AGRICULTURE AND OTHER INDUSTRIES. About five-sixths of the inhabitants live by horse, cattle, and sheep raising. A large part of the slopes and river valleys of the plateaus affords excellent pasture for sheep, and in the low-lying lands are extensive meadows, which, properly managed. could support twice the number of cattle that now graze on them. The island contains about 1.000,000 sheep and 20.000 cows. A great deal has been done latterly to improve the soil. Agri cultural societies have been formed, and there are now four agricultural schools. At. one time a little barley was grown, but it could not he made to pay. and therefore field cultivation has been abandoned. Horticulture, on the other hand, makes great progress, potatoes, cabbages, and rhubarb thrive well, and sonic berries, sued] as currants, are cultivated. Wood: have never ex isted since the glacial period, and the brushwood of birch is less extensive than formerly, owing to the sheep. The birch is seldom higher than a man. though in one place on the east side some specimens attain a height of over thirty feet. The mountain ash reaches the same height. The fishing bounds (cod, herring, flounders, whale, and seal) are frequented by English and Frenen boats. The sea is very stormy, and therefore fish ing is best pursued in large and strong vessels. The fishermen of Iceland have had to content themselves with small open boats. They brave the billows of the ocean in winter with the great est. boldness and contempt of danger. and every year many lose their lives. Want of capital has prevented them from acquiring large vessels, but considerable progress has been made in this di rection, and the Icelanders now possess a fair fleet of fishing smacks. Manufacturing indus tries, with the exception of fish oil, are utterly absent.. The simpler articles of dress and neces caries of life are usually supplied by every na tive for himself, and the number of artisans is very small. The mineral deposits are not suffi
ciently large to repay exploitation. Turf is the chief fuel. but some coal is imported.
The chief exports are dried fish, wool. live sheep and horses. eider-down, salted meat, oil, and whalebone. The annual value of the ex ports amounts at present to over $2.000.000. The imports consist of textiles. cereals, and other food stuffs, and have an annual value of between :32. noo.000 and $2,500.000. Up to 1S54 the trade of Iceland was a State monopoly of Denmark. Since then it has been free, and is now chiefly in the bands of Denmark and Great Britain. Iceland has regular steam communication every three weeks with Denmark via Leith. the port of Edin burgh. There are a number of trading stations on the island. and six commercial centres. There are few roads. In the settled districts the traveler follows bridle-paths worn by the hoofs of the small Iceland horses. But a few good roads have now been built, and some of the streams are being bridged. The people are sturdy, and have not al lowed the hardships they have endured to crush them. As the farthest outpost of civilization they have always had to fight a hard battle with na ture. They are of an earnest. quiet. and somewhat melancholy disposition, and as a rule very intel ligent.. Though the lower classes live in poor circumstances, they are very enlightened: per haps in no other country of Europe are so many honks, in proportion to the population, printed and sold as in Iceland. The island contains five printing establishments, front which issue ten newspapers and eight periodicals. During recent decades many Icelanders have emigrated to Amer ica. and have founded flourishing colonies in Manitoba. In all about 12.000 have crossed the Atlantic, but of late years the emigration has fallen off. Besides Reykjavik, the capital. with a population of about 4000. the chief settlements are Akrevri and Isafiord.