A Visit to Iceland by way of Tronyem, in the summer of 1834

Chapter I

Fitost LONDON TO Titom/En. — Birmingham — Liverpool — "Flower of Yarrow" and her Establishment — Anticipations of the Party— Departure — Rachlin Island — St. KilJa and the Lady Grange — The Hebrides — Coast of Norway — The Froy Hord — The Sea Eagle — Arrival at T-Otiyem — Qua Release from Quarantine . . . .1

Chapter II

FltOM TRONYEM TO RoRAAS, AND VlSIT TO THE LAPLANDERS. Behaviour of the Peasantry — Song of the Peasant Girts— Smelting-house of Ejda — Beautiful Children — Valley of the Glommen — Roraas — Smetting-houses — Population — Road to the Laplanders — Mountain Scenery — Oresund Lake — Myhrmoe — Laplanders ; their Portraits — Sæters on their Character and Condition — Return to Bekosen — A 6 CONTENTS. remarkably Une Family — Copper-mine of &«;._.?: — Nature of the Operations — Wages ofthe Miners — Kn^hsh Salmon Fishing — Horrible state of the Road — Arrival in CHAPTER HI. Y"Y_GE pnoM TiroxYEM TO IcEi.A^D. — Family at _-i//f Gaar^/fH — English at Tronyem — Art unfortunate Pole — Falls of Lierfossen — Salmon Fishery — Catbeilial of Tronyem, Sketch of — Departure from Tronyem by a Southern Fiord — Town and Harboyrr of Christiansund — Raven not confined to the Icelanders — Compelled to stand off the Coast — Dense Fog — Pass Cape Reikanæs — Sunken bugten, or Bay — Anchor opposite the Toyvn of Reikiavik . 68

Chapter IV

REiKiAViK AND ITS YtcixiTv. — Appearance of the Town from the Anchorage — Submarine Volcanoes — Beach of Lava — Derivation of the Name of Reikiavik — Description ofthe Town — of the Inhabitants — their Houses and Gardens — Feebleness of Vegetation — The Cathedral and Public Library — Visit the Constituted Authorities Agreeable surprise on finding the Governor an old travelling Acquaintance — Visit the Bishop — bis great civility, and offer to be in any way useful — Fishermen's Huts — Want of Society in the Winter Months — TrafEc by Batter yvith the Interior — Visit to the Salmon Fishery of Lax Elbe — to the Hot Springs — Nature of the Country in the Vicinity of Reikiavik . . . . . CONTENTS. V

Chapter V

JouRNEY TO THE GEYSERS. — Preparations — Pack-horses — Saddle-horses — Guides — Desolate aspect of the Country Waterfall down the Chasm — River O-r.. -a« — Church and F/_ss_y_;_n — Fine Prospect — Silver Ornaments made by the change of Climate — Trees found in Peat-hogs — Su. .';. — Volcanic Cones aud Craters — Whole Fields of Lava — Haymaking — Appearance of Hecla— Peasantry — River _?.&_;'-__ — First sightoftheGeysers . . .130

Chapter VI

TnE GEYSKns. — The Plain of Boiling Fountains— Plan of Basin, and Tube — Deposit of the Water — Delicate In G-y!cr — The &roc^r — The _.;///c — Explosion of the Great Geyser — Difficulty of making a correct represen into the Geyser — Mr. Faraday's Analysis of the Geyser Reikiavik . . . . . .173

Chapter VII Havnefiord And Bessestad

— Cathedral Service at Reikiavik — Supper at Mr. Knudtzon's — Journey to HavneHord — VI CONTENTS. Wide extent of Country covered vi ith Lava — Various Disappointment in not seeing the Sulphur Mines of Krusivik — Proceed to Bessestad.the only Collegiate School of Iceland — Some accountof it — Salaries ofthe Instructors — Literature ofthe Clergy — The Sagas, Eddas, and Scalds Visits of Scalds to the Court of England in the reigns of Eth.ln.d and Alfred — Condition of the Clergy compared vdth that of the Peasantry — Number and value ofthe Livings — Studious habits of the Clergy — Example of Jonas Thorlakson — Church of Bessestad . . .217

Chapter VIII

Yacht — A Z.n_f/ Pilot — Reach the Coast of S/_;j/).ri — — Return to Reikiavik — Rough Passage — Basaltic Co lumns and Caves of Stappen — Extracts of unpublished direction of Basaltic Pillars from the Giants' Causeway

Chapter IX. Statistics

— Tenures of Land — Law of Descent — Rents, hoyv paid — Payment of Labour — Marriages, proportion of — Ages of Parties — Extent of the Island — Population — - Number of Cattle — Taxes — Articles of Diet — Indigenous Plants — Those useful for ordinary and other domestic purposes — Medicines — Ardent Spirits — -Crimes and Punishments — Education — Clergy — Morality . . CONTENTS. VII

Chapter X

LuAYE-TAKiNG. — Return of the Prince of Denmark to Suite — Collection of Minerals — Mountain of Obsidian — The Prince's Visit to the Yacht — Dinner given by the Governor — Popularity of the Prince — Take leave of Him and the Governor — Passage Home — Arrival in London . DIRECTIOXS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. 1. A Lapland Family .... ro /_.f 43 2. ALaplander'sHut . . . . . 48 4. The Cathedral of Tronyem . . . .74 5. View of Reikiavik from the Anchorage . . SG 6. Part of the Cavalcade, with Htcla in the distance . 170 7. Fall in the Bruer-aa, or Bridge River . . .172 8. Coast of Stap; en, yvith Snaefell in the back-ground . 258 9. Basaltic Cave of Stappeu ....

Introduction

. vVitE** at Tronyem last year, I felt a strong desire of visiting Iceland, not however at that time, but on some future occasion. I wished for an opportunity of com paring the character and condition of the natives of that island with their kindred and ancient stock — the Nor wegians ; and I wished also to contemplate the extra ordinaryphysicalphenomena resulting from subterranean fire which have been, and still are, in operation, on the surface of this large island, from a period of tims to which neither the memory nor the records of man extend. But I found that the chances of a conveyance from hence were indeed very small, as little or no communication was held direct between the two countries,sincethesepara tionof Norway from the Crown of Denmark. Unwil ling,however, to abandon the design, I inquired in the spring of the following year whether any trade was carried on with Iceland from London, Liverpool, or the northern ports ; but was informed that, though a casual ship might proceed thither from Liverpool or Hull with salt and a few articles of colonial produce, yet that nothing like a Tegular trade existed with that island — indeed, as I since found, not an English vessel in the X

INTRODUCTION.

. course of last summer bad proceeded thither, and only o*T? Danish vessel took in a cargo of salt from Liverpool, which vessel was wrecked on the coast of Iceland. Dis appointed in the hope of procuring a conveyance from England, I requested my father to write to Sir Henry Watkins Williams Wynn, our Envoy Extraordinary and Minister at the Court of Copenhagen, for information as to the probability of a certain conveyance from thence. The answer of His Excellency was exceedingly kind ; he regretted that I was not myself the bearer of the letter, as he might then have procured me a passage in a Danish ship of the line, about to proceed to Iceland with Prince Frederick and his suite, though he could not have ensured me a conveyance back, as a corvette only would be sent in the autumn to bring back the Prince to his destination, and that he apprehended it would be too small to afford accommodation.

He was kind enough also to refer me to a quarter most likely to give information, and sent me two letters of introduction to residents on the island. In the mean time, however, Mr. Smith, whose acquaint ance I was so fortunate to make in Norway the pre ceding year, had the kindness, without being aware of my intention to visit Iceland, to offer me a passage in a beautiful yacht called the " Flower of Yarrow," be longing to the Royal Yacht Club, of which he is a member. He had purchased her from the Duke of Buccleuch, and proposed to make his first voyage to

INTRODUCTION.

. XI Tronyem, there to receive on board Mr. Broder Knudtzon, one of the most respectable gentlemen in that place, and a member of the Storthing ; from thence to sail to Iceland, and, after visiting that island, to convey him to England, and ultimately to the Mediterranean. I was of course delighted with such an eligible and un looked-for piece of good fortune, made my preparations accordingly without loss of time, and arranged with Mr. Smith to join the yacht at Liverpool. I did not flatter myself that I should be able to collect much additional information respecting this most extra ordinary island, which had been visited by some, though not many, of the most intelligent among our country men ; but it would at least be something to have the opportunity of comparing the accounts of preceding tra vellers,which have been but " short and far between," with the present state of its inhabitants, and more par ticularlythe descriptions of those singular boiling foun tains known by the name of the Geyser.?.

To witness the ebullitions and the eruptions of these would be ample compensation for any inconvenience I might suffer, and I apprehended none in a well-built and well-found yacht. Of the numerous works that have been published on Iceland, of which the catalogue contained in the English translation of Dr. Yon Troil s letters amount to one hun dred and twenty, few are known to the English reader ; the greater number being in the Danish, Swedish, German, or Icelandic languages — some few in Latin. To our immortal Bard, however, who appears to have

INTRODUCTION.

. XII known everything, though we know little or nothing of what concerns him personally, Iceland was not wholly a i-erro "Pish!" exclaims Al/n: (in Henry Y.), on whom J-Wo/ retorts—" Pish for thee, Iceland dog ! thou prick-eared cur of Iceland ! " Shakspeare never missed the proper epithet : — the common dog of Iceland has short erect ears. The first account I have seen of this country by an eye witness, and it is the result on!y of a short and incidental visit, is by a French doctor, who went on an expedition partly of trade and partly of discovery, set forth by a "Company of traders to the north" in the year 1670, sanctioned by the King of Denmark. The name of the writer is not stated, nor the name of the Enghsh translator,but it is addressed to Sir Charles Thorold, Knt., Alderman, and Sheriff of London.

It purports to be a full account of Norway, Lapland, Boiandia, Siberia, Samojedda, Zembla, and Iceland. In returning from this voyage, the ship was caught in a storm near Green land, and not knowing where they were, but seeing a great fire, the master said it must be Mount Hecla. They got into a harbour near Cape Heri, and proceeded to a village called Kirkebaæ*, where they were cordialiv entertained by some Danish merchants, who told them that the day before the whole island shook so violently, that they thought they should all be swallowed up. The writer and a party went to see Mount Hecla, which * This place is on a Sord opposite to the Westmann's Islands.

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII they reached in two days, having travelled the last five miles strewed over with ashes and pumice-stones. Most of the company stayed below, but the author and a Danish merchant, with the guides, " footed it over ashes and pumice-stones, sometimes up to the calves of our legs in ashes; we ascended half a league, and then felt the ground shake under us ; we also heard such a terrible noise in the bowels of the earth, that it seemed as if it would burst open : at the same time, there appeared on all sides chinks, out of which issued bluish flames, which stunk Hke stench of burning brimstone. This sight made us turn back for fear of being consumed by them. We had scarce got dow-n thirty yards before a black smoky cloud ascended out of the mountain, and so thick that it darkened the light of the sun, and covered us so that we could not see one another : our fears grew* upon us every step we took, for behind us rose blasts of fire, showers of ashes, and pumice-stones, which feil upon us as thick as hail ; and this dreadful storm was attended with horrible noises which made us cry out in a frightful manner, fancying that the in fernal furies were coming out of the mountain to devour us.

" Fear made us so nimble, that in a quarter of an hour we descended so much of the mountain as we were a full hour in ascending. When our companions per ceived we came down so fast upon them, they fell out a laughing at us, and their laughter grew louder when they saw us in such a pickle, as black as if we had been

INTRODUCTION.

. plunged in soot. But their mirth abated as soon as we came nearer them and dropped down dead, for so they thought us, we being neither able to stir nor speak. They rubbed our temples, nostrils and hands with vinegar, and did what they could to bring us to life again." He then gives some account of the natives — that is, of the fishermen — some of whom, he says, live in caverns in the rocks, others in huts, some built with fish-bones, some with wood covered with turf. They and their beasts lie under the same roof; they are all ugly, both men and women - they lie upon hay or straw in their clothes with skins upon them, and make but one bed for the whole family. All their work is fishing - they are nasty, rude, and brutal : they are almost all of them wizards and witches; they worship the devil bv the name of AoAn/</,* they worship an idol cut out of a piece of wood with a knife, very hideous to look on, which they adore privately, and hide for fear of the Lutheran priests.

The condition of the poor Iceland fishermen is, I believe, as miserable, taking into consideration the horrible climate, as that of any human beings on the face of the earth, but they certainly are not quite such savages as the Frenchman has represented them. The " Vuvage to the North," however, is substantially true in that part which relates to Norway, and his account of the Copper Mines at Roraas differs in little or nothing from what I found them on my recent visit.

INTRODUCTION.

. XV This work of the French doctor is a curious little volume which I met with by accident. The next writer that the English reader knows any thing about is one Anderson, a burgomaster of Hamburg, who, how-ever, was at no time on the spot, but gives such stories as he could pick up from masters of ships, and supercargoes trading to Iceland. Horrebow, who succeeded him, truly says that the old burgomaster's book is filled with romantic tales, and false and severe accusations. This author was a Dane, and remained on the island two years. One of his objects seems to have been that of correcting the blunders of Anderson ; hut he calls his book the Natural History of Ice land. Both are full of monsters and marvellous stories, and the information of both is vague, unsatisfactory, and little to be depended on.

Olafsen and Povelsen were next despatched, in 1*75*7, by order of the King of Denmark, to survey the whole island. Olafsen was a native, and Povelsen the first physician of the island. They published a most elaborate report of what they saw, — and they saw* a great deal, — but for want of arrange ment, or rather too much arrangement, and by a tiresome repetition of the same things four several times, in describing the four provinces, their account wants that /{fc/s/M'* orr/o by which much information may be con veyed in a short compass. These repetitions, and the minute enumeration of the long hard names of places that have no interest, are enough to tire the patience of the most persevering reader. Still there is much valuable

INTRODUCTION.

. information to be culled out of the book; but their easy credulity allowed them to report stories such as it is quite impossible not to reject as fabulous. Thus, for instance, the French doctor had noticed two fountains, one a cold one, which immediately turned his cane into iron, weighing as heavy as that metal ; the other, a boiling one, in which he saw a parcel of great animals as big as divers, frisking about and playing together ; but on approaching the place, nothing was to be seen of them ; the moment, however, that he left the spot, they were again seen playing and frisking as before. " They do so," he says, " when they see nobody ; but if anybody approaches, they plunge down to the bottom of the boiling fountain, which, as our guides informed us, is sixty fathoms deep." Horrebow gives an account of the same birds, but more in detail, and very properly disbelieves it; but Oiafsen and Povelsen resume the miraculous story, affirming they had it from so many persons worthy of belief, aud stating the story to be so extensively credited, that it was difficult not to yield assent — and yet they say, to beheve these birds to be in nature, what a number of contradictions does it in volve !

They further observe, with great na'*'t'f?^, that " their feathers, their beak, and their legs, protected bv a callous skin, might endure the boiling water when swimming ; but in diving, what would become of their eyes ?" but immediately a thought comes across them, and they ask, " has not a Su/ama/ic/er eyes ? IFc A;MW, however," it is added, " that this creature docs not dwell in fire — it

INTRODUCTION.

. XVII only runs rapidly round it, and traverses but a short space on that element ;" and they conclude, most com placently, that — "after all, if these birds exist, they must be amphibious." I mention this as a specimen of their credulity. Of our own countrymen, Sir Joseph Banks stands first and foremost. Accompanied by Dr. Yon Ttoil, afterwards Archbishop of Upsal, and Dr. Solander, an eminent Swedish naturalist, he embarked in a small vessel which he engaged at so much per month, to examine into the natural history of an island which to his countrymen might be considered as a Sir Joseph published nothing himself, but the transla tionof the clear and sensible letters of Von Troil made the English readersgenerallyfirstacquaintedwithIce land. He had previously, when very young, and just after leaving Oxford, made a voyage to Newfoundland and Labrador, in pursuit of his favourite study of natural history, and then, as everybody knows, embarked with Lieutenant Cook on a voyage round the world.

It is said his friends had strongly urged him to give up the idea, and make the grand tour of Europe, but his answer was — "Every blockhead does that: my grand tour shall be one round the whole globe." It was on his return from this voyage that he visited Iceland, taking the Hebrides and the Ferroe Islands in his way. After this, in the year 1789, Mr. Stanley (now Sir John Stanley), struck with the description given by Yon Troil of the wonders of the ignivomous mountains, and

INTRODUCTION.

. the vehement eruptions of the boiling springs, determined on paying a visit to this extraordinary island, in which he was accompanied by Messrs. Wright, Baine, and some others. On his return he addressed two letters to Dr. Black, which were published in the " Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh," containing an account of the Geysers and the Reykum Springs, which, for clearness and accuracy of description, and elegance of language, has not been surpassed, if equalled, either before or since, and only leaves us to regret that he had confined the publication of his observations to a single object — interesting as it is — the boiling springs of Iceland; and that he had not thought fit to favour the world with a full account of his travels, and remarks on other points regarding this highly interesting island.

I ought, however, to be the last to complain on this score, as, by his not having done so, it has been my good fortune to profit; for, with the greatest kindness and liberality, Sir John Stanley has not only favoured me with extracts from the MS. Journals of his intelligent companions, and his own drawings on a most interesting part of Iceland — the ba saltic coast of Stappen-hafn and the Snæfell Yokul, from whence we were driven by stress of weather, and could not obtain a landing, — but has permitted me to make what use of them I pleased, of which kind permission I have fully availed myself, as the reader will see, as far as regards that part of the island. My disappointment was certainly great in being obliged to abandon this spot,

INTRODUCTION.

. XIX at the moment we were on the point of stepping a-shore ; but the reader will suffer no disappointment, Sir John Stanley having enabled me to supply an A-afMS, far better filled up than a successful landing would probably have enabled me to do. At the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Hooker, a young gentleman then distinguished as a botanist, and now known as ranking among the first of botanists and natural historians in general, embarked in 1809 on board a merchant ship, the "Margaret and Anne," at Gravesend, after three days' notice. During his stay in Iceland he had made considerable collections in natural history, particularly in botany, which, with his papers, were unfortunately destroyed by the ship taking fire in which he was returning to England. Yet notwithstanding this irreparable loss of his collections and of his notes, Mr. Hooker, from his recollections, has given to the public a volume replete with valuable information, containing a more complete account of Icelandic plants than is to be met with in any other English author, except in the work of Sir George Mackenzie, into which the " Flora" of Mr. Hooker is copied, while a few new plants are transferred from Sir George's into Mr. Hooker's list.

In the following year Sir George Stewart Mackenzie, impressed with the importance which the study of mine ralogy had of late years acquired, and with the intimate connexion it held with geological science, considered the examination of Iceland to be particularly desirable, and

INTRODUCTION.

. XX determined to gratify his wishes during the summer of 1810 by a visit to that island. Two gentlemen of the University of Edinburgh, Mr. Henry Holland (now Dr. Holland) and Mr. Richard Bright (now- Dr. Bright), volunteered their services to accompany him, which were cordially accepted ; and to Dr. Holland his subsequent publication is greatly indebted for the most valuable papers contained therein. To this able and intelligent writer he owes the preliminary dissertation on the history and literature of Iceland, the account of the present state of literature, and the chapter on government, laws and religion, and also the account of the diseases of the Icelanders. To Mr. Bright he is indebted for an account of the zoology and botany of Iceland. To the kindness of Dr. Holland since my return I owe many thanks.

I have only to regret that his MS. Journals, w ith the perusal of which he savoured me, with permission to make what use of them I pleased, came a little too late, or I should have availed myself much more extensively of the valuable information they contain, which Sir George Mackenzie's volume has by no means exhausted. In the years 1814 and 1815, Mr. Ebcnezer Hen derson took up his residence in Iceland, with the view exclusively, as he tells us, of investigating the wants of the inhabitants with respect to the Holy Scriptures, and to take measures for the speedy distribution of the copies which had been provided for them by the bounty of the British and Foreign Bible Society. To accomplish this

INTRODUCTION.

. XXI effectually, he found it expedient to make the whole tour of the island. This necessarily brought him into contact with all classes of inhabitants, and he has published the result of his observations in two octavo volumes, abounding with much curious and interesting matter; but as his descriptions of men and things are avowedly only of secondary consideration with him, he is not so sure a guide as he might otherwise have been. He is also, like some of his predecessors, disposed to be somewhat credulous, as may be inferred from his giving credit to Olafsen and Povclsen's long story of the instinctive sagacity of the little wood -mouse (*7!M-- .sy/ra/'ct'.'.'), transporting seeds or berries across broad rivers, on thin and Hat pieces of dried cow-dung, which parties of four to ten are said to drag to the waterside, and then arrange themselves on their little raft so that they face the centre and each other, while their tails hang over the sides to row the raft, and serve at the same time to steer it : arrived on the opposite bank, they drag their raft and its cargo to the little magazine prepared to receive their winter's store.

The Danish travellers do not pretend to have seen this operation themselves, but state that they had the account from those who had seen it, and who were worthy of belief; and that they see nothing in it to induce them to doubt it. Mr. Pennant was a great naturalist, and in that department was much given to the marvellous; he repeats this story, and is credulous enough to believe it, which is perhaps to be expected from one who " assents to the fact,

INTRODUCTION.

. that the rats, called Leninn/ig*, are poured down from the clouds in great showers on the Alps of Norway." Dr. Hooker expresses his regret that "such a ridiculous story (as that of the mice) should have been believed by a British zoologist," and he says the thing is laughed at by the more sensible Icelanders. Hen derson, however, not only repeats the story, but maintains that " every considerate naturalist will rather be disposed, with our celebrated zoologist (Pennant), to reason analogically, from the well-known sagacity of the beaver and squirrel, than deny the case." He is even happy, he says, to have established the truth of it, as an important fact in natural history, by the testimony of two eye-witnesses — a priest and an old woman. He says he has also established another fact — that they "make use of dried mushrooms as sacks, in which they convey their provisions to the river, and thence to their homes."

One would suppose that such sagacious animals, endued with so much wisdom, would build their winter magazines on the same side of the river where their provisions were to be had, and spare them selves the trouble and the danger of a shipwreck, which we are also told sometimes happens. Henderson's book, however, ought to be in the hands of every one who meditates a circuit of the island. 1 am not aware of any account having been given of Iceland since the publication of Henderson's work, now just twenty years ago. Sir Thomas Wilson made a voyage thither in his yacht in the year 1831, and Lord

INTRODUCTION.

. XXIII Stuart de Rothsay in 1 833, but neither the noble Lord nor the Baronet have favoured the world with what in formation they may have collected. As, therefore, twenty years have expired since a fresh word has been uttered respecting Iceland, and as in the course of that period many changes might have taken place both in the moral and physical world, more espe ciallyin the latter, it is hoped the little mite I have, to offer may, at least, be interesting enough to induce others to follow up the researches that have been made : that it will be received in the same kind and encou raging manner which a former small volume on the northern countries of Europe experienced, is what I dare scarcely persuade myself to expect. Had more time been allowed me, on the present occasion, I should certainly have collected many more materials; but to see Iceland well, and as it deserves to be seen — to witness the domestic habits and occupations of the natives, their mode of livins;, and every part of their household economy — is not the work of a month nor of a summer, but would require a whole winter to be passed among them in their secluded abodes, which, after all, might prove a less sacrifice of personal comfort than the appearance of their turf and stone hovels would seem to forebode : most happy should I be to make the experiment would circumstances allow me to do so. I know of nothing, in the way of travel, so interesting as would be a tour round Iceland, and through the heart of the island, in

INTRODUCTION.

. company with a well-informed geologist, to whom, of every other class of naturalists, Iceland must prove the most inviting. For my own part, I never felt so strongly my lack of knowledge in that interesting department of science, until I set foot on the shore of Iceland. VISIT TO ICELAND, <S-r.

Chapter I. From London To

TROXYEM-'* Birmingham — Liverpool — "Flower of Yarrow" and her Establishment — Anticipations of the Party — Departure — Rachlin Island — St. Kilda and the Lady Grange — The Hebrides — Coast of Norway — The Froy fiord — The Sea Eagle — Arrival at Tronyem — Quarantine — Visit of Mr. Broder Knudtzon and Mr. Oveson — Release from Quarantine. ON the 9th of June, 1834, I left London, and rested a day at that wonderful "Repertory of Arts," Birmingham, the greater part of which was passed at the Soho manufactory with Mr. Watt, who most kindly gave up his whole time to conduct me through the varied and extensive works carrying on at that place, and where, I understood, four hundred artificers were constantly employed in the manufacture of steam-engines and hoilers alone : * Far from being insensible of the too favourable manner in which my former little Volume has been received, or of the validity of the arguments of the kind reviewer in the Quari^r/y against changing the name Dron/^^'m, in common use in Great Britain only, for 7ronyfwi, universally so named in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, if I still adhere to the latter, it is only for the sake of consistency, and not from conceit or obstinacy.