Note 139 — Chapter XIII · TO EASTERN ICELAND—WE REACH MÝ-VATN.

Uno Von Troil (129, 130) gives interesting notices of the whale. He divides the mammals into two kinds: (1.) “Skidis-fiskur,” or smooth-bellied, with whalebone instead of teeth; the largest, “Stettbakr,” or flat-back, measures nearly 200 English feet, and the “Hnufubakr” is only 50 feet shorter. Of the Reydar-fiskur, or wrinkle-bellied (No. 2), the largest is the “Steipereidur,” attaining nearly 240 English feet; the “Hrafnreyður” and the “Andanufia;” all are considered very dainty food; and the Icelanders say the flesh has the taste of beef. The whales with teeth are (1.) the eatable, such as the Hnysen, the Hnyðingur, the Hundfiskur, and the Maahyrningr; and (2.) the ice-whale, or uneatable, with its subdivisions, the Roðkammingur and the Náhvalur, were both “forbidden as food by some ancient regulations, and particularly by the Church laws. The Icelanders believe that the first sort are very fond of human flesh, and therefore avoid fishing in such places where they appear.” The carnivorous whales were frightened away by carrying “dung, brimstone, juniper-wood, and some other articles of the same nature, in their boats”—an idea worthy of the black tars who navigate Lake Tánganyika.