THE
LEITH & ICELAND STEAM SHIPPING COMPANY’S
First Class Screw Steamship
“CAMOENS,”
1264 Tons Register. 170 H.P.,
OR other First-Class Steamer, Sails regularly
between GRANTON and ICELAND =during the Season=,
(unless prevented by unforeseen circumstances)
carrying Mails and Passengers. The “CAMOENS” is a
full-powered, fast Steamer, with superior Passenger
accommodation; has spacious Saloon, Ladies’ Cabin,
well ventilated State-rooms, and Smoke-room.
--------------
Carries full staff of Stewards, & Stewardess.
--------------
FARES:—First Cabin, £5; Return, £8. Second
Cabin, £3; Return, £5.
Separate State-rooms may be had by special agreement.
--------------
For Time Bills, Cabin Plan, &c., apply to
R. & D. SLIMON, LEITH.
--------------
Crown 8vo. 180 pages, cloth, limp.
GUIDE TO ICELAND.
A useful handbook for Travellers and Sportsmen,
with a large Map showing every recorded site of
volcanic activity, Places of Interest, Salmon
Rivers, Reindeer Tracts, Farms where night quarters
are obtainable, Routes, &c., by W. G. LOCK, F.R.G.S.
Sent post free, on receipt of P.O. for 5s.
R. & D. SLIMON, LEITH.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE MIDNIGHT SUN
AS SEEN FROM THE NORTH OF ICELAND.
--------------
Extract from the Notes of an Iceland Tourist.
On board S. S. “Camoens.”
The entire day had been lovely. Hardly any wind was blowing, and the few
clouds, that in the morning had given some relief to the landscape
before us, had melted away with the declining sun. We were all on deck
that night, to watch when the sun would set. That there would be no
visible difference in the daylight, we knew from the experience of the
last two days; but as we were now at the highest latitude that we could
reach (66 deg. 40 sec.), some eight miles inside the Arctic circle,
there was a good deal of hope that the sun might perhaps not set at all.
Deeper and deeper it sank, assuming a fiery red colour, and painting the
snow-covered mountains with the most delicate touches of pink and
purple. However, when it came within 2 degrees of the horizon, it seemed
to stop on its downward course, and before we knew of anything we heard
eight bells. Here was twelve o’clock at night, and the sun right in the
north a considerable distance above the water, not a cloud on the sky,
not a wrinkle on the water, not a sound to disturb the exquisite
picture. Was it a wonder that we could not leave the deck? As the sun
slowly rose again, a quantity of light feather-clouds gathered on the
northern half of the sky, which were all fringed with crimson and gold,
while the sky itself ran through all the shades, from the palest yellow
in the north, to the deepest purple over the island to the south of us.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Iceland shone with glorious lore renowned,
A northern light when all was gloom around.”
Montgomery.
-------
From
England
to
Iceland;
A Summer Trip to the Arctic Circle.
by
GEORGE CHARLES SIM.
-------
WITH FORTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS,
CHIEFLY FROM ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS.
-------
BRADFORD: HENRY GASKARTH.
LONDON: HAMILTON ADAMS AND CO.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TO
MY FRIEND
JOHN SPEAK, ESQ.,
OF
WARM LEE HOUSE, AMBLER THORNE,
HALIFAX,
THE COMPANION OF MANY WANDERINGS
BY
THE WORLD’S WAYSIDES,
I AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBE
THIS RECORD OF
OUR EXPERIENCES IN
ICELAND.
--------------------------------------------------
PREFACE.
“Without, or with, offence to friends or foes,
I sketch the world exactly as it goes.”—Byron.
IN September, 1883, the author, and the friend to whom this little
volume is inscribed, visited Ohinemutu and Rhotomahana, in the famous
Hot Lake District of New Zealand. Subsequently, early in June, 1884, as
members of the Pioneer Party of the year—a party of eight, including
guides—they succeeded in forcing their way into that extraordinary
region of marvels the Yellowstone National Park, a vast tract of country
which covers a total area of more than three thousand five hundred
square miles in the Territories of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; and has
been “dedicated and set apart by ‘Act of Congress’ as a public park or
pleasure ground for the enjoyment and benefit of the people of the
United States for ever.”
Actuated by a natural desire to complete the chain of their experiences,
they resolved last summer to take a Trip to Iceland, the oldest—in point
of date of discovery—though now neither the most interesting, nor the
most attractive, of the Three Great Volcanic Wonderlands of the World.
In the following pages—re-printed from the columns of the _Bradford
Illustrated Weekly Telegraph_—the writer has attempted to describe the
scenery and phenomena of Iceland; the social condition of its people;
and the incidents of a voyage to the Arctic Circle, exactly as these
came under his own observation, and in those aspects in which they would
probably have presented themselves to the minds of most of his readers.
It is recorded that the Mayor of an English city once apologised to
Queen Elizabeth for having omitted to receive her with the customary
royal salute, and gave the three following reasons for his apparent act
of official discourtesy: first, the city had no powder; second, it had
no cannon; and, third, if it had had both, there was no one among its
population who knew anything about either. Her Majesty, under the
circumstances, was graciously pleased to hold him excused.
Similarly, the indulgence of the reader is claimed for the omission in
this book of all abstruse scientific, or philological explanations or
theories. These may be found in other and more important works written
by competent authorities. Being neither scientist nor philologist the
author has refrained from touching, even lightly, upon the curious
problems which everywhere provoke scientific speculation and enquiry in
Iceland; neither has he interlarded his pages with those philological
puzzles, in the shape of Icelandic characters and words, with which some
otherwise very interesting narratives are, if anything, a little
over-weighted.
His object has rather been to tell the story of his own experiences for
the guidance of the intending tourist; to furnish the general reader
with some useful information regarding a lonely island in the North
Atlantic, about which “_tout le monde et sa femme_” have hitherto
concerned themselves but little; and to help to awaken in the hearts of
his fellow-countrymen a sympathetic interest in a poor, isolated, kindly
people who claim to be included among “our kin across the sea;” and who,
after centuries of thraldom and hardship, are at last beginning, under
improved social and political conditions, to look forward to a brighter
and more prosperous future.
G. C. S.
Bradford, Nov. 24th, 1885.
--------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS.
--------------
CHAPTER I.
Ultima Thule—a land of mystery—introductory retrospect—Bradford to
Leith—afloat—a catastrophe averted—landmarks of Auld Reekie—shores of
the Forth—the Bass Rock—John o’ Groat’s House—a gale in the North
Atlantic—Orœfajökull—no night—Portland Point—volcanic reefs—the
Westmann’s Islands—Heimaey—Heimaeyklett and Ystaklett—purity of the
atmosphere—Myrdalsjökull—Elirey and Bjarnarey—arrival of the Camoens, a
great event.