Árbók Háskóla Íslands - 02.01.1925, Blaðsíða 248

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med, were of Norwegian descent, and came from the Norwegian
settlements in the West.
The L a n d n á m a b ó c (Book of Settlements) is an old
record, full and detailed, of the Settlement of Iceland, unique
in the world’s literature. It enumerates the settlers, whence they
emigrated and where they took land. Many Icelanders can still
trace their descent back to the first settlers. The author has at-
tempted to give a suiwey of the settlement, and lias counted one
half of the children of the first setllers among the immigrants.
All seltlers enumerated in the Landnámabóc are counted, men
and women, freemen and slaves (Table on pp. 8—10). The
survey shows that the main l)ody of the settlers came from
Western Norway, no single district having contributed as many
as Sogn. The inhabitants of the coast districts of Western Nor-
way, have now, as a rule, a lower stature, darker hair and
eyes, and higher index cephalicus than those inliabiting tlie
inland districts. It is probable tbat this dates from early times,
and one would tbink it could be traced in the Icelanders. One
might also expect traces of the immigration from the British
Isles, thougb only in a sligbt degree.
The Icelandic Sagas contain many excellent descriptions of
these settlers and their descendants. On the whole they agree
with the anthropological descriptions of the Nordic race. Nevcr-
theless descriptions occur of men with other features, dark
or black hair, low stature etc. Thus it is clear thet the settlers
in Iceland were by no means of an unmixed, pure Nordic raCe.
Tbe family and status of the settlers are given in the L a n d-
n á m a b ó c. It is worth noticing, that about one third of
the settlers enumerated are chieftains or nobles by descent.
Doubtless the names of chieftains and leading men were more
faithfully retained in stories,, more easily remembered than
those of plain people. None the less it is certain, that it was
above all the cliieftains, who attempted to escape from the tyr-
anny of Harald Fairhair by emigration.
The Icelanders have lived an unusually isolated and seclud-
ed life, from the time of the settlement down to the last quarter
of the nineteenth century. It is owing to this, that they still
speak the Norse speech that was formerly the language of all
Scandinavia and more than one lialf of England. During this
time there has been hardly any immigration, but for a time
a considerable emigralion took place, so tbat over 20.000 Ice-
landers are now settled in America, mainly in Canada.
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