At the head of the _Öxnadalr_ we stopped at the post shelter for coffee and cakes and tinned tongue. The poor little farm is not worthy of the name of a farm. It is just a bit of mountain herbage at the borders of the snows and screes and the one family could not survive were is not for the assistance of the government in order that a shelter for the post carriers and chance travellers against the mountain storms may be provided. I swapped a pony with the farmer and paid him a margin of two dollars. The horse I traded was the same that I had received in a similar trade at _Ljósavatn_. The farmer carefully examined the marks in the ears of the pony and stated that it was raised on this same farm and had now got home. While I am not a horse trader and know none of the intricacies of the game and had no way to learn the Icelandic methods, the satisfaction I got from this pony convinced me that the best of the bargain was mine. While the Icelander is noted for his square dealing and truthfulness I had often wondered what he would be like in a horse trade. The pony I traded had a quarter crack and I told Ólafur to point this out to the farmer. Ólafur shook his head and said,— “He can see it as well as you.” Later I asked Ólafur about this and enquired how he could reconcile it with the proverbial integrity of his people. He replied,— “But this was a horse trade and every man must see what he is buying when he purchases a horse.” In connection with this there was another incident of sharpness that came to my attention in the summer of 1913, though it may have been done more from the love of a joke than from any intention to defraud. The Icelander is very fond of a joke, especially when at the expense of some one else. The steamship company trading around the coast advertises “to return _empties_ free of charge.” A farmer in _Borg_ sold a cow to a man in _Reykjavik_ with the understanding that the skin was to be returned to him. The man in _Reykjavik_ tied up the skin and shipped it to the farmer in _Borg_. The steamship company charged the farmer for carrying the bundle. The farmer replied,— “But there is no charge. You took the cow to Reykjavik and you offer to return ‘empties free of charge’ and if a cow skin is not an _empty_, what is it?”