This was the murder of an illegitimate child immediately after its birth.

The most frequently occurring crime is cow-stealing.
I was much surprised to find that nearly all the Icelanders can read and write.

The latter quality only was somewhat rarer with the women.
Youths and men often wrote a firm, good hand.

I also found books in every cottage, the Bible always, and frequently poems and stories, sometimes even in the Danish language.
They also comprehend very quickly; when I opened my map before them, they soon understood its use and application.

Their quickness is doubly surprising, if we consider that every father instructs his own children, and sometimes the neighbouring orphans.