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644 VON TROIL’S LETTERS ON ICELAND.
‘The number of the inhabitants is by no means adequate to the extent of the country.
It has been much larger in former times; but befides what is called the Digerdeath,
and other contagious difeafes, among which the plague carried off great numbers
from 1402 to 1404, many places have been entirely depopulated by famine. In the
years 1707 and 1708, the fmall-pox deftroyed fixteen thoufand perfons ; fo that the
nuinber of inhabitants cannot exceed fixty thoufand.
LETTER IV.—tTo cHEVALIER IHRE,
Of the Arrival of the Norwegians, the Government, and Laws in Iceland.
Stockholm, June 135 1774.
As Thave treated in my former letter of the nature of the country in Iceland, an
enquiry how, and when it was firft peopled, might not perhaps be difagreeable to
ou.
We know little or nothing of the firft inhabitants of Iceland, who poffeffed the
country when the Norwegians firft arrived there. We are informed by fome, that
they were Chriftians, who, according to the moft probable conjectures, arrived there
from England and Ireland, and were called Papa by the Norwegians *. They pretend
to affirm with the greateft certainty, that this Englifh colony fettled there in the be-
ginning of the fifth century ; but I look upon it as the fafeft way not to enter at all
upon an affair wrapped up in fuch obfcurity. There is notwith{tanding reafon to fup-
ofe that the Englifh and Irifh were acquainted with this country under another name
fou before the arrival of the Norwegians; for the celebrated Beda in his time pretty
accurately defcribes it. But I will not dwell upon thefe ancient inhabitants of Iceland,
but proceed to examine how the Norwegians came to fettle there. Of this we have
feveral accounts in the Icelandic Sagas t+. I fhall now particularly follow Landnama
Bok, which treats of the arrival of thefe new colonitts.
Naddoddr, a famous pirate, was driven by the winds on the coat of Iceland, on his
return from Norway to the Ferro Gales, in 861, and named the country Swio-land
(Snow-land) on account of the great quantity of {now with which he faw the moun-
tains covered. He did not remain there long; but however extolled the country fo
much after his return, that one Gardar Suafarfon, an enterprifing Swede, was encous
* The ancient Norwegians, who firft landed in Iceland, found there inhabitants who were Chriftians,
and were called by the Norwegians Papas, which is conjectured to fignify priefts, ‘This is confirmed by the
preface of the Landnama Bok, or Book of Colonization, written by various authors, the firft of whom was
Are Frode, born 1068; and he exprefsly fays, in the firft chapter of the book, that Iceland was fettled
by the Norwegians in the time of Alfred king of England, and of Edward his fon. The fame preface
mentions, that Beda fpeaks of Iceland, under the name of Thyle, more than a hundred years before the
arrival of the Norwegians in Iceland; and that the Norwegians found there Irifh books, bells, and crofiers,
which proved that thefe people eame from the weft. And it is added, that the Englifh books mention an
intercourfe of navigation between thofe lands about thofe times. King Alfred certainly mentions in his
tranflation of Orofius, the utmoft land to the N. W. of Iceland, called Thila ;_and that it is known to few
on account of its great diftance. See Alfred’s Orofius, p.31. ‘Fhe Landnama Bok was publifhed at Co-
penhagen, 1774,in gto. The circumftance of the Irifh books left in Iceland is likewife mentioned by the
fame Are Frode, in Ara Multifcii Shedis de Iflandia, Oxonia, 1716, Svo. cap. ii, pag. 10. who fays, they
vee not to live with the heathens, and for that reafon went away, leaving behind Irifh books, bells, and
crouers.
+ The word Saga fignifies the ancient hiftorical monuments in Iceland; fome of them are the hiftorical
relations, others are fabulous ftories in the ftyle of the Arabian Nights. The diftinétion between them re-
quires a nice critical judgment, As the word occurs often, we once for all explain it here,
raged.
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