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Show Primitive Homes Lava blocks roughly quarried provide pro-vide the rural Icelander with his building build-ing material. His farmstead consists of a group of small cottages joined together. to-gether. The lava blocks are laid one on the other and the crevices are stopped up with moss or earth. Some of these houses have wood rafters bm the majority of them have whale nbs instead. These are covered with brushwood, on top of which turf Is heaped. The turf bears a good crop of grass, which is carefully cut for hay The houses have no chimneys and a fire is never kept In any room except the kitchen, even In the coldest weather. weath-er. The smoke passes out through a bole 'in the roof. The only windows are pieces of glass, or thin skin, four inches square. No attention Is given to ventilation, and the atmosphere of the house is almost unendurable to a oreigner. The natives" sense of smM s deadened by the universal habit 0f taking snuff. |