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KERGUELEN’S VOYAGE TO THE NORTH. 749
When it fnows and the wind is violent whole flocks, obliged to yield to its violence, are
driven to the fea fhore, whence a fucceffional tempeft carries them off to fea. M.
Horrebow reports his having feen fome which the force of the wind had taken four
leagues out to fea. It often happens when the fheep are in the fields in winter time
while it fnows and freezes, they huddle themfelves together, their fleece then becomes
frozen in fuch manner that they cannot feparate, having above them more than twenty
feet depth of fnow. In this fituation they remain until the weather allows of their being
fought for and releafed. At times they are fafely relieved, at others they are {mothered
by the weight of {now, or ftrangled by the foxes, which are always perfecuting them.
A fingularity which appears fabulous is related by M. Anderfon. He fays that when
the fheep are obliged to remain fome days in the fnow, hunger caufes them to feed on
their wool, and that they fubfift themfelves in this manner until they meet with fuccour.
This I have myfelf been affured in the country is a fact ; I was even further informed
that when the farmers difcovers any pofleffed of this mania, he kills them, as it is injuri-
ous to the fleece of the others, which is their only protection from the cold. The wool
of the fheep is very fine, but varies in quality according to the quarter of the ifland,
which is of great extent.
Iceland has plenty of bulls and cows of fmall fize. The bulls have a game flavour,
the cows give a quantity of milk*, fome ten gallons a day of an excellent quality, it is
both meat and drink for the fick ; fkimmed, it forms the principal beverage of thofe
who are well, it is called then /yre. It becomes four asit gets old; it is then efteemed
good and wholefome : when too frefh they even mix the juice of forrel with it.
The game of Iceland confifts of woodcocks, fnipes, and partridges. The partridge
called by the natives riper is white, it is larger than ours, and has its feet covered with
a down fimilar to that of the rabbit : partridges in Lapland are white plumed as well,
and as large as thofe of Iceland. The Icelanders fhoot them, or take them in nets.
Iceland is full of an infinite number of birds of prey of every kind, fuch as eagles,
vultures, hawks, falcons, owls, crows, and many others, both with diftinguifhing names,
and without them. Ofall of them the falcon is beft worthy attention. — It is met with,
white, a light grey, and grey. It is well known that the falcons of Iceland are the beft,
they are larger and {tronger than thofe of other countries, and hawk for more than a
dozen years. ‘The King of Denmark fends for fome every year. He gives two guineas.
of our money for a grey falcon, and feventy fhillings for a white one.
There is plenty of aquatic fowls, fuch as fwans, geefe, ducks, plovers, &c., but the
moft remarkable, and the moft gainful to the inhabitants is the duck which yields the
eiderdown. This duck brings two-fold profit to the inhabitants ; it lays excellent eggs,
which it may be made to renew three times, and it givesa precious down.
This bird forms the infide of its neft of the down which it tears from its breaft, after-
wards it lays three or four eggs; the inhabitant to whom the neft belongs takes away
the down, and the eggs; the female {trips herfelf again, and lays other eggs, which a
fecond time are taken away: the male then ftrips its breaft of down, and the female lays
eggs for the third time; but thefe are left her, fince if taken away the third time fhe
would lay no more and would leave the diftri&t, which would be an unfortunate event,
and a confiderable lofs; as the young ones the fucceeding year return to multiply on
the place which gave them birth. M. Anderfon relates that he had been told that the
Icelanders put a ftick half a yard long into the neft of thefe ducks, in order to make the
female lay as many eggs as would cover the height of the ftick in order to hatch them.
* For want of hay the inhabitants feed their cattle on the refufe of fith boiled.
Iam
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