception, and to whom, by the blessing of his Spirit, it shall prove of everlasting benefit : nor can I be sufficiently thankful to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, for having constituted me the almoner of their bounty, and sending me on an errand, which, while it brings felicity to others, proved a source of so much enjoyment to my own mind.

Early next morning we pursued our route down the valley, The ride was the most agreeable imaginable. The valley is well inhabited, being covered with luxuriant verdure, and affording an excellent pasturage to the sheep and cattle, which form the principal riches of the Iceland peasant. The mountains by which it is sheltered on both sides, are between 3000 and 4200 feet in height; and are clad with grass more than half way up to the summit. The cottages looked far superior to those in the south, and the churches, several of which we passed, had also a more decent appearance. In that of Grund, which we surveyed while the peasant was getting our horses ready, I was surprised to find an old portrait of General Monk hanging on the wall, to the right of

the altar, with a few acrostic lines, savouring strongly of the times in which they were written. How it came here is more than I could learn.

On the right hand side of the valley, we could observe Nupufell, famous for its having been the seat of the Icelandic printing press, which Bishop Gudbrand improved on his being installed into the see of Holum. Jon Jonson, whose father had brought the original press from Sweden about the year 1530, was prevailed upon by the Bishop to undertake a voyage to Copenhagen, in order to acquire a more perfect knowledge of the art, and, on his return, received this farm as a perpetual residence for himself and his successors in office; but the Bishop soon found the place inconvenient, on account of the distance, and got the press removed to Holum, where he rendered the establishment more complete.* On the same side of the valley lay Thverâ Abbey, which was erected by Biörn, Bishop of Holum, in the year 1155, and governed according to the rules of the Benedictine monks, by a series of five-and-twenty abbots, till the time of the Reformation, when it was secularised along with the other monasteries and abbeys on the island.†

A little farther on, we came to Hrafnagil, the residence of the very Rev. Magnus Erlandson, Dean of the Eyafiord district. On delivering a letter to him, which I had from the Bishop, he kindly told me, that, independent of the Bishop's recommendation, I should have found him ready to lend me all the assistance in his power, in the promotion of the good work in which I was engaged; and as he was to commence his autumnal visitation the day following, he promised to inform the clergy of his district of the new edition of the Scriptures, and request them to institute an inquiry into the state of their parishes with respect to Bibles, that the necessary quantity of copies might be sent to this quarter.

About four o'clock we arrived at the factory of Akur-eyri,

• Historia Ecclesiastica Islandiac, tom. iii. pp. 372-375. Havnia, 1772 -1778, 4 vol. in 4to.

+ Ibid. tom. iv. pp. 41--55.

where I was conducted by Captain Von Scheel into his house, and introduced to his lady, who, with her husband, strove to procure me all the comforts necessary for my refreshment, after so fatiguing a journey.

Akur-cyri, or, as it is called in Danish, Oefiord, is one of the principal trading stations on the northern coast of Iceland. It is situated on the west side of the Eyafiord bay, and consists of three merchants' houses, several storehouses and cottages, amounting in all to about eighteen or twenty. The trade is much the same with that of the other stations, consisting chiefly in bartering rye and other articles of foreign produce for wool, woollen goods, salted mutton, &c. It was formerly famous for its herring-fishery; the herrings frequenting the bay in such quantities, that between 180 and 200 barrels have been caught at a single draught; but they have of late years almost entirely disappeared, to the no small disadvantage of the peasantry in the district, who were furnished with them at the rate of a rixdollar per barrel. The Danish officers, Captain Von Scheel, and Captain Frisac, have resided here with their families during the time they have been in Iceland. The latter gentleman had just sailed with his family for Copenhagen, and Captain Von Scheel intended also sailing with his, by a vessel lying in the bay. There is a small garden or two attached to several of the houses; but the proper gardens lie behind the town, on the face of a hill, where they have an excellent southern exposure. They produce chiefly cole-rape and potatoes. The latter article came in season while I was at the place, which was considered very early in Iceland.

On the 5th, I was happy in having an opportunity of executing a commission which I had received from Bishop Vidalin. Previous to my departure from Reykiavik, his lordship jokingly said, that, on my arrival in the north, it would be in my power to settle a serious dispute which had arisen between two of his clergy, and that he invested me with full power to that effect. The subject of difference was a copy of the Scriptures, which had been lent from a church on the Mainland, but had been so long in possession of that of

Grimsey, that the priest refused to give it up to the church to which it originally and properly belonged. Nor can his unwillingness to part with the treasure be matter of surprise, when it is taken into consideration, that it was the only copy on an island lying at the distance of sixty miles from the Mainland, and that there was scarcely an individual among its inhabitants who could purchase a copy, though sold at the most moderate price, even supposing, what rarely or ever happens, that a Bible were exposed for sale in any of the northern districts. Finding that the clergyman was equally poor, I not only gave a copy to the parish gratis, but also one to himself, in the conviction, that without making the Scriptures part of his daily study, he would be but very indifferently qualified to instruct his parishioners in the will of God. The same evening I sold a Bible and a New Testament to a peasant, who had come to town from a neighbouring parish on purpose to buy them. His wife had been in town in the forenoon, and though she was requested to wait till the general distribution took place, the desire of obtaining copies excited in the family on her return, was so great, that her husband could get no rest till he set off on purpose to try if his application would not be more successful. I still endeavoured to persuade him to wait, as I had got so few copies; but he would take no refusal, and insisted, that if he did not get the Bible now, I would at least receive the payment, that he might be sure of a copy when it came. Besides what I gave him, he wished to have six New Testaments, that each of his children might be furnished with a copy.

We were honoured, the day following, with a visit from Conferenceraad Thorarinson, the Governor or Amtman of the northern and eastern quarters of the island. After bidding me welcome to Iceland, he expressed, in very high terms, his approbation of the object of my journey, and informed me that he had received an official communication from the Sysselmand of one of the eastern districts, relative to a quantity of Bibles and New Testaments which had arrived at one of the trading stations. After consulting with

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