THE NORTH-WEST PENINSULA
The _Vesta_ set sail at about 1 P.M., shaping a course northward in
Breithifjord through a sea of small islands, which I thought to be the
remains of old lava flows denuded and perhaps sunk below sea-level. I
had no opportunity of examining them, but they are said to be "crater
islets," most of them. The sea in Breithifjord is very shallow, and
on the journey to the island of Flatey, and afterwards thence towards
the open ocean, our course was anything but a straight one; so shallow
was the water in one place after leaving Flatey, that the wash of our
vessel raised breakers on the edge of a long line of submerged bank
lying parallel to and not far from our course.
Flatey is one of the remains of a broken-up lava flow; a small island
opposite the town has a peculiar circular harbour whose shape is
rather suggestive of a coral atoll, but perhaps this is one of the
"crater islets." I did not examine it, because we had no opportunity
of going ashore: we arrived just as dinner was announced, and steamed
away within ten minutes of the completion of the meal. The waters of
Breithifjord were alive with thousands of puffins, which flapped along
the surface of the water or dived beneath it as our vessel approached.
We passed through miles of them while skirting the southern coast of
the North-West Peninsula. The sea was quite calm as we steamed out of
the fjord and rounded the south-western corner of the peninsula, in
strong contrast to the heavy winds and stormy seas of the day before.
We entered Patreksfjord when it was growing dark, and came to an
anchorage just at midnight.
In the early morning I turned out to look at the scenery in
Patreksfjord; it was rather forbidding. We were surrounded by high
mountains which came steeply down to the water's edge, there being
but little land available for cultivation or for grazing purposes
in consequence. I found that there would be no time to go ashore,
for we were to start in half an hour's time, and there was no boat
available to take me; in any case, there was nothing much but the wild
surroundings to be seen, and they could be viewed just as well from the
vessel's deck.
At about breakfast-time we arrived opposite to Biludalr in Arnarfjord.
We were in a decidedly picturesque spot, and no doubt we were more
favourably impressed because of the clear bright sky and sunny weather.
Ashore, the chief interest centred in the cod-fish curing and storing
station, where many women, assisted by a few men, were employed in the
various branches of the industry. It was the best-equipped station that
I saw in Iceland; everything seemed to be in order, and to be carried
on in a thoroughly business-like way. There was a tram line running
between two long rows of well-built galvanised iron sheds that lined
the track.
[Illustration: A BASALT MOUNTAIN CONE DUE TO EROSION.]
It was in this fjord while on the way out that I obtained, on the north
side, a photograph showing excellently the typical cone-like form to
which a succession of basalt flows are reduced by erosion. There were
other features of interest: on the south side of the fjord there were
many fine specimens of corries, but the position of the sun prevented
a successful attempt being made to photograph them, though, just
when turning into Dyrafjord, I caught a good specimen in a suitable
light. A little farther on, at Hraun, there was a view looking up a
valley where the face of a moraine is kept straight by the wash of
the sea at its base. We proceeded up Dyrafjord as far as Thingeyri,
where we anchored. Distant about three miles, at Framnes, there was a
whale-fishing station, where whales, brought in by the whalers, were
being reduced to the commercial forms of oil, bone, and manure. We--a
party of four--obtained a boat and sailed across to the station. We
were courteously received by the foreman, who kindly showed us over
the factory and explained matters as we proceeded; he was a Norwegian
who had been whale-fishing for seventeen years before he was appointed
foreman of these works. The first thing that struck us--so severely,
indeed, that we were nearly bowled over--was a very choice assortment
of "smells" of the most objectionable kind: they had a distinct
flavour of ancient whale, and were all more or less (generally more,
and sometimes most) disgusting. We were conducted by the foreman to a
platform where the whales were cut up. A dozen or more were floating in
the water beyond some wooden staging that jutted out into the fjord.
They are kept there until required to be cut up and placed in the
boiling-down vats; then one is hauled upon the platform and cut into
big slabs. The platform was a horrible sight, covered as it was with
slimy offal and refuse; this stuff, being valueless, is disposed of
by being shot into the fjord, there to pollute its water. Below the
platform a similar state of things existed, and the stench that arose
from the decomposing matter was too disgusting for words to describe.
The slabs of blubber are thrown into a rotary machine, where a number
of knives reduce them to pieces of much smaller size; thence the
blubber is taken into the boiling-down room and boiled for ten hours
in great cylindrical tanks by having steam passed through. At the
expiration of that time the oil has been set free and is floating on
the top, whence it is drawn off into casks; it is then shipped to
Glasgow to be refined. The whale-bone, which is taken from the upper
jaw of the head, is cut away and piled in heaps in a yard near the
cutting-up platform. The bones are sent to another room, and are there
boiled; they are then dried and ground to a fine powder; this bone dust
is exported in sacks for manure. The refuse of the blubber, after the
extraction of the oil, is dried in special revolving machines, which
reduce it to the consistency of coarse meal; this also is used as
manure, and commercially is called guano. The whale-bone is taken from
the heaps to the shed; it is first pulled apart and then washed in vats
containing soda and water; it is afterwards dried, when it is ready
for exportation. In the blacksmith's shop we were shown the harpoons
used on the whaling-vessels in securing the whales. They are shot from
a short cannon into the whale; the head is hollow, and is filled with
gunpowder; when the whale dashes off, the tension on the line attached
to the harpoon causes the arrowheaded blades to expand and the charge
of gunpowder to explode; the shell bursts and usually kills the whale.
A vessel carries two harpoons, to each of which three hundred fathoms
of rope is attached; the second harpoon is discharged if the first does
not kill the whale. I took a photograph at Thorshavn in the Faroes
showing a modern whaling-vessel. The bird's-nest where the look-out man
is posted is on the foremast, and the harpoon gun is in the bows of
the vessel. We returned to the _Vesta_ with the distinct impression
that we were taking along with us on boots and clothes some remnants
of smelly whale, for the odour seemed to stick to us and accompany us
wherever we went; it was days before all suspicion of whale wore away.
The next port of call, in Onundarfjord, was not very interesting
as regards scenery. The chief industry is carried on at a large
whale-fishing and boiling-down station at Flateyri, where we anchored
opposite the town. The presence of the station was made evident to me
as I lay in my bunk in the small hours of the morning, by the fine
full-flavoured aroma that came wafting into the cabin through the open
port-hole. We made but a short stay at this port, for we departed
before breakfast, and were thus enabled to enjoy that meal free from
the disturbing influences of whale.
We entered Skutilsfjord, a branch of Isafjord, at about mid-day, and
anchored opposite the town of the same name, Isafjord. Miss Hastie
and I went ashore soon afterwards and proceeded up the valley towards
Flateyri, intending to walk to the ridge overlooking Onundarfjord;
but the Fates, in the form of bad weather, were against us, for it
rained so heavily that we abandoned our original intention after we had
ascended to a considerable altitude and had become thoroughly wetted.
We stood for awhile with our backs against the leeward side of a cairn
on the mountain-side, trying to imagine that we had effectual shelter;
but as the cairn was of rather less height than we ourselves, and as
we could feel the raindrops trickling down the backs of our necks,
the reality was rather at variance with our attempts at imagination.
Shelter or no shelter, we stuck to our posts while devouring biscuits
and cheese, and sandwiches made of Danish sausage and such like greasy
delicacies, and did not abandon our post, or the intention of going to
the summit of the divide, until we had finished lunch and had become
uncomfortably soaked. Then we retraced our steps down the valley, by
the side of a small stream that descended in a series of rapids and
waterfalls. On the way we met some men road-making, and found them
using a cart for conveying material for the purpose from a quarry on
the road-side--the first cart that I had seen in use in Iceland. Almost
opposite to our anchorage there was a good example of a small corrie
high up above the water of the fjord, but the photograph proved a
failure. Isafjord is reputed to be the third town in Iceland in point
of population; its importance is due to the cod and herring fisheries,
and to the establishments where curing is carried on. A small cod-liver
oil factory emitted an odour that caused us to avoid its immediate
vicinity. With regard to this oil, it has been said that some of the
so-called cod-liver oil is not derived from the cod at all, but is
really produced from the liver of the Greenland Shark, known locally
as _hakarë_ (Danish name _haukal_). I was assured, however, by one
Danish merchant that this is not the case. Modern inventions were
brought to mind on seeing telephone posts and the wire that connects
Isafjord with Eyri. I ought to mention that one modern invention, the
cream separator, is in common use on the best farms throughout Iceland.
I was often awakened in the morning by hearing the whirring of the
rapidly rotating cylinder of the machine. A whale-fishing establishment
was said to be somewhere in the main branch of Isafjord away round
the point, but we could not see it when coming in, and we were quite
content not to smell it. It was doubtless several miles distant, though
that avails but little when the wind blows from the direction of
decaying or boiling whales.
We left Isafjord in the early morning, and between 7 and 8 A.M. rounded
the northernmost point of the North-West Peninsula, known as The Horn,
or North Cape. It is said to be a bold, striking headland; but as the
upper portion was enveloped in fog, we could not see it properly. Fog
soon afterwards descended over the sea, and the vessel slowed down to
half speed; while the steam-whistle screeched out at short intervals
its warning to other vessels. The result was, that we saw nothing
whatever of the coast along which we were passing. It was a great
pity, for that part of the peninsula, which faces north-east and is
known as the Hornstrandr, is the wildest, most inhospitable, and one
of the least productive regions of Iceland. There the inhabitants eke
out a precarious livelihood chiefly by wild-fowling--a most dangerous
occupation in that region, and it is carried on at the cost of not a
few human lives; they have a very hard struggle for existence and are
often on the verge of starvation. The habitations are exposed to the
rigours of the weather, which are very severe, for the coast is blocked
with drift ice during more than half the year, and its effect is felt
for a much longer period.
In consequence of the fog we did not reach Reykjarfjord until the
afternoon was well advanced; but at its entrance we experienced a
delightful change, for we suddenly emerged from the sea fog into bright
sunshine. We anchored opposite the small settlement known as Kuvikr,
in a picturesque fjord where the mountains on the south side rise to
a sharp-looking ridge between Reykjarfjord and Veithileysa, a fjord
lying to the south. After enjoying the sunshine on deck for an hour,
Miss Hastie and I went ashore and ascended the lower part of the ridge
just mentioned to a sort of secondary ridge, overlooking much of the
surrounding country. We found a continuation of the sea fog lying
below us over Veithileysa and the valley at its head, the peaks of the
mountains on the far side of the fjord standing out clear and bright in
the sunshine.
[Illustration: A "GLORIFIED" SHADOW ON THE FOG OVER VEITHILEYSA.]
A few minutes later we had an unusual experience. The fog was being
blown up the fjord and over the valley at its head towards us, while
the sun, which was shining brightly behind us, was rather low down in
the heavens. The time was just 7 P.M. I moved away from Miss Hastie,
who was sitting on a rock, to some higher ground about a hundred
yards distant; as I reached the highest point, I was astonished to
see, cast upon the fog, an elongated dark shadow of myself, with an
oval halo of brilliant colours around the shadow. My head was the
centre of the halo, and there around it shone a bright golden yellow
light; this gradually changed in the outer rings to green, and so on
through blue and indigo to violet; then the colours of the spectrum
were continued outward in the reverse order, from violet to indigo,
blue, green, yellow, orange, while the outside ring was a brilliant
red. The effect was rather startling at first, as may be imagined
from the sketch I made on the spot, and superstitious persons would
have thought it to be a very strong omen of something or other--good
or otherwise. I was very unfortunate in having just exposed the last
film (isochromatic) in my camera, so I was unable to secure any better
record than that sketched in my note-book. It is further unfortunate
that, in developing the negative I took only a few seconds before the
"glorified" shadow appeared,--a view looking across the fog or clouds
to the mountain peaks rising above it,--I completely destroyed the
only photographic record I had of the scene; for instead of pouring
pyro into the solution to hasten development, I inadvertently took up
the hypo bottle and used some of its contents, with the result that the
negative was absolutely destroyed before I guessed what I had done--my
annoyance can be imagined, but not expressed in words! The appearance
in the sketch was that produced while I was drawing with arms bent and
book held before me. When I held my arms in different positions, the
shadow of course varied, but without affecting the form or position of
the oval-shaped halo. When I had finished the sketch, I saw Miss Hastie
coming towards me, and beckoned to her to hurry, but she arrived when
the fog was clearing and the halo fading away. I then learned that she
had had a similar experience from the spot where I had left her seated,
and that she had seen her own shadow surrounded by a halo, which
accompanied her for a considerable distance as she came towards me, but
faded away as the atmospheric conditions gradually changed.
These halos are known as _Anthelia_ (Greek = "opposite the sun")
or _Glories_. The rings may be circular if the shadow is thrown in
an upright position upon the fog, but when the shadow is elongated
through being thrown at an angle upon it, as in my own case, they are
elliptical in consequence. In all cases the observer sees the rings
round the shadow of his head, and they have a common centre "in the
point where a line from the sun through the eye of the observer meets
the fog." I saw two brilliant _sets_ of coloured rings, though more are
sometimes seen; but those beyond are much fainter.