Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1966, Page 71

WESTWARD JOURNEY
53
to notice it.
Shortly after the ship had been
moored at the dock, a distinguished-
looking man came aboard. I knew
that he was an Icelander for he
spoke Icelandic to my grandfather.
1'his distinguished Icelander took
great pains to examine the mer-
chandise which the ship had brought
and I often heard him ask my grand-
father whether the wool was of good
^uality and the salt-fish well pre-
served. This man then went with my
grandfather to the Danish consul
who gave him a letter that he was to
deliver to the Danish consul in New
^ork for there we were to go on a
steamship named Columbus. Then
from New York we were to go north
f° Halifax. When the Danish consul
j*1 Hull had written the letter and
anded it to my grandfather and also
ooked passage for us on the Colum-
Us, we were taken to an inn near
^diere the Columbus was docked.
here we waited a week until the
s Was ready to sail. The couple
W 0 managed the inn were Nor-
Wegian. I remember them best be-
^nse the wife was one of the biggest
ornen that I have seen, but her hus-
and, on the other hand, was so
Srnall 0f stature that I thought he
Was a boy of ten or twelve years
dh a mask over his face. There
WR6 Ver^ ^ew guests at the inn
t We stayed there, but according
o my grandfather the few that were
t^ 6re spoke Norwegian. Two or
ee of them were new-comers from
t0mericawh° intendedtoreturn home
felt ?rwa^’ least my grandfather
the' ^ unc*erstoc,d that much from
trmr Conversation. He was always
lng to enquire from them about
America and he understood them to
say that in America there was an
abundance of gold everywhere, all
of which was red. These men gave
my grandfather a few glasses of
wine which he said was the best he
had ever tasted. He was sure that
they had brought it from “Vineland
the Good”.
While we stayed at the inn my
grandfather was out around the city
every day and always took me with
him. Many were the strange sights
we saw both on the streets and in the
shop windows and many were the
apples and pears that he bought for
us from bare-headed boys and de-
crepit old women that swarmed and
teemed everywhere and virtually
appeared to issue out of every nook
and cranny, even out of the stone
walls as did Aladdin’s spirits. Such
a swarm of fruit peddlars I have
never since seen. Often on these ex-
peditions of ours about the city we
became aware that some persons
thought that we were too forward
and too curious. This wias most
noticeable around flower gardens
and factories. Often we had extreme
difficulty in finding our way back
to the inn where we stayed, parti-
cularly as darkness gathered at
night. The object that drew my
keenest attention on the streets of
Hull was a metal statue of a man on
horseback on a street crossing a short
distance from the inn. I never grew
tired of gazing at this work of
wonder which my grandfather said
was by far the largest toy that he
had ever seen. This statue was usual-
ly our best landmark, for when we
saw it we were certain to find our
way home.