Note 263 — SECTION VIII. TAXATION—COINS, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES—PRICES AND IMPORTS—COMMUNICATION AND COMMERCE—VISIT TO THE STORE.

Iceland home-made butter is poor, white, full of hairs, and made in a way peculiarly unclean. It is mostly of ewes’ milk, that of the cow not sufficing. Travellers of course prefer the imported, but it is not always to be had at the shops. The favourite native form is “sour butter,” which, like the Ghi of Hindostan, lasts twenty years, though if salted it becomes rancid: it takes the place of salt and seasoning; it is considered to assist digestion, and it “diffuses an agreeable warmth over the stomach.” The climate demands such carbon-producing food, and “Fat have I never refused!” is a saying with the islanders.