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)!
In old times, there was a double standard: (1.) The hundrað talið,
hundred (of wool, etc.) by tale = 120 ells; and (2.) The hundrað vegið
(weight) or sifrs (of silver), in rings, coin, and so forth, the latter
= 2½ marks = 20 ounces = 60 örtugar, the half örtug being probably the
unit. The phrase, “Six ells to an ounce” (_i.e._, 120 ells = 20 ounces),
refers to silver and Wadmal at par; but, as the coinage was debased, the
6 became successively 9, 10, 11, and 12.
In 1810, the absolute value of the hundrað represented:
One milch cow or two horses (each = 60 ells).
A proportionate number of sheep (= six to eight) and lambs (= eighteen);
each milch ewe = 20 ells in spring, and each wether = 10 ells.
One fishing-boat, with six oars, nets, and lines.
$46 in specie.
In 1872, the proportion was:
One bull, bullock, ox, or cow, calf-bearing or not.
Two horses or three mares, four years old or upwards; riding-horses =
two-thirds of the hundred.
Six milch or eight milkless ewes; six wethers, three years old, and
older; ten wethers, two years old; or eighteen sheep, one or two years
old.
All boats, large and small:[244] the oars are not counted, but the nets
and lines which follow the boat are reckoned at half-a-hundred. The
half-decked vessel, with nets and lines, ranges from 100 to 1·50.
$40 in specie: $20 represent the half hundred, and nothing below it is
cessible.
240 head of fish, which must weigh 2 lbs. In 1770, 48 head were = $1
(specie); the value often changes, but the modern rate of the Fiskvirði
(worth) may be assumed at about 12⅜ skillings (or in round numbers,
3d.).
In 1770, 24 ells of Wadmal = $1: now the ell may represent 24¾
skillings.
Former travellers represented the direct taxes to be tithes, church and
poor rates, with the Sýslumenn’s stipends ($1·50 specie, according to
Hooker). They also divided the items of taxation into five, viz.:
1. Skattr, Scat, or tribute,[245] originally the poll-tax levied by the
king on the franklins (Skattbændr), and afterwards more generally
applied. This cess is paid when movable property in hundreds (cows,
sheep, etc.) exceeds the number of individuals composing the household,
or to be maintained upon the form. De Kerguelen describes it as a “tax
of twelve francs contributed by heads of houses whose income surpasses
sixty francs.” In 1810 it was represented by 4·50 skillings per ell of
Wadmal, converted into specie, or so many fishes, twenty-four to thirty
head being = $4 to $5. In 1872 it is neither more nor less than forty;
for instance, a household of seven souls and eight hundreds pays forty
fishes, and the same sum would be levied upon seven souls and ten
hundreds. All officials, priests, and candidates of theology, are exempt
from this tax.
2. Gjaf-tollr (gift toll) was so called because at first it was supposed
to be, or rather it was, a voluntary payment to the Sýslumaðr and
Prófastr for overlooking or winking at small offences punishable by a
fine. It is said to have been paid as early as 1380. The French
traveller, who held it to be a voluntary contribution for supporting
legal establishments, lays it down at sixty centimes to six francs. The
rate of Gjaf-tollr, which also is levied only on movable property, now
represents:
1 fish per 50
2 ” 100
3 ” 200
4 ” 300
5 fish per 400
10 ” 500 to 900
12 ” 1000 to 1200
20 ” 1200
And above 1200 nothing more is taken.
3. Lögmannstollr dates from the days of Icelandic independence, and,
representing the salaries of the Presidents of Things (assemblies), was
preserved in memory of the ancient grandeur of the island. Formerly, it
was thirty-five centimes per head of house. It is independent of
hundreds, and paid in money at the rate of 6¾ skillings per farm. In
case of sub-letting, it increases; for instance, if a proprietor leases
half his land to another man, both pay 4½ skillings. The Sýslumaðr
receives one-sixth for the trouble of collecting it, and the rest is
paid into the public Treasury of Reykjavik under the Landfógeti.
4. Althingistollr was a property tax paid, according to Cadastre, for
the support of the Diet. Each deputy formerly received nine francs per
diem, and now $3, besides his travelling expenses coming and returning
home.
5. Tíund, or tithe, paid to the Crown: these have been discussed in the
ecclesiastical section.
The present complicated system will best be explained by a copy of the
Thinggjaldskvittunarbók or Receipt Book for the Thinggjald, the general
taxes. Each large farmer keeps one, and the forms are printed either at
Reykjavik or at Akureyri. The following will be filled up as the
specimen of cesses levied upon a large merchant who hires a farm from
the Church:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|ÁR (year) | FÓLKSTALA | JARÐARHUNDRAÐ | LAUSAFJARHUNDRAÐ |
| 1868. | (number of household),|(landed property), | (movable property), |
| | 22. | none. | 27 hundreds. |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | |
| | Fiskar | Rixdollars. | Skilling |
| | (fishes). | $ | (estimated at |
| | | | 96:$1). |
| Skattur, | 40 | | |
| Gjaftollr, | 20 | | |
| Tíund (royal tithe), | 16·2 | | |
| |-----------| | |
| Til Samans (total), | 76·2 | 9 | 50½ |
| | | | |
| Lögmannstollr, | ... | ... | 4½ |
| Thinghústollr, | ... | ... | 4 |
| Jafnaðarsjóðsgjald, | ... | 2 | 24 |
| Althingisgjald, | ... | 0 | 0 |
| | |-------------+---------------|
| Allt gjaldið samlagt | | | |
| (grand total), | | 11 | 83 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Skattur forms the chief item of the income of the Sýslumaðr.
The Lögmannstollr is still devoted to paying law taxes.
The Thinghústollr, or charges for provincial assemblies, is always four
skillings; the householder where the meetings take place pays the same
sum, and receives it back as part of the hire of the room. It directly
derives from the old Thingfarar-kaup (fee for travelling to the
Parliament, as judges, jurors, witnesses, etc.) levied upon every
franklin; and those who did not pay it could neither sit as arbiter nor
as “neighbour.” The Thingheyjandi (Thing-performer) received a sum
proportioned to the number of days’ journeys he and his retinue had to
travel.
The Jafnaðarsjóðsgjald is also called Sakamálatollr, _i.e._, a
repartition fund paid to the Amt or Quarter for public purposes, posts,
roads, criminal prosecutions, and other unforeseen expenses. All who
have one and a half hundreds in movable property must contribute, and
the Amtmenn settle every year the sum required, and the proportion
appertaining to individuals.
The merchant contributes no Althing-money, because he is not a landed
proprietor. This tax is taken from all landed property in the country,
except that belonging to the Crown and the Church; three-fourths are
paid upon immovable, and the remaining one-fourth upon all movable
possessions. Every year, the Hreppstjórar, aided by two landowners of
the parish, estimates how much Landskyld (rent) is paid either by the
owner of the farm or by his tenants and sub-tenants. The Stiftamtmaðr
(governor) having decided upon the sum required, the amount is duly
reparted on landed property.
In addition to these taxes the Iceland farmer pays three other
tithes--viz., to the priest, the Church, and the poor (16·2 ells, or $4
each)--besides a ljóstoll or light-tax = 4 lbs. of tallow, to illuminate
the church: its equivalent being seventy-two skillings. He feeds one
lamb for the priest (lambsfóður, or heytollur--hay-tax), or pays its
forage = $1, 48sk. Those who own property, movable or immovable, to the
amount of twenty hundreds, must also make offur (offertory) to the
priest, amounting to not less than $3. Those who own less property than
five hundreds, work one day for the priest during the hay-making season,
or pay an equivalent of $1, 4sk. By the law of 12th February 1872 an
annual tax is levied on landed property, 1½sk. per hundred. For the
money thus raised model farms are to be established and young men taught
farming. By far the heaviest item of taxation is, however, the poor-rate
(fátækra útsvar), over and above the poor tithes, for it is nowhere less
than equal in amount to all the other taxes put together, and in some
parishes it is even double the amount of all the other taxes. This tax
is levied by the Hreppstjóri at the autumnal parish meeting. The
pauperism is an evil fraught with imminent danger to the island, and
requires the immediate attention of the legislature. It need hardly be
suggested that emigration is the perfect cure for the sturdy vagrants
who infest the land, and that free passages to America, or elsewhere,
would be well laid out.
The taxes in kind (Wadmal, yarn, woollen stuffs, fish, butter, hay, oil,
cattle, sheep, tallow, hides, skins, and all vendibles) are estimated by
the Hreppstjóri, who transmits his account to the Sýslumaðr, and the
latter checks the report by referring to the mean value of the parish.
He then commutes what is paid to him into money, through some trading
firm; and, as he is liable to loss by the fluctuations of the market, he
is allowed to retain one-third by way of remuneration. A “crack
collector,” to use an Anglo-Indian term, may make as much as $3000 per
annum--though less than half that sum would probably be a high average.
The Sýslumaðr again reports to the Amtmaðr, who checks his accounts by
reference to the mean amount of previous revenue, whence results the
Kapitulstaxti verðlagsskrá, or chapter value. The specie is then
remitted to the Bæarfógeti,[246] or assistant treasurers. These officers
are three in number; at Reykjavik, where the holder is also the
Sýslumaðr, at Ísafjörð (west), and at Akureyri (north). Thence the total
revenue finds its way into the hands of the Landfógeti, or chief
treasurer.
The taxes on movable property are considered just and equal. Those on
land are not, because the meanest soil pays as much as the best. Another
grievance is the unequal distribution of the poor-tax, which is managed
differently in different Quarters. For instance, a clerk with a salary
of $300 per annum will be charged $10, whilst the priest of the same
parish with treble the revenue pays only $20.
§ 2. COINS, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES.
Accounts in Iceland are kept in skillings, marks, and dollars
(rigsbankdaler or rixdollars, and specie). The following table shows the
comparative English value in
1809. 1872.
1 Skilling = 1 halfpenny = { 1 farthing and one-eighth, in
{ round numbers a farthing.
16 Skillings or 1 mark = 8 pence, the = { 4 pence and four-fifths, say
local shilling { fourpence halfpenny.
{ 2 shillings and 3 pence, or 60
6 Marks or 1 Rigsbankdaler[247] = { cents (U.S.), the local
= 4 shillings { half-crown.
2 Rigsbankdalers = 1 specie dollars = { 4 shillings and 6 pence (the
= 4 shillings and 6 pence { crown).
The silver mark originally was worth eight ounces (eyrir)[248] of pure
silver; and the eyrir = 6 peningar = 3 ertog. Each of the eight parts
represented six ells of Wadmal, and thus the total was = 48 ells. In old
times we read of the Örtug, a coin worth one-third of an ounce (eyrir)
or twenty peningar (pence). In these days the Ort is worth only
one-fifth of the specie dollar, and, being a Norwegian coin, it does not
circulate in Iceland. The traveller must beware of Norwegian money,
especially paper, which may be offered him by the Leith agent of the
Danish steamer--it is perfectly useless, and Hr Salvesen must know it.
The following is the coinage current on the island:
_Copper._--One skilling and a few old two-skilling bits.
_Base metal._--Two (the penny), three, four, and eight skillings, the
latter being half a mark. Of half-marks there are three or four issues.
The old is inscribed “2½-Skillings Schleswig-Holstein’s Courent;” the
second bears only “8 skillings,” and the third, or newest, has the
figure 8 above and 2 below.
_Silver._--One mark: of this coin also there are three issues; two old,
marked respectively 5 and 6 skillings, and one new, marked 16 skillings.
Two marks: now rarely seen. Three marks, or half the rixdollar: very
common and very useful. Four marks: an old coin almost obsolete, and
generally called “one-third specie,” because equal to eight rigsbank
skillings. One specie dollar: presenting our crown, and very cumbrous.
According to a royal proclamation of 25th September and 29th December
1873, a new coinage is to take the place of the old one next year. It
will consist of
SILVER MONEY.
NEW COIN (Crowns). OLD ICEL. ENGLISH EQUIVALENT.
1 Króna (100 aurar) = $4 3 0 £0 1 1½
1 Eyrir = 0 0 0½ 0 0 0 ½ farthing.
4 Krónur = 2 0 0 0 4 6
2 ” = 1 0 0 0 2 3
50 Aurar = 0 1 8 0 0 6½
25 ” = 0 0 12 0 0 3½
8 ” = 0 0 4 0 0 1¼
GOLD COIN.[249]
NEW COIN (Crowns). OLD ICEL. ENGLISH EQUIVALENT.
20 Króna peningur (20 } = $10 0 0 £1 2 3
crown-piece) }
10 ” = 5 0 0 0 11 1½
In travelling through the island it is advisable to carry a few dollars
(specie), many half-dollars, and an abundance of marks and half-marks,
with smaller pieces useful to pay minor charges. And it is useless to
burden one’s self with a huge bag on board ship: silver can generally be
bought at Reykjavik, with a loss of some five per cent. The Danish
bank-notes with Icelandic words on the back are to be avoided, as the
peasants distrust an article which a wetting may reduce to a rag. In
Denmark there are $5 notes (grey paper, with blue border); $10 (yellow
paper, with brown border); $20 (light-green); $50 (brown paper, with
straight lines in the ground); and $100 (light-brown paper, with wavy
lines). For Iceland there are no bank-notes, but when Paraguay manages
to raise a loan, she need not despair of civilising her currency.
In July 1810, according to Mackenzie, the war had made the English
sovereign worth 15 paper rixdollars on ‘Change; and in 1812 it further
rose to $25 paper. The rixdollar at par was then worth four shillings
English; as has been seen, like all the smaller coins, it has fallen to
a little more than half. In 1872 the metallic value of the English
sovereign in Denmark was = $8, 5m. 0sk.; but at Copenhagen it was
readily exchanged for $9 to $9, 0m. 4sk. The pound sterling in English
silver was worth only $8, 1m. 11sk. At Reykjavik the merchants will not
hesitate to offer $8, 4m. 0sk., and some will even attempt $8, 2m. 0sk.
The author was once assured by one of the principal tradesmen that the
Exchange at Copenhagen was $8, 5m. 0sk; but on consulting the newspaper
it was found that this was the price of bills. Thus money-changing
becomes a profitable business, realising from five to ten per cent., and
strangers will call upon the traveller with the object of “turning” a
quasi-honest penny. Yet the simplest way is to take from England
sovereigns and ten-pound notes. The foreigner can hardly expect to have
a cheque honoured after what has lately happened. The last blow to the
English traveller’s credit was dealt in October 1871, when two yachtsmen
“did a little bill” with Hr Thomsen, converted their dollars into
sovereigns, and went their way. The names of the delinquents are well
known, but that is no reason for quoting them.
Weights and measures in Iceland are simply Danish:
3 Kvints = 1 Lod[250] (half-ounce avoird.).
32 Lods = 1 Pund (= 1 lb. 1 oz. 8½ grs.).
16 Punds = 1 Lispund[251] (roughly our stone).
Sometimes the Norwegian weights are used, viz.:
2 Lods = 1 Unze.
8 Unzes = 1 Mark.
2 Marks = 1 Skaalpund (10 per cent. more than the English pound
avoird.).
12 Skaalpunds = 1 Bismerpund.
3 Bismerpunds = 1 Vog (36 lbs.).
16 Skaalpunds = 1 Lispund.
100 Skaalpunds = 1 Centner (the hundredweight of Germany, Austria, etc.).
20 Lispunds = 1 Skippund (320 lbs.).
Of the length measures:
12 Danish inches = 1 Foot (= Eng. meas. 12.356 in. or about 67 : 69 ft.).
2 Feet = 1 Ell (Alen).
24,000 Feet = {1 Mile[252] (or 4 = 1° = 4½ English statute miles in
{ round numbers).
The Norsk measures are the same, but the foot is = 1·029 English, and
the mile is of 36,960 feet (= 13,320 English yards = 7½ English statute
miles). The only Icelandic measure of length is the Thingmanna-leið, or
journey of the Thingman, about twenty English statute miles.
The Danish Pot is = 0·300 gallons; the Kanne is about three quarts, and
the barrel of oil contains between twenty-five and twenty-six English
gallons.
§ 3. COMMUNICATION AND COMMERCE.
Export trade began in Iceland from the date of its official
colonisation. Long before the Norman Conquest, the Norwegian kings and
jarls trafficked with the island. Snorri Sturluson mentions that King
Ólaf Haraldsson (Helgi, or the Holy) made much profit by his
transactions with Hallur Thorarinsson of Haukdal; and an edict of King
Magnús Erlingsson (A.D. 1174) alludes to the annual cargoes of flour and
other merchandise sent by the Archbishop of Nidarós. Already in the
thirteenth century we find Iceland in commercial relations with England,
and a little later with Germany. This “free trade,” which was on a
considerable scale, presently fell before protection, and it did not
recover itself till about the middle of the present century.
In a historical sketch of the island trade, published in 1772, an
Icelandic author makes the following deductions:
I. The native trade was most advantageous to the island.
II. The Norwegian was honest.
III. The British was matchless; of every foreign trade it was the most complete
and the most advantageous to the island.
IV. The German trade was unjust; it was, however, more tolerable than the
V. Danish trade, which took its place.
The union of Calmar (A.D. 1397) made it a royal monopoly, carried on
only in vessels belonging to, or licensed by, the Crown. This system
lasted till A.D. 1776, and, practically closing the country to all but a
few privileged Danes, it was injurious as unjust. The island was thus
threatened with the fate of Greenland, whose utter desolation probably
resulted from want of home-supplies rather than from Eskimo attacks.
English merchants were the principal interlopers, receiving fish in
barter for meal and clothes: and in A.D. 1413 one of the first acts of
Henry V. was to send five ships to Iceland with letters proposing that
the harbours be opened to British hulls.
In A.D. 1602, and again in 1609, Christian IV. prohibited intercourse
with the Hanse Towns, the powerful confederacy which had taken the
commerce from the hands of the Norwegians and Danes; and in 1620 he
bestowed it upon the guilds of Copenhagen, Malmoe, and other ports. They
established the first Iceland company, which lasted from A.D. 1620 to
1662. The concession was granted on condition of its paying a small sum
for the use of each haven, $2 to the governor for every ship that broke
bulk, and contributing to the royal magazines in the Vestmannaeyjar. But
when the great piratical irruptions in A.D. 1627 to 1630 proved them
unable to provide for, and to protect, the island, as they had
undertaken to do, the resentment of the Crown caused the shares of $1000
each to sink to half-price and eventually they fell to nothing.
After A.D. 1662 the trade of each haven was sold to the highest bidder
once in every six years. In A.D. 1734 arose the second Iceland company,
which paid an annual sum of $6000 to the Crown, and sent twenty-four to
thirty ships, frequenting twenty-two havens. This monopoly again was a
great grievance; it was injured by smugglers and interlopers, and, by
its working, the island fell to its lowest condition. In A.D. 1776 arose
the third Iceland company, nominally headed by the Crown, which directed
a fund of $4,000,000, provided by the country. At the end of ten years,
when the ships and stock were sold, the loss proved to be $600,000; the
residue was placed under commissioners, and the latter had the power of
lending money to those who embarked in the trade at the rate of 4 per
cent.; 10 per cent. being then the legal limit. In A.D. 1787 the
commerce, averaging $45,000 per annum, was exempted from all imposts for
a period of twenty years, afterwards prolonged for five (A.D. 1812). As
has been said, during the Danish war with Great Britain, a humane order
in Council (1810) saved the island from absolute starvation. At length,
after 250 years of a grinding monopoly, not, however, confined to
Denmark, Iceland was finally reopened to free trade by the law which
came into action in April 1854. At present there are no restrictions
beyond taking out a licence or maritime passport at a cost of two
shillings and threepence per ton of the ship’s burden. There are, or
rather till 1872 there were, no duties on merchandise outwards or
inwards, and foreigners now enjoy the same rights of trade, residence,
and holding property as the natives.
After April 1854 the imports rose within ten years to a million and a
half of rixdollars. Yet something remains to be done in facilitating
trade, and especially in the matter of communication, seven mails a year
being now utterly inadequate to local requirements.
Sea-passes are usually taken out by foreign ships from Copenhagen, after
submitting to medical examination if not provided with clean bill of
health, and paying all the legal shipping dues before bulk can be
broken, otherwise they must be bought at one of the six following
places:[253]
1. Reykjavik, in the south-west.
2. Vestmannaeyjar, south.
3. Stykkishólm, west.
4. Ísafjörð, north-west.
5. Eyjafjörð (Akureyri), north.
6. Eskifjörð, east.
Thus the “Queen” steamer, sent in 1872 for ponies to Berufjörð, could
not land cargo without going to Eskifjorð, and returning to her
destination--a useless or rather an injurious restriction. She had to
pay the Sýslumaðr $1 per ton register, for transmission to the Danish
treasury. This compensation for admitting goods duty-free, is a severe
tax upon a small charter, and it would certainly be better and fairer to
the merchant if the equivalent were levied upon the freight not upon the
bottom. Where trade is so poor, every form of nursing should be attended
to, and the minimum of protection is here the maximum of benefit.
The whole system of Iceland trade, like that of Shetland and the Færoes,
is the “Trust” of the West African oil rivers, so troublesome to consuls
and cruisers. The storekeeper must advance goods to the farmer, and the
latter refunds him when he can, especially in June and July, September
and October, when wool is pulled and wethers are killed. A few of the
farmers have money at the merchants, who do not, however, pay interest;
many are in debt, and the two classes hardly balance each other. Prices
are generally high, but the prohibition category is unknown.
Formerly it was the practice to hold fairs or markets at the chief
comptoirs upon the coast;[254] these “Markaðr” lasted for a week or ten
days in early July, a period known as Höndlunartið (Dan. Handelstid).
The peasants came, often after a week or more of riding, with their
goods carried in crates and panniers by pack-horses; pitched their
tents, and began the year’s business, which was enlivened by not a
little gross debauchery. The canniest of their canny calling, each party
sent forward some noted “knowing hand” to find out which merchant gave
the largest price, and all went to him _en masse_. Consequently the
traders were obliged to defend themselves by a counter-union, all
conforming to a certain tariff; and now, if one store pay a skilling
less than any comptoir within reach, the purchaser will claim to be
refunded.
The fair system is becoming obsolete; many merchants have opened new
trading stations, and even the most secluded bays are visited by
market-ships. These “Spekulants,” however, are not allowed to visit the
out-havens where there is no comptoir--another scrap of protection to
the storekeeper which calls for abolition. They are limited, reasonably
enough, to four or five weeks of yearly trade at each place, but they
may divide the time at several bays. Moreover, they must sell and buy
only from the ships, and they cannot set up shops on shore.
Regular postal communication is perhaps the first want of the island;
there is hardly any for the three and a half months between November 29
and February 15. A steamer would take very few passengers at such
seasons, but a stout and ably handled schooner-rigged craft of 120 tons
(minimum), with a crew of seven men, should find no difficulty in
carrying the mails. Yet the history of such attempts is not encouraging.
The first postal packet, the “Sölöwen,” went down, “man and mouse,” off
Snæfellsnes, a dead horse cast ashore giving notice of the calamity:
about the same time another ship was lost with all on board. The first
steamer was the “old Arcturus,” Clyde-built, 280 tons register, and
eighty horse-power; the captain (Andresen) and crew were Danes, and the
engineers were Scotch. Messrs Henderson of Glasgow, who hazarded the
speculation, obtained from Denmark a subvention of $6000 per annum for
six years, besides an advance of $30,000 purchase money, at 4 per cent.
interest for outlay. This “cockle-shell” made four, then six, annual
voyages, the first in March, the last in October; and she touched at
Grangemouth when outward and homeward bound. Her charges were cheap--£2,
2s. for eight days, board, wine, and whiskey included. She is now, they
say, trading for the United Steam Company between Copenhagen and the
Baltic.
But private companies, though receiving a grant of $15,000 per annum,
did not thrive. The “Arcturus” was succeeded by the Danish “Póst-skip”
“Diana,” which was put upon the line in 1870. She is a converted
man-of-war, formerly stationed at the island, with flush decks for guns.
A “slow coach” and a fast roller, she formerly made five trips a year,
now increased to seven; and the Appendix (No. I.) will give all
necessary information about her movements. She offers the advantage of
touching at the Færoes, and at Berufjörð, but it has been proposed to
give up the latter station. On the other hand, she is exceedingly
inexact, often lagging behind her time at Granton, and other places.
During the season she is painfully crowded; “a state-room may be had
against payment for all the berths therein;” but unless the kind and
hospitable Mr Berry,[255] Consul-General for Denmark at Leith, or the
civil Vice-Consul, Hr Jacobsen, telegraph to Copenhagen, none will be
vacant. The food is greasy, and soaked in fat. As long as Captain Haalme
and Lieutenant Loitved commanded the “Diana,” there was little official
interference with passengers. Afterwards she fell into the hands of a
martinet, and matters changed for the worse. She seems cheap, but she is
really dear, as these figures show:
First-class cabin from Granton to Iceland, £4 0 0
Table, without wines (at 3s. 9d. per day), 1 13 9
Wines, etc., . . . . . 1 0 0
Baggage, only 100 lbs. free; overweight (say 100
lbs.), at 9d. per 10 lbs., 0 8 0
Fees, etc., 0 8 0
--------
£7 9 9
She does not pay, and no wonder, when the Reykjavik traders sail their
own ships. But these gentry have also determined so to monopolise the
traffic, that often the smallest parcel, even of medium size, is
refused, under the pretext of there being no room. In fact, they have
made the “Diana” peculiarly unpopular. “It is difficult,” says a friend,
“to find any reason for such conduct, but that the Copenhagen merchants
who furnish the stores of Reykjavik with their poisonous liquors, which
they pass off for genuine, take every means to prevent anything like
competition.”
In 1872, when the author visited Iceland, the export of ponies, sheep,
and meat cattle had caused a rapid development of communication. Already
the “Yarrow” of Granton had been run for three years by her owner Mr
Slimon, who had bought and floated her after she had been wrecked off
Burntisland. She at first refused, but afterwards consented, to carry
mails. With as many as 450 head of horses on board, and towing a sloop
with fifty more, she was terribly down in the stern; and a pooping sea
would have been no joke for her solitary passenger. The “Jón Sigurðsson”
was also sent in May by her owners, a private Norwegian company, and she
was followed by the “Queen.” Concerning these two, ample details will be
found in the Journal.
§ 4. THE STORE.
The present is an age of “manufactures and diffused wealth,” which calls
for as many observations on trade and business as the traveller can
make. Before visiting the stores, however, a few words must be bestowed
upon an interesting detail.
Foreigners are apt to complain that Icelanders are uncommonly “sharp
practitioners;” sleuth-hounds after money, and bull-dogs in holding it,
like Yorkshiremen. It has become the fashion to say that the islanders
are kind and hospitable at first, but succeed in jewing the stranger at
last; and, like most of such generalisations, it contains a partial
truth. Upon this subject an Englishman who knows the island well, wrote,
“So far as my experience goes, I have never met with an Icelander who
was a rascal; there are, however, men in Iceland, and especially at
Reykjavik, who are pretty specimens of that form of animal life.... I
have heard some travellers regard it as a swindle that horses are dear
when wanted to purchase, and cheap when sold; but they forget that in
early summer there is plenty of work for beasts, and the demand raises
their price by the natural law. At the approach of winter there is no
work for them and scanty food, consequently the value falls.”
The traveller, as a rule, will meet but little imposition, except in two
notorious cases, alluded to in many a page. One is the rapacious Rev. Mr
Bech, now Prófastur (archdeacon) of Thingvellir, who charged Prince
Napoleon 220 francs for camping ground, and who is said to have demanded
$47 from Lord Dufferin. The other is Pétur Jónsson, the farmer at
Mý-vatn, who has fleeced generations of tourists; he was made by nature
to keep an inn at Palermo, or lodgings at Dover. Against these and a few
other instances, may be set off many a small farmer who will declare
that he has been paid too much; and often the boatman seems surprised at
being paid at all. The people appear eminently honest in the country
parts. About the capital this can hardly be expected: a revolver and a
silver snuff-box if dropped will not be recovered.
In business the foreigner will fall into the hands of the Danish
storekeepers, who certainly have more than a “theoretical knowledge of
the value of money;” and he will be fortunate if he escape unscathed.
One of these gentry, attempting to extort 500 francs from the Capitaine
Le Timbre for throwing a seine, without taking a fish, into an
unpreserved part of his river, failed, as he deserved. The bad example
has to a certain extent infected the Iceland trader. Messrs Henderson &
Anderson were ruined by their agent. An English storekeeper came out in
1872, with the object of recovering certain debts from the present owner
of the “Glasgow House.” He had spent some years on the island, he knew
Danish well, and he was accustomed to treat with the people; yet he
wholly failed, and the worst part of his failure was, that no Procurator
(lawyer) would undertake the foreigner’s case against a brother
islander.[256] But if these two were disappointed, Messrs Ritchie and
Messrs Hogarth have been successful. And many of our countrymen who land
in Iceland for trade should certainly not throw stones at the islanders.
One of these clerks, a decidedly “sharp” young man, not to use the
comparative form of the adjective, attempted to make himself richer and
the author poorer by £25, on the pretext that he had bought ponies, for
which the hirer should be responsible.
The storekeepers at Reykjavik are called merchants (kaupmaðr = chapman),
and their establishments, which lack signs and names, are the
conspicuous buildings fronting the sea. Mostly, they are paid employés
of Copenhagen firms, who receive fixed salaries. The following is a
list, beginning from the west:
1. Hr Egill Egilsson (Icelander), of the Glasgow House, and agent of the
“Jón Sigurðsson” steamer.
2. Hr Fischer, a Dane, married to an Icelandic wife, settled at
Copenhagen, and occasionally visiting the island. He occupies the corner
tenement to the right of the Bridge House; and he has large stores
fronting his shop.
3. Hr Havstein (Dane), who has not long been established; his private
dwelling is attached to his store at the west end of Harbour Street, but
he usually lives at Copenhagen. This house charters two or three ships a
year to carry its goods.
4. Hr Hannes Jónsson, an Icelander, son of the former Bishop Steingrimur
Jónsson. His stock is furnished by Hr Jonsen of Copenhagen, who has also
establishments at Hafnafjörð, Papós, and Seyðisfjörð.
5. Hr Robb, the son of an English merchant, who settled at and was
naturalised in Iceland.[1] He speaks German, but not a word of English.
It is the smallest of all the establishments, and seems to do business
only in lollipops.
6. Hr P. C. Knutzen, a Dane, whose agent is Hr Sivertsen. He trades on
his own account, without a company; and, being young and wealthy, he
prefers Copenhagen to Reykjavik. At Hafnafjörð he has another
establishment, and an agent (Hr Zimsen).
7. Hr Möller. The Club is held at his house.
8. Hr Schmidt (Danish), who hires a house at Reykjavik, and passes the
winter at Copenhagen. He is Consul for Holland.
9. Hr Th. A. Thomsen, a Dane of Flensburg, born in Iceland. He passes
the winter at Copenhagen; and, besides being one of the principal
traders, he is well-known for his civility and kindness to strangers.
10. Hr Edward Siemsen, at the east end of the town. He is agent for his
brother and their nephew, and he also acts Consul for Denmark.
Including M. Randrŭp, Consul de France, the Consular Corps, none of them
belonging to _la carrière_, consists of three, England, of course, being
unrepresented, though she does the largest business in coal and salt.
Thus the tricolor is the only foreign flag seen in the island, the other
two staves bear Danish colours. As has been shown, most of the traders
pass only the summer in [257] Iceland, and they solace themselves with
frequent rides and picnics at the Laxá River.
Kerguelen has left us an excellent description of the Iceland trade in
A.D. 1767. It was managed by a Danish company (No. 2, before alluded
to), which had bought an exclusive privilege from the king, and which
kept factors and warehouses at the several stations. The only money was
fish and butter,[258] whilst one ell of pig-tail (tobacco) = one fish.
The fisheries were very extensive, and would require four frigates
thoroughly to protect them. Exports were included under salt meat, beef,
and mutton; tallow; butter, close packed; wool in the grease; skins of
sheep, foxes, and seals; feathers, especially eider down; oil of whales,
sharks, and seals; fine and coarse jackets of Wadmal, woollen stockings,
and mitts; stock-fish and sulphur. The imports were fishing-tackle,
horse-shoes, carpenters’ woods, coffee and sugar, tobacco and snuff,
beer, brandy, and wine, dry goods (calicoes, etc.), flour (wheat and
rye), bread and biscuit.
The imports of the present day, to mention only those of chief
importance, are timber, salt, coals, grain, coffee, spices, tobacco, and
liquor. The timber consists of pine and fir, mostly the latter; the
forms are beams for roofing and framing, twenty-two to twenty-four feet
long, one-inch boards for side-lining of houses, three-inch planks, and
finer woods for the joiner. Salt comes chiefly from Liverpool, which is
ousting the Spanish trade, and the average price may be $2 per barrel =
176 pots = 44 gallons. The people declare that they cannot afford the
expense of salt-pans, and that the sun is hardly hot enough for
evaporation: this was not the case a few years ago, but Iceland, like
Africa, finds it cheaper to import the condiment. English coals are
carried in British bottoms, either direct or viâ Copenhagen; from the
latter only small quantities come; birch wood, sawn and split for fuel,
is introduced for private use, not for the general market; and there is
no charcoal at Reykjavik, although birch “braise” is found inland. The
cereals, whose consumption ranges from twenty-four to thirty bushels a
head, are wheat and rye, in grain, flour, and biscuit; baking-ovens are
found only at the capital. The rice is more often cheap “Rangoon,” than
fine “Carolina;” the people, who are fond of rice-milk, do not appear to
know the difference, and the import quintupled between 1864-70. The
spices are chiefly cinnamon, generally mixed with black pepper;
pepper,[259] cloves, and nutmegs. Coffee,[260] whose consumption is 6·7
pounds per head, is chiefly the Brazilian growth; tea is very rare, and
a little chocolate is brought from Copenhagen. In hard times, for
instance after 1855, the consumption of these luxuries notably falls
off. The tobaccos are usually the common Danish article; foreign growths
are represented by twist, for chewing as well as smoking; by shag,
bird’s-eye, and some specimens of the thousand mixtures which have
become so popular of late. As may be expected, the cigars are dear and
bad; the best, or at least the most expensive, are the Hamburg
“Havannahs,” which are pretentiously wrapped up in a plaintain-leaf,
veritable “cabbage.” Perhaps the favourite form is snuff (= about $3 per
pound), which is loved by males of all classes and ages. There are few
men who “take nothing between their fingers;” the consumption of this
Tupi article is about two pounds per head of males.[261]
The list of wet goods in a general store is extensive, including port
and sherry, claret and champagne, rum and cognac, with liqueurs like
cherry-brandy. These are mostly dear and bad; the beer imported for
tavern use, and the Brennivín, Kornschnapps, or rye-spirits, are too
cheap to be adulterated, except for the peasantry. Not a few country
merchants can sell per annum of this liquor twenty barrels, each
containing thirty gallons. The Althing imposed an import tax, to come
into force on July 1, 1872, of $0, 0m. 8sk. (about 2½d.) per pot or
quart, upon every bottle of wine and spirits, beer only being
excepted.[262] But the law unhappily said “drinkable spirits,” and the
merchants were able to exempt pure and methylated alcohols from the
impost. Consequently “brandies” were made at Reykjavik and at other
trading stations, greatly to the detriment of public health as well as
of morality, and despite the exertions of sensible men like Dr
Hjaltalín, the “Land-physicus.” The duty upon twenty barrels would be
$200; it is paid into the Treasury under the charge of the Landfógeti,
superintended by the Stiftamtmaðr. The sooner an “Adulterations Act” is
passed the better, but in Iceland as elsewhere _magna est pecunia et
prevalebit_. The island is not cursed with a Manchester school and its
moral mildew, but commercial interests are amply sufficient for more
than self-protection.
It may be useful to compare the prices in 1810 by Stephensen (History of
Iceland), with those of 1872, on the western and eastern coasts:
In 1810. In 1872. On East Coast.
1 pair trade mitts, $0 0 4--6 $0 2 0 $0 0 14--20
1 pair stockings $0 0 12--18 $0 4 0 $0 2 0
1 pair fine socks, $0 0 64 to $1 $1 0 0}
1 common Wadmal jacket, $0 0 40--60 $3 to $4} none made for
1 fine Wadmal jacket, $2 to $3 $6 0 0} sale.
1 lb. (Dan.) wool, $0 0 12--20 $0 3 4 $0 2 to %0 4
1 lb. eider down, $2 3 0 to $3 $7 3 0 $7 0 0
1 lb. feathers, $0 0 17--20 $0 2 0 $0 2 0
1 lb. tallow, $0 0 16--22 $0 1 4 $0 1 0
1 lb. butter,[263] $0 0 10--28 $0 2 0 $0 1 0
1 Skippund (320 lbs.) “flat}
fish,”[264] } $12 to $20 $26 0 0 $20 0 0
1 Skippund klip-fish,[265] $15 to $30 $30 to $40 none.
1 barrel sharks’ liver oil, $12 to $20 $30 0 0 $25 0 0
1 skin, white or Arctic fox} $3 0 0 $1 4 6}
(_C. lagopus_), } } none on East
1 skin, blue (_i.e._, deep iron} $3 0 0 $8 0 0} Coast
grey) fox, } }
1 brown (_C. fuliginosus_), $5 0 0 $8 0 0}
1 Rein-deer skin,[266] $5 0 0 $5 3 0
100 Swan-quills, $2 to $3 $8 0 0 very rare.
A horse, $6 to $40 according to demand, £3 to £10
A cow, $16 to $24 $50 to $80 and upwards.
A wether,[267] $2 to $5 $9 0 0 $9 0 0
1 ewe and lamb, $2 to $2½ $12 0 0 $9 0 0
A lamb, $1 2 0 $3 0 0 not for sale.
Details of imports for 1865, occupying nearly a page and a half, will be
found in the Consular Report of that year; the total importations
represented £21,468. The kind, weight, and value of the primary items
are thus tabled in 1870-71: the account applies to the whole island, but
only the principal articles are mentioned:
------------------------------------------------------
| | | | |
| | 1864. | 1865. | 1866. |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| |---------+---------+---------+
| Rye and rye-flour, } | 35,620 | 41,596 | 37,968 |
| barrels, } | | | |
| Barley, | 17,490 | 19,960 | 16,708 |
| Pease, . | 4,524 | 4,177 | 4,481 |
| Wheaten bread, lbs., | 317,216 | 339,511 | 252,511 |
| Rye bread, lbs., | 18,033 | 26,869 | 21,389 |
| Spirits, quarts, | 567,675 | 608,864 | 529,426 |
| Coffee, lbs., | 393,164 | 462,227 | 483,852 |
| Chicory, lbs., | 87,864 | 120,602 | 108,753 |
| Sugar candy, lbs., | 347,745 | 429,467 | 385,942 |
| Loaf sugar, lbs., | 101,918 | 152,840 | 135,350 |
| Brown sugar, lbs., | 27,751 | 47,020 | 41,602 |
| Treacle, lbs., | 16,199 | 19,257 | 14,289 |
| Rice, lbs., | 80,946 | 127,304 | 251,201 |
| Snuff, lbs., | 72,422 | 69,172 | 83,625 |
| Leaf tobacco, lbs., | 5,449 | 11,619 | 8,448 |
| Chew tobacco, lbs., | 35,011 | 39,908 | 37,081 |
| Tobacco, lbs., | 9,953 | 14,854 | 14,865 |
| Cigars (pieces), | 274,000 | 236,100 | 262,800 |
------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | | Average |
| | 1867. | 1868. | 1869. | Yearly |
| | | | | Value in |
| | | | | £. |
| |---------+---------+---------+----------|
| Rye and rye-flour, } | 29,426 | 27,973 | 28,905 | 40,044 |
| barrels, } | | | | |
| Barley, | 12,992 | 10,463 | 10,455 | 24,463 |
| Pease, . | 3,158 | 3,173 | 2,775 | 4,953 |
| Wheaten bread, lbs., | 244,754 | 182,783 | 196,068 | 3,494 |
| Rye bread, lbs., | 18,844 | 13,754 | 20,714 | 210 |
| Spirits, quarts, | 479,285 | 385,273 | 351,752 | 12,402 |
| Coffee, lbs., | 403,840 | 403,707 | 389,544 | 12,011 |
| Chicory, lbs., | 102,089 | 102,762 | 133,909 | 9,488 |
| Sugar candy, lbs., | 410,558 | 335,501 | 344,842 | 9,487 |
| Loaf sugar, lbs., | 118,229 | 113,960 | 111,229 | 3,087 |
| Brown sugar, lbs., | 36,456 | 34,268 | 32,043 | 786 |
| Treacle, lbs., | 12,100 | 9,972 | 12,807 | 208 |
| Rice, lbs., | 230,338 | 236,965 | 388,938 | 2,535 |
| Snuff, lbs., | 69,402 | 45,651 | 61,492 | 1,691 |
| Leaf tobacco, lbs., | 3,665 | 4,496 | 2,234 | 176 |
| Chew tobacco, lbs., | 34,727 | 30,617 | 34,527 | 2,972 |
| Tobacco, lbs., | 10,730 | 10,531 | 11,459 | 254 |
| Cigars (pieces), | 191,900 | 170,000 | 301,000 | 266 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The peculiarity of this table is that while the consumption of colonial
goods remains at the usual average, and while rice has nearly
quintupled, there has been a decrease in the import of rye, barley,
pease, and wheaten bread, a circumstance not easy to account for, with a
growing population in an island which produces no cereals.
The collective value of these imports is somewhat over $1,100,000 =
£122,222, which is but $100,000 less than the total value of the exports
of 1869 ($1,200,000 = £133,333); and, as only the most important items
have been mentioned,[268] we may conclude that the two totals almost
balance each other. The consumption of brandy, coffee, sugar, and
tobacco is alone equal to about $418,000, or one-third of the whole
value of the exports.
In 1869, the number of foreign vessels that visited the trading stations
was
From Denmark direct, 99 vessels, with 9,358 tons.
” other countries, 50 ” 4,555 “
” other island stations, 137 ” 13,913 “
Of the 149 direct foreign arrivals
Cleared in to Reykjavik, 31·1 per cent.
” Akureyri, 9·3 “
” Seyðisfjörð, 9·3 “
” Ísafjörð, 8·2 “
” Berufjörð, 6·4 “
” Hafnarfjörð, 51·0 “
We will now enter the establishment, and see the stock-in-trade of a
general “merchant.” The usual dwarf entrance-hall, after the outer door
is passed, opens upon two rooms to the right and left: one is the public
shop, filled at the “fair season” with jostling boors and drunken
loafers; the other is the private store, mostly provided with railed pen
for the benefit of the clerk and account-keeper. Besides the mainstays
of commerce before mentioned, the rooms will contain the following
articles: Dry goods, broad cloths and long cloths, woollen comforters,
threads, and a few silks and satins. Hardwares of every description;
iron for the blacksmith’s use; hoop-iron and bar-iron (no pig), the
metal being preferably Swedish, for the best of reasons; a little steel
and brass wire, but neither copper nor zinc; farriers’ and carpenters’
tools; cooking utensils; spades and scythes; sewing machines; and
fish-hooks, the smaller sort for long lines, the cod-hooks large and of
tinned iron. The arms and ammunition, especially old military muskets
and muzzle-loaders, are fit only for the Gold Coast: Copenhagen weapons
are cheap and good, £2, 5s. being the average price of a breech-loading
single-barrelled rifle. Pistols are not seen, and there is a tradition
of the barrels being cut for alpenstock rings. Besides cereals, the
stores supply sugars, brown, candy, and white, refined at Copenhagen;
hams (rare, and no potted meats, so much wanted by travellers); sausages
and sardines; butter (foreign sometimes); figs, raisins, prunes, and
olive oil. The Quincaillerie consists of pots and pans, boxes, funnels,
kettles and watering-pots, lamps and lanterns. The walls are hung with
leather for saddles, thongs, straps, and raw hides for shoes. There is
an abundance of cheap crockery and glass ware. Paraffin and petroleum
have lately come into general fashion; stearine candles are kept mostly
for private use, and the peasants make their own farthing dips.
A narrow back passage, often connecting the public and the private shop,
will have a ladder leading to the usual cock-loft, scattered with boxes
and bales. Here a few skins and birds stuffed for sale, some of them
sadly damaged by rats, hang from the beams; and the following are the
chief items:
The falcon[269] (_F. islandicus_, Icel. Fálki, a foreign word, or
Veiðifálki); a good white, stuffed specimen costs $10. This bird, so
much valued during the Middle Ages, and considered the elder brother of
the gerfalcon (_F. gyrfalco_) or peregrine, was protected by kings and
bishops, who claimed the right of exporting it. A royal mews was
established at Reykjavik. In 1770, the falconers paid $7 for the grey
bird, $10 for the dark-grey, and $15 for the white, which was considered
the most beautiful and docile. Many were sent to England as late as the
seventeenth century: in 1871, a few birds were bought for the Hindostan
market. This falcon is very destructive to ducks, and ranges far, making
upwards of 1300 miles per diem.
Whoopers, hoopers, or wild swans (_Cycnus ferus_, Icel. Álpt or Svanr in
poetry, the Fær. Svener), are now, from the rarity of the skins, sold at
fancy prices.
The Iceland golden-eye (_Clangula islandica_, Icel. Húsönd) fetches,
according to quality, $0, 5m. to $1, 2m.
The gulls (_L. glaucus_, Icel. Hvít-máfur or Hvít-fugl) and the great
black-backed _L. marinus_ (Svartbakur) are cheap, and good specimens may
be bought for $0, 2m.
The great northern diver (_Colymbus arcticus seu glacialis_, Icel.
Himbrimi or Brúsi), if good, costs $1, 4m.; usually it is sold when the
coat is changing from winter to summer wear, and is not worth buying.
The red-throated diver (_Colymbus ruficollinus seu septentrionalis_,
Icel. Lómr or Therrikráka) is worth $1, 2m. when in good condition, with
red around the throat and about the breast.
The other skins are the whimbrel or curlew-knot (_Numenius phaeopus_,
Fær. Spogvi, Icel. Nefvoginn-Spói); the pretty red-headed pochard
(_Fuligula ferina_), extending from the Himalayas to North America, from
Italy to Greenland; the beautifully painted harlequin, or stone duck
(_Histrionicus torquatus seu Anas histrionica_, Icel. Straum-önd or
stream-duck); the white-breasted and crooked-bill’d goosander (_Mergus
castor_, Icel. Stóratoppönd or Gulönd), so different of robe in male and
female; the red-breasted mergander (_Mergus serrator_, Icel. Lilla
Toppönd), whose brick-hued bill, ending in a white horny nail, has
various serrations, according to sex; the shag, scarf, or cormorant
(_Phalacrocorax carbo_, _Carbo cormoranus_ or _Pelicanus carbo_, Icel.
Skarfur, Toppskarfur, and Dílaskarfur), never taught in Europe to fish;
the gannet (_Sula bassana_ or _Pelicanus bassanus_, Icel. Súla or
Hafsúla); the various skuas or Arctic gulls (_Stercorarius_ Icel. Kjói);
the Iceland gull (_L. leucopterus_, Icel. Hvít-máfur), white, with
ash-blue back; the guillemot (_Uria troile_, Icel. Svartlag, Langnefia,
or Langvia), whose flesh is eaten, and whose feathers sell for
twenty-eight skillings per lb.; the black guillemot (_Uria grylle_,
Icel. Tejsti); the grey-lag goose (_Anser ferus_); the scaup-duck
(_Fuligula marila_); the black scoter (_Oedemia nigra_); the long-tail
duck (_Harelda glacialis_); the pin-tail duck (_A. acuta_); the
red-necked phalarope (Icel. Óðin’s-hani, _Phalaropus hyperboreus seu
tringa borea_); the gadwall (_A. strepera_); the wigeon (_A. Penelope_);
the mallard (_A. boschas_); the teal (_A. crecca_).