The rain poured down incessantly,
and we were half dead with cold and wet; so I at length determined
to halt for the night at the first cottage:
At last we found one
between two or three miles from Thingvalla. I had now a roof above
my head; but beyond this I had gained nothing. The cottage
consisted of a single room, and was almost completely filled by four
broad bedsteads. I counted seven adults and three children, who had
all to be accommodated in these four beds. In addition to this, the
kvef, a kind of croup, prevailed this spring to such an extent that
scarcely any one escaped it. Wherever I went, I found the people
afflicted with this complaint; and here this was also the case; the
noise of groaning and coughing on all sides was quite deplorable.
The floor, moreover, was revoltingly dirty.
The good people were so kind as immediately to place one of their
beds at my disposal; but I would rather have passed the night on the
threshold of the door than in this disgusting hole. I chose for my
lodging-place the narrow passage which separated the kitchen from
the room; I found there a couple of blocks, across which a few
boards had been laid, and this constituted the milk-room: it might
have been more properly called the smoke-room; for in the roof were
a few air-holes, through which the smoke escaped.
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