If any person could suddenly, and without having made the journey, be transported into one of these houses, he would certainly fancy himself in some continental town, rather than in the distant and barren island of Iceland.

And as in Havenfiord, so I found the houses of the more opulent classes in Reikjavik, and in all the places I visited.
From these handsome houses I betook myself to the cottages of the peasants, which have a more indigenous, Icelandic appearance.

Small and low, built of lava, with the interstices filled with earth, and the whole covered with large pieces of turf, they would present rather the appearance of natural mounds of earth than of human dwellings, were it not that the projecting wooden chimneys, the low-browed entrances, and the almost imperceptible windows, cause the spectator to conclude that they are inhabited.

A dark narrow passage, about four feet high, leads on one side into the common room, and on the other to a few compartments, some of which are used as storehouses for provisions, and the rest as winter stables for the cows and sheep.

At the end of this passage, which is purposely built so low, as an additional defence against the cold, the fireplace is generally situated.