Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Side 50

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LE NORD
once set out for their new home. The journey took a long time,
and they did not arrive at their destination till the end of Oc-
tober. Winter set in unusually early that year and was exception-
ally severe. The settlers only had time to build a few very primit-
ive log-cabins, and there were difficulties of supply, as most
of them had arrived empty-handed. In the result, many of them
succumbed to cold and malnutrition. The remainder did not give
up, however, but started to establish themselves in the new sur-
roundings, as well as circumstances allowed them to. The settle-
ment was given the name of New Iceland. The next year they
were joined by a large number of new arrivals from Iceland
(about 1200), besides several from Ontario and Nova Scotia, so
that the colony almost at once received a large access of popu-
lation. But one of the new arrivals brought smallpox with him,
and the resultant epidemic cost the lives of 102 of the settlers.
Moreover, the epidemic meant a serious setback, because the
colony had to be isolated for the better part of a year, all ex-
ports from it being prohibited. Other difficulties supervened.
Large floods caused much damage in 1880, and it now appeared
that the land was swampy and less fertile than had at first
been supposed. Finally there were religious dissentions among
the colonists. All this caused most of the original settlers to move
to other parts of the country. They were, however, replaced
by fresh arrivals, and the settlement has thus been kept alive,
though it has never been among the most prosperous Icelandic
colonies in Canada.
As this settlement is the only one which the Icelanders in
Canada have had quite to themselves, a few words about the
way in which they organized their administration may not be
out of place. The whole colony was divided into four districts,
each of which was administered by a council of five popularly
elected commissioners. Each of these councils chose a chairman,
and the four chairmen formed a Colonial Council, the president
of which was the highest official of the colony. The man chosen
for this post was the above-mentioned Sigtryggur Jónasson. This
very democratic constitution, which in many ways recalls the old
Icelandic constitutional traditions, remained in force from 1878
till 1887, when the settlement was incorporated in the Province
of Manitoba, and received local self-government according to
Canadian law. Some years later (in 1898) the monopoly of Ice-
landers to settle in New Iceland was abrogated, and since then