TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
--Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
--Because of the large tables in this book, it is recommended the use
of a monospaced font.
--There are two Sun symbols (a circle with a dot in the middle) in the
caption of illustration at page 70 and page 73. They are noted as Sun
symbol].
--Bold text is enclosed in equal signs: =bold text=.
ACROSS ICELAND
[Illustration: THE CAMP AT HVERAVELLIR.]
ACROSS ICELAND
BY
W. BISIKER, F.R.G.S.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
AND
AN APPENDIX BY A. W. HILL, M.A., ON THE PLANTS COLLECTED
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
Publisher to the India Office
1902
_All rights reserved_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
THE PARTY 1
CHAPTER II
THE FAROES 6
CHAPTER III
THE FJORDS 16
CHAPTER IV
ACROSS THE NORTHERN INHABITED FRINGE 26
CHAPTER V
THE INTERIOR--TO HVERAVELLIR 51
CHAPTER VI
THE INTERIOR--STRYTUR AND ITS LAVA 61
CHAPTER VII
THE INTERIOR--KERLINGARFJÖLL 72
CHAPTER VIII
THE INTERIOR--HVITARVATN AND GULLFOSS 80
CHAPTER IX
GEYSIR AND THINGVELLIR 95
CHAPTER X
THE CAPITAL--REYKJAVIK 112
CHAPTER XI
IN THE WEST--TO REYKHOLT 121
CHAPTER XII
BARNAFOSS AND THE SURTSHELLIR CAVES 137
CHAPTER XIII
GILSBAKKI TO STATHARHRAUN 152
CHAPTER XIV
TO ELDBORG AND HELGAFELL 163
CHAPTER XV
STYKKISHOLM AND BERSERKJAHRAUN 172
CHAPTER XVI
THE NORTH-WEST PENINSULA 181
CHAPTER XVII
THE NORTHERN FJORDS 192
CHAPTER XVIII
ACROSS COUNTRY FROM AKUREYRI TO HUSAVIK 196
CHAPTER XIX
THE EASTERN FJORDS 207
APPENDIX I.--ON THE PLANTS COLLECTED 217
APPENDIX II.--LIST OF THE PLANTS 226
INDEX OF PLACES 233
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The Camp at Hveravellir _Frontispiece_
PAGE
In Thorshavn (Faroes) 9
The Waterfall, Seythisfjord 20
Pack-saddle and Boxes 27
Akureyri at Midnight 29
The Spit at Oddeyri 31
The Oxnadalsá cutting through a Hard Dyke 33
Moraine Accumulations and Cloud-effects at Thverá 37
The Wrecked Plane-table 40
The Northrá 41
Saddling up 42
Crossing the Herradsvötn 44
Silfrastathr Church. Asleep at Midnight 47
Crossing a small Snow Slope 52
Hveravellir--the Sinter Terraces 59
A Volcanic Vent of the Fissure Type 69
A Survey Photograph (No. 169) from Gránanes 70
A Survey Photograph (No. 183) looking towards Kerlingarfjöll 73
Ascending a Snow Slope 74
Kerlingarfjöll--Fire and Ice 75
Immense "Erratics" 81
The Pack-train crossing the Hvitá 86
A Fine Gorge in the Side of Bláfell 88
Gullfoss--Front View with "Rainbow" Effect 89
Gullfoss--Side View 89
Gullfoss--the Upper Fall 90
Gullfoss--the Fall into the Ravine 91
Gullfoss--the Ravine below the Falls 92
Below Gullfoss--Castellated Dykes 93
The Sinter Ring of Geysir 100
The Funnel or Crater of Geysir 101
Almanna-gjá--in the Rift near the Waterfall 108
Glaciated Lava Surface near Thingvellir 110
The Business End of Reykjavik by the Governor's House 115
Reykjavik--Interior of the Cathedral 117
Thorlakur and his Wife and Children at his Farm-house 123
The Thyrill Mountains 128
Miss Hastie Trout-fishing 130
Typical Icelandic Farmers 131
A Forest near Barnafoss 133
The Cascades at Barnafoss 139
The Northingafljot cutting across the Lava 143
The Double Depression in the Lava at the Entrance to the
Surtshellir Caves 144
In the Surtshellir Caves near the Entrance, showing the
water-worn lines 145
Surtshellir--the Icicle Cave 150
A Lava Arch 153
Ropy Lava at Barnafoss 154
Hannes and the Farmer in Consultation 160
Small Vent Cones 161
Hannes and Jón loading up a Pony 169
The Columnar Basalt Island, Sugandisey 173
The Berserkers' Road through the Lava-field 177
A Basalt Mountain Cone due to Erosion 183
A "Glorified" Shadow on the Fog over Veithileysa 190
Lava Pillars near Nes 201
Uxahver Geyser in Eruption 203
Bathstovukver Geyser in Eruption 204
The Procession at Seythisfjord 212
Seythisfjord--on the Outskirts of the Crowd round the Monument 213
Farewell Faroese! 215
LIST OF MAPS
Central Iceland--Plane-table Survey by the Author _to face page_ 61
Author's Route near Statharhraun _page_ 159
Author's Route--Akureyri to Husavik " 197
Map of Iceland to illustrate the Author's Route _at end_
CHAPTER I
THE PARTY
These notes, besides describing a journey made during the summer of
1900 across Central Iceland from the north-east to the south-west, give
an account of further travels by land in the west, and by sea along the
coast and into the fjords of the north-west, north and east coasts.
The voyage to Iceland was made in one of the vessels owned by the
United Steamship Company, a Danish company trading from Copenhagen to
Leith, and thence to the Faroes and Iceland.
We were six in all--a semi-scientific party. There was Miss J. A.
Hastie, a woman who has travelled much in Europe, Asia, Africa,
and America, and who is not unacquainted with our Colonies at the
Antipodes, or with the islands of the South Seas. She was specially
interested in the botany of the country, in its folklore, and in the
people. Then there was Captain W. H. Cope; he had been at sea for the
greater part of his life, and had in the course of his journeyings
seen much of the world; he was our nautical adviser, and we referred
to him in matters connected with the sea. W. Glen, Miss Hastie's
cousin, was known as the "handy man" of the party. If anybody was in
difficulties, Glen was always on the spot to lend a helping hand. He
produced all sorts of things at the right moment. Did any one require
a screw-driver, then Glen had it; want a corkscrew, Glen could supply
it; a pair of scissors, he produced them--some string, a strap, it was
all the same. If a camera struck work, Glen could render the strike
ineffective, for he carried two, and could lend one without interfering
with his own photographic work. A. W. Hill, of King's College,
Cambridge, was our botanist--who describes what he saw. H. H. Thomas,
of Balliol, paid special attention to the geological formation of the
country that we traversed, and he was frequently to be seen, camera
in hand, taking shots at interesting formations--a glaciated lava
surface, a volcanic vent, or an immense "erratic" boulder or "perched
block," for instance; he also sketched industriously, and sometimes
paced the ground compass in hand in order that he might record in his
note-book the direction of a line of fissure, or the position of hot
springs along that line; or something else of interest to geologists
in particular. I was the geographer, whose mission it was to make a
map of a small portion of the country traversed, to get a general idea
of its conformation, and to note valleys and mountains, ice-fields
and snow slopes, lava flows and hot springs, mighty rivers and tiny
rivulets. I undertook to chronicle the events of the journey and to
"take shots"--photographic shots--at men and things. We were all more
or less devoted to sport, and frequently the desire to kill took
possession of us, especially when we caught sight of duck, grouse,
or golden plover--or, when we came to stream or river where trout or
salmon were known to abound, we had a desire to cast a fly. But it was
maddening to know that our desires could not be gratified, for where
were gun and cartridges, rod and line? The man who had undertaken to
look after that branch of our preliminary arrangements had failed us at
the last moment, and it was not till too late, when we were embarking
at Leith, that we learned that he was not coming with us. It was not
his fault, poor fellow, but his misfortune. He had come a cropper from
his bicycle, falling on his head, had remained unconscious for more
than twelve hours, and had been forbidden by his medical advisers to
travel--all this we knew nothing of until we were embarking at Leith,
when it was altogether too late to procure another sporting outfit to
replace that which we had fondly believed to be already on board ship,
but which was really lying many miles away, far beyond our reach. But
I will hasten over a subject that awakens the most tantalising of
recollections, for many were the opportunities that were missed.
One Saturday in June 1900 we embarked upon the steam-ship _Ceres_, and
early in the afternoon set sail from Leith on our voyage North. All
the morning the weather had been fine, and it promised to continue so
before we started, but we had scarcely reached the open sea before
we entered a fog, which increased in denseness as we progressed. As
a consequence the steam-whistle was sounded every few minutes, much
to the discomfiture of many of the passengers on board; but Miss
Hastie seemed to rise above such petty annoyances, for she took her
seat on deck immediately beneath the whistle, and this spot was her
resort during the whole voyage, notwithstanding the fact that the
fog continued at intervals for the greater part of the journey, and
that the steam-whistle frequently made day hideous with its noise.
Conversation with her when the fog was densest was difficult, for it
was punctuated--very incorrectly as a rule--by the shrill blasts that
broke in suddenly and without warning, often causing the thread of a
discourse to be lost, or an interrupted remark to fall flat on being
completed, or perhaps repeated, when silence once more reigned.
As a result of the fog we proceeded at half speed only, and during
the night the whistle was most aggressive, causing one's slumbers to
be somewhat broken. In my own case the steam-whistle was not the only
disturbing influence at night, for my cabin companion had a noisy way
of enjoying the repose of the just, and often the intervals between
the blasts were filled in with sounds that resembled the rumbling of
thunder, and not very distant thunder either.
The second day out was a repetition of the first as regards fog,
progress made, shrill whistling, etc. The vessel glided on slowly and
smoothly, and we employed the time, when not eating and drinking, in
the way usual at sea--by reading, chatting with our fellow-passengers,
and comparing notes of former travels, varied now and then by a
"rubber," or a stroll on deck for exercise. Meals were served at the
following hours: 8 A.M., coffee and rusks; 10 A.M., breakfast; 3 P.M.,
dinner--the chief meal of the day; 8 P.M., supper. At breakfast and
supper there were many dishes of smoked, uncooked food--fish, meats,
sausages, etc.; but the members of our party did not take very kindly
to these uncooked delicacies, and they were left for those who relished
them--the Danes, Germans, and passengers of other nationalities, of
whom there were many on board.
The fog cleared in the evening and the South Ronaldshay light was
sighted. Several members of our party looked with no little interest
at the headland, especially our nautical adviser, Captain Cope, for he
had had a very unpleasant and dangerous experience thereabouts only
two months before: he had been wrecked not far from it in the Shetland
steamer, the _St. Rognvald_, which broke up and became a total loss.
The vessel struck in the middle of the night, and he escaped in a very
light and airy costume, consisting of a suit of pyjamas and an overcoat.
Next morning the weather was remarkably clear and bright until
breakfast time, when we entered other fog banks and remained more or
less in them until late in the afternoon; but on nearing our first port
of call we emerged into clear weather.