Amulet with Runes, ii. 118.

Antiquarian Museum, an, ii. 10, 13-23.

Anthropology, i. 122.

Art in Iceland, i. 160.

Arthur’s Seat, view of, from Firth of Forth, i. 270.

Aurora Borealis, the, i. 67.

Bede on Iceland, i. 31.

Berufjörð fisheries, ii. 234.

_Berserkir_, derivation of, ii. 100.

Black death, the, i. 100.

Blake, C. C., on human remains from Iceland, ii. 214;

on sulphur, 352.

Bogs of Iceland, i. 51.

Books on Iceland criticised, i. 369.

Boxes for travel, ii. 41.

Breiðalsheiði, top of the, ii. 249.

“Brimstone” on the sulphur diggings, ii. 301;

his unfairness, 302.

Broad-Shouldered, the, ii. 265.

Bruce, James, and the Nile sources, i. 22.

Buchan, A., on the climate of Stykkishólm, i. 63.

Bunsen’s division of Iceland rocks, i. 38.

Caithness, shores of, from the sea, i. 275.

Calabrian earthquake, the, i. 48.

Casaubon, Isaac, on Thule, i. 7.

Catholicism in Iceland, i. 100.

Cattle of Iceland, i. 186; ii. 53.

Character of the Icelander, i. 137-141.

Charnock’s, Dr Richard S., note on the Culdees, i. 28;

on Thule, 33.

Christ and Thor, i. 94.

Christian IX. and the Millenary Festival, i. 109.

Chronometry, i. 70.

Clay of Iceland, i. 51.

Cleanliness, i. 136.

Climate of Iceland, i. 55;

effect of Gulf Stream on, 56;

wholesomeness of, 66.

Coal and peat, i. 294.

Cavalcade, a, ii. 39.

Coal in Iceland, i. 377.

Cockney sportsman, a, i. 316.

Cod-fishing, i. 192, 193.

Constable, the head, i. 358.

Coinage, the, i. 215-218.

Commerce, i. 219-224.

Cowie, Dr Robert, on pre-historic remains found in Shetland, i. 300-306.

Culdees, the, note, i. 28, 29.

Danes, the, and home rule in Iceland, i. 105.

Danish Government, the, i. 378-380.

Days, Icelandic names for, i. 73.

Denmark and the annexation of Iceland, i. 99.

Desolate prospect, a, ii. 324.

Diseases, i. 151-155.

Divisions of Iceland, i. 116, 117.

Divorce, an easy method of, i. 151.

Doomsday Book of the North, the, i. 27; ii. 50.

Dress, styles of, i. 147.

Drunkenness in Iceland, i. 359-362.

Duncansbay Head, i. 274, 278.

Eddas, the, i. 95.

Edinburgh, defenceless state of, i. 270.

Education, i. 155-162.

Eider down, the, i. 201, 202.

Eider duck, the, ii. 45, 46, 112.

Emigration, i. 208.

Epitaph, a model, i. 137.

Eyjarbakka-vatn, ii. 321.

Færoe Islands, the, dulness of, i. 299.

Fair Isle, i. 308.

Family, the, i. 148-151.

Farewell to Edinburgh, a, i. 267.

Farm-house, a, i. 145;

a rough, ii. 288.

Finance of Iceland, i. 110-112.

Fish diet for brain-workers, i. 190.

Fisheries, i. 189-198.

Fjörðs, the, popular theory about, i. 49.

Flora of Iceland, i. 175-79.

Fox, the, i. 170.

Foula, the island of, i. 22, 309.

Funeral customs, i. 372.

Gare-fowl, the, ii. 228.

Genesis and geology, i. 35.

Geysir, the, i. 55, 319, ii. 169;

Bunsen on, 177;

Werner and Baring-Gould on, 178;

decline of the, 183;

description of, in eruption, 184-191;

a new Geysir, 222.

Granton, i. 269;

compared with Reykjavik, 269;

the central quay, 269;

farewell to group of friends, 269.

Guide, the pretty, ii. 27;

guides, 29;

a bad, 214.

Gulf Stream, the, i. 56.

Hafnafjörð, ii. 87-89.

Hakon of Norway and the liberty of Iceland, i. 98.

Hay-harvest, the, ii. 245.

Hay-making, i. 148.

Hekla, i. 315;

exaggeration of former travellers, ii. 161;

ascent of, 162;

sayings about, 164.

Hel-viti, gate of, ii. 164.

Herðubreið, view of, from north, ii. 305;

volcano of, 308;

ascent of, given up, 311.

Henchel’s report on the Icelandic sulphur mines, ii. 329-343.

High school, deficiency of education in, ii. 5;

method of teaching, 6;

theological school, 7.

Hindús, faith of the, i. 93.

Historical notes, i. 78.

Hjaltalín, Jón A., on the Danish chronicles, i. 83;

on finance, 110.

Horse, use of, by Icelanders, ii. 33.

Human and other remains in Iceland, paper on, ii. 212-220.

Hydrography, i. 53;

names of rivers and lakes, 54, 55.

Inchkeith, i. 270.

Intermarriage, i. 135.

Iron-ore, presence of, i. 205.

Itinerary from Reykjavik to Hekla and the Geysir, ii. 201-211;

from Berufjörð to Mý-vatn, 271.

Johnston, Mr Keith, on volcanic eruptions, i. 44.

John o’ Groats, i. 275.

Jökulsá River, the, ii. 268;

view of from Herðubreið, 309.

Judicial procedure, i. 120.

Kerguelen on the trade of Iceland, i. 228.

Kincardineshire, coast of. i. 272.

Kirkjubæ, ruins of, i. 298.

Kirkwall visited, i. 282.

Kissing, the custom of, i. 160.

Krísuvík sulphur diggings, the, ii. 133-135;

paper on, by C. W. Vincent, 135-153.

Landnámabók, the, i. 27;

extracts from, 78, 79, ii. 50.

Laug, the, or reeking spring, ii. 51.

Lakes, the, of Iceland, i. 54.

Law, meaning of, i. 271.

Ledge-springs, the, ii. 294.

Leirhnúkr, sulphur springs at, ii. 282.

Lemprière on Thule, i. 10.

Leprosy, prevalence of, i. 153.

Lerwick, i. 281.

Lich-gate, the, i. 349.

Literature on Iceland, i. 235-260;

in Iceland, ii. 2.

Little Hell, ii. 283.

Livingstone familiarly known in Iceland, i. 367.

Lock, A. G., and the sulphur diggings, ii. 297.

“Lord Kilgobbin,” description of moors and bogs in, i. 293.

Macculloch on Palagonite, i. 38.

Magnus, Cathedral of St, i. 282.

Magnusson on human remains in Iceland, ii. 218.

Maori proverb, a, ii. 288.

Maps of Iceland, i. 252.

Marriage, a check to, i. 148;

customs at feast, ii. 314, 315.

Medicine, the study of, ii. 6.

Mela on Thule, i. 7.

Merchant, the general stock kept by, i. 233.

Millenary Festival, the, i. 109.

Model farm, a, ii. 266.

Months, names of the, in Iceland, i. 71.

Moss, Iceland, i. 203, ii. 75.

Mountains of Iceland, altitude of the, i. 41, 42.

Mud-springs, ii. 296.

Mý-vatn, the solfatara of, ii. 279;

sport at, 280.

Napoleon, Prince, his expedition to Iceland, i. 38.

Newspapers in Iceland, ii. 1.

Northmen, character of the, i. 138.

Norwegians, the, peopling of Iceland by, i. 88.

Obsidian, where found, ii. 285.

Old Man of Hoy, the, i. 280.

Orcadian minister, prayer by, i. 279.

Palagonite, the, of Iceland, i. 35-38.

Papæ;, the, i. 27;

Dasent’s remarks on, 28, ii. 310.

Peat and coal, i. 294.

Peewits, ii. 46.

Pentland Skerries, the, i. 276;

Firth, the, 276.

Personal appearance of Icelanders, i. 132, 133.

Physical geography of Iceland, i. 35.

Picture, an Icelandic, described, ii. 16.

Piracy, the practice of, i. 89.

Pliny on Thule, i. 8.

Political geography, i. 113.

Population of Iceland, i. 115, 124-129.

Ponies, export of the, i. 224, ii. 30;

prices of the, 31;

method of riding, 37;

difficulties in shoeing, 39;

method of putting on board, 44.

Postal arrangements, i. 200, 201, 223.

Printing presses, number of the, ii. 2.

Professions, i. 162-169.

Prudentius Aurelius on Thule, i. 3.

Ptolemy on Thule, i. 9.

Radical Road (Arthur’s Seat), i. 270.

Raven, the, ii. 243.

Reformation, the, its effect on the national mind, i. 238, 374, 375.

Reindeer, the, i. 170.

Reykholt Kirk, Inventory of, ii. 70.

Reykir, ii. 157.

Reykjanes, i. 318, 322, 323.

Reykjahlíð Church, ii. 286.

Reykjavik, i. 59;

appearance of, from the sea, 325;

description of, 326-380;

Sunday in, 348, 357;

trades and professions, 363;

riding saddles, ii. 41;

fishermen of, 44;

the pier, 45.

Road-making in Iceland, i. 52.

Roc, the, ii. 228.

Romans, the, their knowledge of Iceland, i. 21;

remains of, 30.

Ronaldshaw, i. 278.

Runic writing, i. 288;

alphabet, explanation of, 288.

Sagas, the, i. 95, 131;

a Saga hero realised, ii. 325.

Salmon fishing, the, i. 194, 197;

salmon ground, ii. 59.

Scandinavian curse, a, ii. 105;

savage punishments by, 106.

Sand pillars, ii. 270.

Schools in Iceland, ii. 4.

Seal, the, ii. 242.

Seneca on Thule, i. 2.

Servius on Thule, i. 2.

Shaffner, Colonel, and Atlantic telegraphy, ii. 73.

Shark, a dead, ii. 237.

Shark-hunting, ii. 236.

Sheep, i. 186.

Shetland, life in, i. 295;

Shetlanders, personal appearance of the, 295.

Sibbald, Sir Robert, on Thule: a part of Great Britain, i. 11.

Simpson, Sir James, his archæological researches, i. 279.

Skálds, the, i. 97;

poetry of, 237.

Skaptárjökull, eruption of the, i. 46.

Sledging, ii. 260.

Smallpox, ravages of the, i. 152.

Smoking, in and out of fashion, i. 362.

Snæ-land, on the meaning of, i. 76.

Snæfell, i. 323, ii. 78, 96.

Snakes, on the absence of, from Iceland, i. 173.

Snuff boxes, the manufacture of, ii. 16.

Society, i. 141-148.

Solan goose, the, i. 317.

Spinning, i. 198.

Stonehenge, a theory concerning, ii. 106.

Stone of Iceland, i. 51.

Stone implements found in Iceland, ii. 20.

Stone weapons, ii. 20.

Store, the, i. 225.

Strabo on Thule, i. 3.

Strokkr, the, ii. 181.

Stromness, museum at, i. 290.

Stykkishólm, climate of, i. 63, ii. 101.

Sulphur, i. 171;

diggings, the, 171;

at Krísuvík, ii. 133, 135;

disused, 292;

mountain, 295;

pure, 295;

commercial value of, 296;

diggings leased by Mr Lock, 297;

importation of, 299;

prospects of trade in, 300.

Sulphur in Iceland, ii. 329;

mines at Krísuvík, 329;

at Mý-vatn, 335;

at Hlíðarnámar, 340;

Theystarreykja mines, 340;

refining of the sulphur, 342;

Sir G. S. Mackenzie on, 344;

Consul Crowe’s report on, 345;

Captain Burton’s notes on Mr Vincent’s paper on, 348;

C. C. Blake on, 352;

leasing contract for, 378;

report of the Althing on, 381;

in Sicily, 390;

on Red Sea, 400;

in Transylvania, 400;

in Andaman Islands, 402.

Sunday in Iceland, i. 348.

Service in church, i. 352, 353, 357.

Swan, song of the, ii. 313.

Taxation, i. 119, 209, 215.

Taylor’s “Etruscan Researches” criticised, ii. 107.

Telegraphy, ii. 73.

Tents for travel, ii. 43.

Theology, the study of, ii. 7.

Things, the, i. 90-92.

Thingvallavatn Lake, ii. 193.

Thor and Christ, i. 94.

Thorvaldsen an Icelander, i. 350, 351.

Thule, of, i. 1;

princess of, and king of, 1;

political and rhetorical, 1, 2;

Strabo, Mela, Pliny, and Ptolemy on, 3-11;

part of Great Britain, 11-23;

as Scandia, 23-25;

as Iceland, 25-32;

etymology of, 32.

Tom Noddy, the, i. 316.

Trades in Iceland, i. 125.

Trout fishing, about, i. 197.

Tyndall, Professor, on Palagonite, i. 37;

on the Mer de Glace, 43;

on active volcanoes, 49.

Vatnajökull, crossing of the, ii. 231;

view of the, 258;

sudden fogs on the, 315.

Vesuvius, eruption of, i. 47.

Virgil on Thule, i, 2.

Volcanic ashes, i. 50.

Wallace, the, of Iceland, ii. 124.

Waterproof for Iceland, note, i. 261.

Watts, Mr, on the Vatnajökull, ii. 232.

Weaving, i. 198.

Weights and measures, the national, i. 215, 218.

Wild oats, story regarding, in Iceland, ii. 296.

Windmill, a, ii. 233.

Yankee traveller, the, i. 356.

Zoological notes and sport, i. 169-175.

END OF VOL. II.

_M‘Farlane & Erskine, Printers, Edinburgh._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] From Thjóð old High Germ. Diot, a people, a nation; often found in

composition, as Thjóð-fundr =constituent assembly, Thjóð-rekr = Germ.

Diet-rich, and Thjóð-marr = Germ. Dit-mar (Cleasby).

[2] Akureyri had another paper, the _Gángleri_, which ceased

publication in 1872. It contained some valuable articles, especially

one headed “What am I to pay to the Thing?” and the answer was

apparently not easy, as it occupied seven issues, beginning with

February 7, 1871.

[3] It was here in Henderson’s time, and it was disliked because

charged with “a tendency to introduce the illumination of the German

school.” At present, besides the presses of Reykjavik and Akureyri,

there is a third at the Elliðavatn, one hour’s ride from the capital.

It belongs to a certain Hr Benedikt, ex-assessor of the High Court of

Justice, who was removed for the best of reasons. He has no licence to

print.

[4] And even England lacks the foundations which encourage specialties

in Germany. What we want is a number of students who are able to

devote their time to pursuits never likely to pay in a publishing

sense. Some day, perhaps, one of those philanthropists who give

half-a-million sterling to an hospital or to a church, will provide the

necessary accommodation in the “Temple of Science”--£15,000 per annum,

divided into incomes ranging from £200 to £300, would supply a great

desideratum.

[5] The principal are the red-breasted merganser (_Mergus merganser_);

the rare lap-wing (_Vanellus cristatus_); the water-rail (_Rallus

aquaticus_), also uncommon; the thrush (_Turdus eleacus_); the willow

wren (_Motacilla trochilus_); and the little regulus with big feet and

bill (_Troglodytes borealis_), the Pjetur Nonsmad, or Peter Dinner

of Norway, because he is not seen after noon, and the Fugle Kongr,

because he rides the eagle. Curious stories are also told about the

wren at Trieste; he appears and disappears with the thrushes, avoiding

the heats of summer: the same is said about the Abú Hin (the father

of Henna) at Damascus. The black-bird (_Turdus merula_) is sometimes

driven to Iceland by southern gales.

[6] Of local specimens we were shown varieties of the Mó-berg

(Palagonite tuff), especially from the Seljadalr, which feels soft,

between chalk and steatite, some white or dull yellow, acted upon by

acids; others brown and black. Palagonite conglomerate with large

pieces of felspar. Blue compact basalt from Kjallarnes, with and

without drusic cavities; hexagonal basalt; reniform pebbles of the

same material. Jaspers, red, yellow, and green, from the north, the

latter containing copper. Dolerite or greenstone. A collection of

Hekla lavas, passing from the porous to the highly compact. Micaceous

“glimmer schiefer” studded with garnets. Zeolite and Iceland spar;

silicates of lime. Quartz needles from the Geysir, and other quartzes,

uncrystallised and crystallised into fine hexagons, large and small,

often contained in bolides. Aluminous clays and oxide of iron, some

with regular angles and metallic revetments. Concretions from Laugarnes

and the Geysir, the stalks of plants resembling petrified bones. The

_Cyprina Gaimardi_ and _Byssomea arctica_ from the north. Other shells:

_Balanus_, _Mya truncata_, _Venus Islandica_, _Lepas_, _Bulla_, and

_Turbinus_. True cannel coal from Suderoe, to the west; lignites,

old and new; pieces of Surtar-brand, flat, and showing impressions

of leaves; large fragments of true pitch-stone resembling, and

others in transition to, obsidian. Hrafntinna (Raven-flint, _Gagates

Islandicus_), obsidian or Iceland agate, black and liver-brown,

like Jews’ pitch or asphalt, from Mý-vatn and the Hrafnatinnuhraun

of Hekla. Henderson (i. 178) mistranslates Hrafnutinna, “_Piedra de

Galinazzo_, or raven-stone” (for buzzard-stone). Agates, chalcedonies,

and transitional opals, from Múla Sýsla, Tindastoll, and Heimaklettur,

in the Vestmannaeyjar: according to Professor Abel, the south-eastern

coast affords the noble stone, and the islanders believe that about

1821 a Mr Methley (?) carried home a valuable collection. Professor

Árnason kindly gave me a little box of chalcedonies which looked like

onyxes.

[7] The Skýrsla (Report) of the Library gives a total of 387 works,

distributed amongst eight stands of sixteen shelves--they are by no

means well filled. Classical authors occupy two cases on the left of

the entrance; on the right are translations of the Testament, and some

elementary works in Arabic and Armenian, Hindostani, Maharati, and

Bengali, all “dead letters” here. At the further end are modern books

printed in Reykjavik. The small collection of Icelandic manuscripts

is all on paper, the more valuable vellum has left the island for

“foreign parts.” There are bundles of ecclesiastical archives, tattered

and unbound copies of the defunct “Islendingur,” which is more quoted

in England than in Iceland; and finally, there is a small set of

novelists, Walter Scott (in German), Dickens, and Bulwer, lent to the

reading public.

[8] The only remarkabilities are the Bibles and the manuscripts. Among

the first we find the large folio Biblia of 1584--the first entire

work--translated from the German version of Martin Luther by Guðbrand

Thorlaksson, Bishop of Hólar, and there printed. This admirable work,

which rivals our “established version,” is not divided into verses,

and is chiefly curious because the mechanical dignitary, who in 1574

imported new types, made his own capitals, plates, and woodcuts. He was

assisted by the Icelander Jón Jónsson, and preceded by John Mathieson,

a Swede, who brought the first printing press about 1520, and who

published the “Breviarium Nidarosiense” in 1521; an ecclesiastical

handbook, Luther’s Catechism, and others of the same kind. These

works, especially the Breviarium, are so rare as to be practically

unprocurable. According to my informants, no “Elucidarius” has ever

been published in Iceland. The Rev. Thorwaldr Bjarnason assured me that

the oldest Icelandic manuscript is one of these catechisms, translated,

as they all were, from Latin, and dating from the thirteenth century.

The second Biblia (1644), after the Danish version of Bishop Resinius,

is the work of Bishop Thorlak Skurlason of Hólar, who divided it into

verses. The type is black letter, ultra-Gothic Gothic, and the two

folios are in the best condition. There is a copy of the New Testament

(1540, Henderson, ii. 265) translated by Oddr Gottskálksson, with

the distinguishing mark [Illustration: figure] (G. T. and cross), a

large and thick duodecimo, with the beginning and the end restored

by manuscript--Icelanders, as a rule, are very skilful in supplying

lost pages. Of this book only three copies are known, the two others

are at the deanery of Hruni and in Glasgow. Another New Testament

(1609), reprinted at Hólar by Bishop Guðbrand, whose high-nosed and

fork-bearded face remind us of his kinsman Rustam in far Iran, is a

small stout octavo, with an old binding and metal clasps.

[9] The valuable printed books are the fourth volume of Finn Jónsson’s

“Historia Monastica,” of which only three copies exist in the island;

the “Scriptores Rerum Danicarum” (Jacobus Longebek, 8 vols. folio,

Hafniæ, 1772); and the “Crymogea” of Arngrimr Jónsson, 4 vols. octavo:

the latter is so unhappily divided that it is most difficult to find a

passage required. Some of the shelves are filled with presents made by

patriotic Icelanders and liberal publishers, such as _The Gentleman’s

Magazine_ till 1771; a few Smithsonian and Patent Office Reports; “Le

Plutarch Français;” “Conversations Lexicons;” the “Allgemeine Deutsch

Bibliotek;” the “Bibliothêque des Romans;” “Chambers’s Information

for the People;” “Dictionnaire de Bayle,” and the “Chronique des

Religieux de Saint Denis,” by L. Bellaguet--a curious mixture by the

side of Thackeray, Dickens, and Marryat. The list of local works, so

much wanted by travellers and so rarely found, is eminently defective.

Neither the first nor the second volume of Cleasby was among the

number, and although the Latin translation of the Njála exists, Mr

Dasent’s “Burnt Njál” did not appear. Of Englishmen in Iceland, I found

Hooker and Mackenzie, Lord Dufferin, and Symington. Gaimard’s sumptuous

and expensive work, including the folio illustrations, is there: its

fate has been general abuse and unlimited “cribbing.” I was shown in

London some photographs of exploration in the Vatnajökull, which were

mere reproductions of the “Sommet du Snæfells Jökull;” and many a book

of travels has similarly enriched itself.

[10] The oldest form is Frauva, and the later Frú is probably a

contracted form of Fruvu, or of Freyja (Venus), according to the

Prose Edda (c. 24), but in the glossary to the Poetical Edda, it is

from Friðr, handsome, whence Friðla, a concubine, corresponding with

the German Frau, but put after as well as before the name. It was

little used before the thirteenth century, and in the fourteenth it

was applied to abbesses and the wives of knights, not of priests. At

present, it is given without distinction. Húsfreyja is = Germ. Hausfrau

= Eng. Housewife, always a married woman. Junfrú is = Germ. Jungfrau, a

princess in the thirteenth century, now simply Mademoiselle. Víf (Weib,

a wife) is purely poetical in Icel.: it is supposed to be originally

a weaver (Vefa, vífiðr). Hence the Anglo-Saxon Wîf-mann = woman,

not womb-(Icel. Vömb) man. Herra (= Germ. Herr) was a title

given in A.D. 1277 to the new Norwegian creation of barons

(Hersar) and knights: bishops and abbots were also so styled. After

the Reformation it became an integral part of the address of bishops,

as Síra of priests, but only applied like the Latin Don (dominus)

to Christian names. Now it is our Mister or Esquire in writing: in

conversation Icelanders have no equivalent for these words; the person,

if not a clerk, is simply addressed by his Christian name. The old

scale of precedence was Konungr, Jarl, Hersir (the baron of Normandy

and Norman England), Höldr (yeoman), and Búandi or Bóndi, = Germ.

Bauer, a tiller of the ground (Cleasby).

[11] From Falda, to fold, hence the Ital. Falda and Faldetta,

head-dress. As women vied in the size of this “stately national

head-gear,” it obtained the sarcastic name Stiku-faldr, “yard-long

fald.” In modern poetry, Iceland, with her glaciers, is represented as

a woman with her fald on. Skaut is the “sheet” or veil, which hung down

behind (Cleasby).

[12] Forbes’ sketch of “Helda’s buttons” gives an excellent idea of the

article.

[13] M. Gaimard deduces this word from the Germ. Bauer, peasant;

evidently an error. The North of England names, of which twenty to

thirty end in -_by_, e.g., Kirk-by, derived the suffix from the Danish

and Swedish -_by_, which is = Icel. Bær (Cleasby).

[14] The instrument occurs in the proverb, “Svá eru Flosa ráð sem fari

Kefli.” Flosa plans are a rolling cylinder (Gr. Οἱ δὲ κυλίνδροις ἄλλοτ’

ἐπ’ ἀλλὰ φέρονται), the metaphor being taken from a mangle (Cleasby).

[15] The latter also has introduced the rude Scotch Posh or fiddle,

strung with “Torren,” the small gut of the sheep (Edmonston).

[16] Thorpe (Edda, preface, part ii., pp. iv., v.) suggests that the

name of this adaptation of Vedic and Iranic artificer-gods, this

northern Vulcan and Dædalus, may be merely an adaptation from the

German Wieland, or the Anglo-Saxon Weland, and notices Sir Walter

Scott’s woeful perversion, in “Kenilworth,” of the venerable legend

travestied from the Berkshire tradition. Blackwall tells us that a

labyrinth was called Völundarhús--a wayland house; and Cleasby that

Völundr survives in the Fr. Galant, and the Eng. Gallant.

[17] The day, however, has not come when these weapons can be

ranged strictly according to date, and when a narrow comparison of

differences, not of superficial resemblance, can be made between those

discovered in different parts of the world.

[18] It is nothing but the “cross cramponné” of heraldry, and is

generally identified with the mythic “thunderbolt;” hence, probably,

the pre-Christian crosses of Scandinavian inscriptions. Of the sacred

cross in the Huaca at Cuzco, we learn that the Incas did not worship

it, beyond holding it in veneration on account of the beauty of

its form, or for some other reason which they could scarcely give

expression to (Garcilasso de la Vega, translated, etc., by Clements

R. Markham, C.B., for the Hakluyt Society, London, 1869). It may be

remarked that the pre-Christian cross, shaped as an ordinary Greek

cross, when not connected with the sacred Tan of Egypt, was the symbol

of the four quarters; when surrounded by a circle, it denoted the solar

path from left to right round the world. A later symbol of the same

order was the Hindu _Swastika_ (mystical mark, meeting of four roads,

etc.), whose arms, according to Mr Beal, should always be drawn from

left to right, and not, as is sometimes done, “widdershins,” or in the

reverse way. Finally, the crocheted cross (Cruz ansata at four ends) is

the Aryan symbol of the sacred fire lit by Pramatha (Prometheus).

[19] The trip of eight days thus costs £14, but the travellers had

potted provisions, liquor, and other comforts, which may have brought

the expense up to £20--£10 each. Allowing £3 for the six days of delay,

in or about Reykjavik, till the fortnightly steamer starts; £6 for

coming from and returning to Granton; and £3 for extras; the total of

£22 easily “does” the Geysirs. Of course, those who are not hurried

will pay much less.

[20] The figures have been treated in the Introduction, Sect. VII.

[21] Hross in Icelandic (Germ. Ross, Fr. Rosse) is singular and plural.

So Chaucer makes “hors” plural, and we still say, a troop of horse,

like a flock of sheep. So in Shetland Russa-bairn (stallion, male)

is opposed to Hesta-bairn (mare) child. The Hengist and Horsa of our

innocent childhood were derived from the same words.

[22] Nothing easier than to teach the horse meat-eating and

fish-eating. Where little and highly nutritious food is forced by the

necessity of saving weight, the habit is acquired in youth.

[23] In this matter the last few years have seen a wonderful

improvement amongst us; still, I have visited wealthy stables in

England where the thermometer stood at 72° (F.), equal to Boston

Hotel, or to an Anglo-Indian London Club. It is difficult to reform

the evil where grooms sleep above these ovens, where hot air saves

grooming coats, and where the vet. requires to make a livelihood. The

perfection of horse-stabling appears to me a modification of the Afghan

system--protecting the chest and body with felts, thick or thin as the

season demands, and allowing the head and throat to be hardened by

cold, pure air.

[24] This is a general rule: 65 for an ass, 100 for a pony, and 120-150

for an ox. The latter are not trained to carry luggage in Iceland, and

it is hard to tell the reason why.

[25] Astraddle was doubtless the earliest form of feminine seat, yet Mr

Newton found at Budrum a statue of Diana sitting her horse sideways.

[26] Information concerning them may be met with in Gosselin (Historia

Fucorum): travellers have paid scant attention to this branch of

botany. The wracks feed man and beast, and serve for fuel, bed

stuffing, and other domestic purposes: consequently some forty-four

kinds have been described, especially that impostor, the _Zostera

marina_, which lies in loose heaps. The most common are the _Fucus

palmatus_, _Sacchurinus esculentus_, _edulis_, _fœniculaceus_, and

_digitatus_. The first-mentioned is the Sol, eaten in Ireland and in

Scotland, where it is called Dulce: at Oreback (Eyrarbakka), it sells

for 70 fishes per voet (= 80 lbs.). The second, _F. saccharinus_ (_Alga

saccharifera_), is the Welsh Laver, whose spirally-twisted leaves, six

feet long by one broad, become straight when dry. In the Shetlands

the larger fuci in general are called Tangle, Tang, and Ware, and are

extensively used as manure.

[27] Dr Cowie (Shetland, 1st edit., chap. ix., pp. 165-167) gives an

excellent account of “peat-casting.”

[28] Varða, in the plural Vörður, is a beacon, more generally an “homme

de pierre,” a pile of stones to act as landmark or way sign; it is

derived from að varða, to ward, to guard, monere (quod hîc vicus est).

Our travellers generally write the word in the Danish form “Varde.”

These piles, like the “‘a’úr” (Kakúr) of Syria and Palestine, are often

put up by the shepherd lads, apparently for want of something else to

do.

[29] Kona, of old Kwina and Kuna, is evidently the English Quean (but

not Queen). It is a congener of γυνή;(Sansk. Jani), which the Rev. Wm.

Ridley (p. 390, _Anthrop. Journal_, July and Oct. 1872) traces through

Guni, Gun, Gyn, and Gin, to the Australian “Jin:” why not take it at

once from the Arab. Jinn (Genie), a manner of devil? For many years,

Konungr (A.S., Cynig, our King) was composed of Konr, man of gentle

birth, and Ungr, young; but the Dictionary pronounces this to be a mere

poetical fancy.

[30] The pint was found to contain 3·51 grains of solid matter. The

specific gravity (at 60° F.) was 1000·21, and the components were:

Silica, 1·04 grains.

Protoxide of iron, 0·24 ”

Lime, a trace.

Magnesia, 0·2 ”

Soda, 0·84 ”

Sulphuric acid, 0·76 ”

Chlorine, 0·40 ”

Organic matter, 0·30 ”

----

Total, 3·60 grains.

[31] We have Lax rivers in England. Some books translate Lax “trout”

as well as salmon. This is a mistake, the former is always known as

Sílungr or Forelle (Dan.): as may be expected, there are numerous terms

for the fish at different ages and in several conditions.

[32] This suffixed article, which has died out of so many northern

tongues, appears to be comparatively modern, only once showing in the

Voluspa (_e.g._, Goðin, v. 117). It is found in Coptic, _e.g._, Mau-t,

the mother, for Ti-mau; and in Wallach (Daco-Roman): the latter, for

instance, says Frate-le (in Italian, Il fratello), and Dinte-le for Il

Dente (dens).

[33] Skarð, common in local names, is the English Shard, a notch,

chink, an open place in a bank, a mountain-pass, the Cumbrian Scarf-gap

(Cleasby). Henderson gives Kampe as the popular name of a _col_; he

probably means Kambi, a comb or ridge.

[34] Meaning a mane, hair, and still preserved in such names as Fairfax.

[35] The word often occurs in Iceland; it is applied to a lady’s

bower or a dungeon, both being secluded chambers, to a heap of refuse

(Cleasby), and to conspicuous warts and peaks of rock.

[36] At sea-level the compensated aneroid (Casella, 1182) showed 30·05,

the thermometer (F.) 66°. Here it was 27·10 in the open air, with the

thermometer at 40° (F.), and in the pocket 26·90, with the thermometer

at 80° (F.). The instrument, despite compensation, must always be

cooled in the shade before use.

[37] “The whole formation of the mountain (Büdös) and the surrounding

cones, the sharp-edged blocks and masses of rock, heaped up one on

the other, of which these consist, the apparently molten surface of

the trachyte--all seems plainly to prove that it was only after the

formation of these masses, and when they were in a rigid state, that a

grand upheaval took place here; during which, the powerful gases from

below, raising, and straining, and tearing the masses, piled them up

in mighty domes and mountain-tops, tossing them about till, here and

there, they had found permanent canals leading to the surface of the

earth.” (Frederic Fronius, quoted by Mr Bonar).

[38] It is noticed in the “Mémoires de la S. R. des Antiquaires

du Nord” (p. 9, vol. of 1845-49). The writer assigns it to

A.D. 1143, in the days of “Are Frode” (Ari hinn Fróði).

[39] Múli (pron. _mule_) is the Germ. Maul, a muzzle, and the Scotch

Mull (_e.g._, of Galloway), the Shetland and Orkney “Mule.” It means

a buttress, with bluff head, a tongue of high land, bounded on three

sides by slopes or precipices, and the word should be adopted into

general geography. The Arabs would call this favourite site for old

towns, “Zahr et Taur”--the bull’s back.

[40] The late Mr Piddington tells us that the Hvalfjörð district is

“called by the neighbouring inhabitants _Veðra-Kista_, that is, box

or chest of winds, which implies that this inlet is, as it were, the

abode of violent storms.” He gives cyclones to Iceland, where there are

none, and he corrects Uno Von Troil (p. 41) who rightly makes the name

“Storm-coast (Veðra-kista) to be given to some places in Iceland.”

[41] The Sel, which often occurs in Icelandic names, is the German

Senn-hütte, a shed, or little farm-house, in a mountain-pasture. The

A.S. Sele probably reappears in our north-country “Shiel,” a small

shooting farm. In Norway such huts are called Setr, or Sætr, the A.S.

Sætar: hence Sumur Sætas (dwellers in summer huts) became our Somerset.

Iceland wants the cold arbour (Ceald here-berga = Kaltern herberg of

old Germany), the bare-walled lodge, or “Traveller’s bungalow.”

[42] The North Atlantic Telegraph viâ the Færoe Islands, Iceland, and

Greenland. London: Stanford, 1861.

[43] At the farm-house the mean of three observations taken before

setting out, and after return, gave 29·60, th. (F.) 71°; summit of

first ridge, 27·65, th. 87°; top of mountain, 26·60, th. 77°.

[44] From að stilla, to fix a position.

[45] In the Shetlands called Smora, from Dan. Smör, butter, because it

gives an abundance of cream.

[46] Hooker, ii. 325.

[47] The Mexicans also had a “Fair God,” Quetzel, beautiful as Baldur,

and, better still, averse to human sacrifices. The popular tradition,

that some day he would return from the east and rule the land, made

Montezuma recognise him in the blond-haired Cortez: the great explorer

and conqueror, however, did not prove a satisfactory Quetzel. Of these

white gods and foreigners from the east, even in South America, I have

treated fully in my notes to Hans Stade (Hakluyt Soc.), part ii., chap.

xv.

[48] The word was taken from Chamounix by De Saussure. It is not, as

Petermann says, the _detritus_ or rubbish heaps from the bottom and

sides of the glacier or ice-fall, but the _débris_ of the rock above it.

[49] This is the popular form of Or-usta, battle.

[50] Melr, a sandy hill, and especially a bare bank of sand and stone,

familiar to Iceland travellers, has been explained in the Introduction

(Sect. VII.). Baring-Gould (p. 284) would derive it from a root

signifying to grind; Holmboe from Myldja, to dig, or from Mold, loose

earth. Bakki is a bank or ridge, opposed to Brekka (brink), a slope, a

hill.

[51] This stone, like the diamond, threatens to lose more than half its

value, if it be true that the State of Queretaro in Mexico has lately

(1874) yielded “opals of the first quality, and of all varieties; the

milk-opals, fire-opals, girasols or ‘harlequins,’ and the richest

Hungarian or precious opals.”

[52] The word Áss, _pl._ Asar and Æsir, is explained by Jornandes,

“Gothi proceres suos quasi qui fortunâ vincebant non pares homines

sed semideos, i.e. _Anses_ (Ans in Mæso-Gothic) vocavere.” Suetonius

makes Æsar an Etruscan word which meant God (probably a plural of Kelt.

Es). We find forms of it in the Mongolian dialects, and in the Aryan,

Sanskrit (Asura), Keltic, Teutonic (Æsir), German (Anshelm, p. n.), and

even in the English Osborn and Oswald. _As_ appears to correspond with

the Semitic _Al_, but the word is still involved in mystery.

[53] The Hebrew Esh and the Chaldee Esha (fire) are synonymous with the

Aryan Is, whence Isti, an offering on the hearth, and Estika the place

of offering. Hence the Greek Hestía, fire, hearth, stove, and, with

digamma, the Latin Vesta when worshipped as Genius or Lar familiaris.

[54] Blót (or Forn), a sacrifice of men and beasts, horses and

oxen, swine and sheep, must not be confounded with Blóð, blood. The

Blót-steinn or sacrificial stone, which acted as our gallows, is

described as of “oval form and a little pointed at the top,” which

suggests the Moab-god Chemosh, it stood in every Thing-field, a place

adjoining the Hof. I did not remark that the site of the temples always

faced south, as Mallet says. The Öndvegi, or high-seat of the hall, was

“on the side of the sun,” _i.e._, south.

[55] He specifies the ruined castle near Videdal (Viðidalr), some 200

perches in circumference and 20 fathoms (?) high on the north side;

another castle near the parsonage Skaggestad at Laugarnaes; remains of

heathen temples at Midfjörð, Godale, Viðvik, etc.; the ancient place

of execution at Hegranaes; pagan burial-places, like that of Thorleif

Jarlaskáld’s in the Oxerá island, which yielded old swords and helmets;

two Bauta-steinn, great standing stones (Menhirs?), on the heaths

of Thingman’s and Threkyllis, “which probably, according to Odin’s

regulations, were monuments to the memory of deceased persons;” the

grass-grown mound of Reykholt, “said to be raised from the ruins of

Sturluson’s house;” the Sturlunga Reitr, or burial-place of his family,

and forty small figures of brass representing animals and other objects

found near Flatey: “unfortunately they fell into the hands of people

who did not know their value, consequently they have all been lost” (p.

189).

[56] This popular German expression is evidently the Scandinavian

Besse, for Berr or Bersi = Bär, a bear. Besse, again, has a suspicious

likeness to the Yakut “Ese,” the most respectful term in the language,

= grandfather or monseigneur, applied by those Siberian Mongols to

the great white bear, their most formidable foe. Bruin in Gothland

being the “king of the beasts,” to do a thing with Besse’s leave is

equivalent to doing it without leave. The quaint quadruped is much

noticed in folk-lore; “Mishka” is his pet name in Russia; “Berengarius”

is derived from the French Dan Beringer; and Ephraim and Ole Cuffey

are well known in the U.S. Persia abounds in tales about his wearing a

turband and riding asses.

[57] It supplied the Hafnafiordite of Forchhammer, leek-green, light,

porous, and friable pumice-tuff, containing the following proportions:

Silica, 35·89

Alumina, 27·36

Protoxide of iron, 14·41

Lime, 10·86

Potash, 9·00

Sulphuric acid, 1·55

-----

99·07

Dr W. Lauder Lindsay remarks, “The sp. gr. is usually 2·729; it appears

to be a lime-oligoclase, belonging, therefore, to the Felspathic family

of minerals.”

[58] Passengers to Hafnafjörð paid only 2 marks (7d.). The nine days to

the north and back were the cheapest known to me--$9 (=£1) each way, and

for living £4, a total of 13s. per diem, including steward’s fees, and

excellent Norwegian ale and Geneva _ad lib_. Breakfast of fish and meat

at eight to ten A.M.; dinner of ditto and coffee at two to four P.M.;

and supper, a repetition of the two, at eight to nine P.M. Port, sherry,

and Château Yquem = $1 specie (4s. 6d.); champagne, $2; porter, $0·48;

and Norwegian beer, 12sk. (3½d.) per bottle. The cooking was excellent,

and plate and linen equally spotless; the table was laid _à la Russe_

with pleasant little _hors d’œuvres_ of sardines and smoked salmon, salt

meat, ham, and sausage, in fact what Italians facetiously call

“Porcheria.” We mentally re-echo Mr Thackeray’s hope that Great Britain,

who is supposed to rule the waves, will some day devote a little more

attention to her _cuisine_.

[59] Borg, a castle, a city, or a small dome-shaped height, is a common

local term. “It may be questioned whether these names (Borgarholt,

Eld-borg, etc.) are derived simply from the hill on which they stand

(berg, bjarg), or whether such hills took their names from old

fortifications built upon them: the latter is more likely, but no

information is on record, and at present ‘borg’ only conveys the notion

of a hill” (Cleasby). In Chap. I., I have shown that “borg” and “broch”

are sons of the same family.

[60] Captain Graah (loc. cit.) looks upon this as a mere fable: I do

not.

[61] Hít is a scrip made of skin, and, metaphorically, a big belly.

With a short vowel, Hitár-dalr means the Vale of the Hot (_i.e._,

volcanic) River, opposed to Kaldá or Cold Stream. According to Cleasby,

the derivation from the Giantess Hít is a modern fiction not older than

the Bárðar Saga: he also, contrary to other authorities, makes Dominus

Bárð a giantess.

[62] The Dictionary gives Göltr, a hog, and Kolla, a deer without

horns, a humble deer, a hind.

[63] Both translations are somewhat too literal: Enni, a forehead,

secondarily means the “_brow_ of a hill,” a steep crag, a fronting

precipice.

[64] As the “Berserkir” is becoming a power in novelistic literature,

it may be advisable to give the correct form. The singular nominative

is Ber-serkr, the plural Ber-serkir, and the oblique form Berserkja,

_e.g._, Berserkja-dis, cairn of the Berserkir. Cleasby (sub voce)

shows that the common derivation, taken from Snorri, “berr” (bare) and

“Serkr” (sark or shirt) is inadmissible, and greatly prefers “Berr”

(a bear), whose skins were worn by athletes and champions; perhaps

also here we find traces of that physical metamorphosis in which all

the older world believed. The “Berserksgangr” (_furor bersercicus seu

athleticus_), when these “champions” howled like wild beasts, gnawed

their iron shields, and were proof against fire and steel, may be

compared with the “running amok” of the Malays, and the “bhanging up”

of the Hindu hero--invariably the effect of stimulants. This fact

considerably abates our interest in Eastern tales of “derring-do,” for

instance, in the account of the two sentinels at Delhi, whose calm

gallantry, probably produced by opium or hemp, is noticed in pitying

terms by Sir Hope Grant.

[65] For the observations at Stykkishólm, see Introduction, Sect. II.

[66] Henderson (ii. 67) places “Hofstad” on the western side of the

peninsula.

[67] Réttir are the big public pens, Dilkar the small folds round the

former, and the Stekkjarvegr is the spring-fold; all are dry stone

walls, as on the Libanus.

[68] As the word is written, it can only signify “Lithe (slope) of

the panegyric;” Drápa being a poem in honour of gods, saints, kings,

princes, and so forth, as opposed to the short panegyric “Plockr,”

and to the longer “Hroðr,” or “Lof.” The boatman, however, explained

it to mean Slope of Death, _i.e._, where some battle took place, and

this would be derived from Dráp, slaughter. Both words (says Cleasby)

come from Drepa, to strike. There is also a dispute concerning the

formation of certain beds in this mountain, some holding that they

issued from the same crater successively, and others, simultaneously,

from different mouths.

[69] Henderson (ii. 68) places the stone in the swamp, not on the

hill-side; Forbes (219) adds that it was in the centre of the

Doom-ring. If so, we did not see it: moreover, Mr R. M. Smith heard

from Hr Thorlacius that we were misled. I cannot help believing in the

shepherd-boy; and there was no mistaking the Doom-ring. For the most

part, the instruments of death stood in the fens where certain classes

of criminals were drowned. On the other hand, the Landnámabók (chap.

xii.) says, that after the profanation of Helgafell (Monticulus Sacer),

Thórðr Gellir “forum (Thing) in _superiora linguæ loca_ ubi nunc est,

transportavere ... ibique adhuc conspiciendus est lapis Thorinus

(Thórsteinn), supra quem homines sacrificio destinati, frangebantur;

ibi etiam circulus judicialis existit in quo homines ad victimas

condemnabant.”

[70] Compare this Northern effort with the poetical Greek curse at the

Akropolis of Athens: “I entrust the guardianship of this temple to the

infernal gods, to Pluto, and to Ceres, and to Proserpine, and to all

the Furies, and to all the gods below. If any one shall deface this

temple, or mutilate it, or remove anything from it, either of himself,

or by means of another, to him may not the land be passable, nor the

sea navigable, but may he be utterly uprooted! May he experience all

evils, fever, and ague, and quartan, and leprosy! And as many ills as

man is liable to, may they befall that man who dares to move anything

from this temple!” Perhaps the most picturesque composition of the

kind is the inscription upon the sarcophagus of Eshmunazar, king of

Sidon--at least in the translation of the late Duc de Luynes.

[71] This form of “lynching” is popularly and erroneously supposed to

have been invented upon the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. The

Brazilian “Indians” practised it by way of ceremonial toilette.

[72] Waring and many others suggest that the “Prostrate Stone” lying

north-east of the horse-shoe or elliptical opening of the Stonehenge

trilithons, and the three--formerly five--fallen stones inside the

vallum, represent the first or outer circle, like that of Avebury.

It is usually assumed that the “Friar’s Heel,” the single “block

lying farther to the north-east of the “Prostrate Stone,” served for

astronomical purposes, the sun rising over it on the summer solstice,

and striking the sacrificial Thorsteinn or Blótsteinn (4 by 16 feet).

The same arrangement is remarked at Stennis. There seems, however, no

reason why both should not have been members of an outermost circle.

Martin (Description of Western Islands, London, 1716) has preserved

the popular tradition that the sun was worshipped in the larger, and

the moon in the lesser, ring of the Orkney ruins. Later writers deny

the honour of erecting the circles of Stennis and Borgar (anciently

Broisgar = Brúar-garðr) to the “Northmen,” because such circles are

found only in localities where a Keltic race has ruled, and because

“such names as Stennis and Stonehenge prove that they had existence

before the people who so designated them arrived in the country.”

The _causa_ appears to me a _non causa_, especially if they were

Thingsteads and Doom-rings, which in later days would take modern and

trivial names from their sites or peculiarities of structure. On the

other hand, the absence of tradition concerning the popular use of the

buildings, which we might expect to linger in the minds of men, is a

serious objection.

[73] We have retained the word “Flói” in ice-_floe_. It properly means

the deep water of a bay opposed to the shallow water along shore.

[74] We see in Ireland, Scotland, and the English coast about Bristol,

the effect of these gales: they prevail along the coast of Brittany,

become less violent in the Bay of Biscay and along Portugal, and

finally the Mediterranean, as the regular outlines of the Balearics,

Sicily, and Malta prove, ignores them.

[75] The work of Jón Thórðarson and another compiler in the fourteenth

century, who transcribed from old MSS., and bring the history up to

A.D. 1395, that is a century before the Columbian

discovery. A facsimile specimen of the vellum manuscript used by

Professor Rafu as the basis of his text is given in the “Antiquitates

Americanæ.”

[76] In June 1862 Mr Shepherd and his party succeeded in mastering the

Dránga Jökull. Upon the summit the barometer marked 26·5° (at sea-level

29 inches, not degrees), and the thermometer 32° (F.). Glámu (Dict.,

Glam, Glamr, Glaumr, glamour) is translated “noisy Jökull,” from the

hljóð (Germ. Laut), or the clamour, the crashing and clashing of

ice-slips and torrents.

[77] Dýr is Θήρ, their, deôr, and deer, in Iceland especially applied

to the fox, being the only insular beast of prey (Cleasby).

[78] According to some local authorities, Ísafjörð is the mouth of the

Ísafjarðardjúp. Mr Shepherd (p. 92) lays down that the bay-head and

the town are called Ísafjörð, whilst Ísafjarðardjúp is the name of the

whole.

[79] Ísa being the genitive plural of Íss, ice. See page 5, “The

Thousandth Anniversary of the Norwegian Settlement of Iceland,” by

Jón A. Hjaltalín, Reykjavik, 1874: the _Standard_ (August 25, 1874)

confounds this author with Dr Hjaltalín, “by far the greatest and

most learned Icelander of the day.” Some have erroneously derived it

from Ísa or Ýsa, a coal-fish or haddock, which is here plentiful:

this _Gadus carbonarius_ is known to western Scotland by many names.

They are “cuddies” when six to eight inches long, excellent eating in

October; when herring-sized they become “saythes,” somewhat coarse of

flesh; and when full-grown “stane-lochs,” almost unfit for food.

[80] The _Ursus albus maritimus_ or _Thalarctos_ is called Bamsin and

the female Bingsen: it is well known to be carnivorous, a “lahhám,”

as the peasants of the Libanus term their small brown bears (_U.

Syriacus_): moreover, it rises upon its haunches to scalp the huntsman,

like the Himalayan bear (_U. Thibeticus_). The two others common

in Norway are the Hesta-biörn or horse-bear (the common brown _U.

Arctos_), and the Myre or small bear (possibly a variety of the former,

like the black bear of Europe). The latter is valued for its hams, as

the paws of the great grizzly (_U. ferox_), the most savage of its

kind, are prized in the Western States of North America.

[81] It must not be confounded, as some travellers have done, with

Eyra, an ear. Eyri is the modern form of Eyrr, the Shetland Urie, and

the Swedish Ör: _e.g._, Helsing-ör, our Elsinore. Eyr-byggjar are men

who build in Eyris; and, hence, the “Eyrbyggja Saga.” The feature, like

the Holmr, was used for battle-plains; thus Ganga út á eyri, is to

fight a duel (Cleasby).

[82] This common name for such features is one of the Semitic words

(Arab. Karn) which has been naturalised in Aryan speech through Κέρας

and Cornu. Another is “Botn,” flat or low land, _e.g._, Gulf of

Bothnia, in Arab. Batn.

[83] Staðr (plur. Staðir), our “stead,” secondarily means a church

establishment, see, convent, chapel, and so forth. The “church contest,”

or struggle, between the clergy and laity about the ownership and

administration of churches and glebes, which began at the end of the

thirteenth century, and was partially settled by the agreement of A.D.

1296, has diffused this word far and wide through Iceland. Thus the

heathen Fell, Hraun, Hóll, and Melr became Staðar-fell, Staðar-hraun,

Staðar-hóll, and Mell-Staðar. On the other hand, the plural Staðir is

frequent in local names of the pagan time, as Höskulds-Staðir,

Alreks-Staðir, etc. (Cleasby).

[84] So the point was called by all on board; the map gives Krossanes

(cross naze).

[85] The Lodbrokar Kviða (Lodbrog’s Quoth) or Krákumál, so called

from the “mythical lady” Kraka, was translated (1782) by the Rev.

James Johnstone, A. M., chaplain to the British Embassy at Copenhagen.

It is given by Henderson (ii. 345-352), who believes--_O sancta

simplicitas!_--that the ruffian, who probably never existed, himself

composed the “warlike and ferocious song.” The word Kviða, or lay,

derives from Kveðja, cognate with the English “quote” and “quoth.”

[86] This common term is explained in Chap. XIII.

[87] I know no reason why we should conserve such veteran blunders

as “Hecla” and “Geyser.” The latter has already been explained. The

former, whose full form is Heklu-fjall, derives from Hekla (akin to

Hökull, a priest’s cope), meaning a cowled or hooded frock, knitted of

various colours, and applied to the “Vesuvius of the North,” from its

cap and body vest of snow. Icelanders usually translate it a chasuble,

because its rounded black shoulders bear stripes of white, supposed to

resemble the cross carried to Calvary.

[88] “Kleifar” is a local name in West Iceland, from Kleif, a ridge of

cliffs or shelves in a mountain-side (Cleasby).

[89] Professor Tyndall (loc. cit.) tells us that the “two first gases

cannot exist amicably together. In Iceland they wage incessant war,

mutually decompose each other, and scatter their sulphur over the

steaming fields. In this way the true solfataras of the island are

formed.” He derives the vapour of sulphur in nature from the action of

heat upon certain sulphur compounds.

[90] I have denied the existence of this diagonal.--R. F. B.

[91] The Journal shows how great this mistake is.--R.F.B.

[92] The description is prodigiously exaggerated.--R.F.B.

[93] Mr Judd, examining Western Scotland, opines that the felspathic

(acid) rocks have been erupted from the Eocene volcanoes, and the

augitic (basic) from those of the Miocene age. In Iceland, however,

both seem to have been discharged by the Post-tertiary, as well as by

the Tertiary epochs.

[94] “He” (Gunnar Hámundarson) “was eulogised by many poets after his

death,” said an Icelander, with unthinking satire. The last poem is the

“Gunnarshólmr,” by Jonas Hallgrímsson, a poet who, being loved of the

gods, died young.

[95] The Romans were naked below the knee: the pillars of Trajan and

Antonine show Teutonic captives wearing a dress much resembling that of

our peasants and sailors.

[96] Often written Reykium (for Reykjum), dative plural of second

declension. As has been seen, the word enters into a multitude of

Icelandic proper names.

[97] The four higher are (S.E.) Öræfajökull (6426 English feet); (W.)

Snæfell (5964); Eyjafjallajökull (5593) to south, and Herðubreið (5447)

to north-east. Stanley (repeated by Dillon) assigned to Hekla 4300;

Sir J. Banks, with a Ramsden’s Barometer, 5000. Gunnlaugsson gives

5108, but here he is very defective, wanting a separate and enlarged

plan. The direct distance from the summit to the sea is usually laid

down at thirty miles; measured upon the map, the “bee-line” would be

twenty-seven geographical miles.

[98] Rángá (“wrong” or crooked stream) is a name that frequently

occurs, and generally denotes either that the trend is opposed to the

general water-shed, or that an angle has been formed in the bed by

earthquakes or eruptions.

[99] The down is applied as a styptic to cuts, the leaves are used in

tanning, and the wood makes ink.

[100] Klaproth remarks that this is the only tree (? the poplar =

Pippal) which the Aryan colonists of Europe remarked, and distinguished

by the Sanskrit name. Thus Bhurrja became the Latin Betula, the Gothic

Birkun, the Scandinavian Birki and Björk, the German Birke, and the

English Birch. The name is applied under the form of Bjarkar to the

thirteenth Runic letter = B or P; and it is the first Irish letter,

Beith.

[101] Næfr, or birch-bark, was used for thatching: Næfra-maðr, the

birch-bark man, was an outlaw (Cleasby).

[102] Mr Pliny Miles distinctly denies the existence of these

fish-lakes, which Metcalfe observed, and which we clearly saw. There is

a Fisksvatnsvegr, which has been travelled over, and there are reports

of a volcano having burst out there about a century ago.

[103] The highest apparent point shown to us on the south-east was

Grænafjall. Upon the map it is an insignificant north-eastern “mull” of

the Tindafjallajökull, but refraction had added many a cubit to its low

stature.

[104] Alluded to in Chap. VI.

[105] Tunga is applied to the Doab of two rivers; Tangi is a land-spit,

a point projecting into the sea or river.

[106] This is the “low trap hill” of former travellers, supposed to be

one of the veins that pierced the elevated diagonal.

[107] Especially M. Dortous de Mavian, whose theory was succeeded

by the age of chemicals, pyrites, and alkalis, and the oxidation of

unoxidised minerals, with a brief deversion in favour of “The Fire,”

by Sir Humphrey Davy. Poisson extinguished it when he remarked that if

fed by incandescent gases it would burst the shell, or at least would

be subject to tides, causing daily earthquakes. Happily, also, the

term “earth’s _crust_” is also becoming obsolete, or rather the solid

stratum of 100 miles overlying a melted nucleus has suddenly grown to

800 (Hopkins). Sir William Thomson (Proceedings of the Royal Society,

xii., p. 103) holds it “extremely improbable that any crust thinner

than 2000 or 2500 miles could maintain its figure with sufficient

rigidity against the tide-generating forces of sun and moon, to allow

the phenomena of the ocean tides, and of precession and nutation, to be

as they are now.” We will hope for more presently.

[108] Cleasby tells us that the end of Árna Saga (the bishop), the

sole historical work of that time, is lost. He opines that a certain

“pretty legend,” referring to the “moving” of founts when defiled with

innocent blood, could not have arisen “unless a change in the place of

hot springs had been observed.”

[109] Everywhere we found leaves laminated with silicious deposit, but

no trace of shells, even though we sought them under the turf. The

composition of Geysir water will illustrate Forbes. In 1000 parts of

water there are 0·5097 of silica, whereas the rest, carbonates of soda

and ammonia, sulphates of soda, potash, and magnesia, chloride and

sulphide of sodium, and carbonic acid, amount only to 0·4775, Out of

the latter, again, soda represents 0·3009, and sodium 0·2609; silica

and soda are therefore _the_ constituents. The specific gravity is

1000·8 (Faraday).

[110] More exactly the two divisions are each about twenty feet long;

the smaller is twelve and the greater is eighteen feet broad; the

extreme depth is thirty feet.

[111] See Barrow’s ground-plan of the Geysirs (p. 177).

[112] In 1859, when I passed over the Rocky Mountains, near the

headwaters of the Missouri and the Yellowstone, the North American

Geysirs had not been invented, nor did we hear a word about them from

the backwoodsmen and prairiemen along the line. In fact, the United

States Expeditions which surveyed, photographed, and described them,

began only in 1868.

[113] Baring-Gould makes the bridge seven to eight yards long; far too

long for single planks.

[114] Written Ravnegiá, and other barbarous forms. Gjá also has been

corrupted to Gaia, etc. The word is found in the Hebrew אנ, the

Greek γᾶια, and the German and Swiss Gau, a district, a canton; it

is preserved in the Scottish Geo or Geow: it is the Cornish Hor, and

the Skaare of the Færoes, supposed to extend under the sea. It “often

denotes a rift, with a tarn or pool at bottom, whence Gil is a rift

with running water;” and it is akin to Gína (χαινω, A.S. Gínan);

Gähnen, to yawn (Cleasby). In Iceland these fosses are split by the

hammer of Thor.

[115] This is evidently the Germ. Kuchen and the Eng. Cake: we can

trace it back to the Pers. “Kahk.”

[116] According to Blackwall, the Thingstead in Oldenburg still shows

the Doom-ring of upright stones, and the Blót-steinn in the centre.

[117] The Axewater, so called because Kettlebjörn, the Old, when

prospecting for a residence here, lost his axe. Barrow gives Oxera,

which would mean Oxwater. There has been no change in the Thingvellir

since the days of the Norwegian colonists.

[118] Al-manna, genitive plural from an obsolete Almenn (comp.

Alemanni), is a prefix to some nouns, meaning general, common,

universal. The local name of the great rift near the Althing was given

because all the people met upon its eastern flank (Cleasby).

[119] A large plan, but not very correct, is given by Dufferin (p. 73).

[120] I believe it has been transferred by later antiquaries from the

holm to the mainland; but Cowie (p. 178) still keeps it in the islet.

[121] This Gjá is amazingly exaggerated by Baring-Gould (p. 69);

assuming the human figures at only 5 feet, the depth of the chasm would

be 75.

[122] For the code of honour in pagan Iceland, Dasent refers to

Kormak’s Saga, chap. x., where the law of the duello was most

punctiliously laid down as the “British Code of Duel” (London, 1824) by

a philanthropic and enterprising Irish gentleman. The weapons chiefly

used were broadsword and battle-axe; the combatants might not step back

beyond a given space, and the latter peculiarity is still preserved in

the hostile meetings of students throughout Northern Germany, where the

floor or ground is marked with chalk. In some cases they stood upon a

hide and were not allowed to gain or to break ground. The Hólm-ganga

was a “judicium Dei,” differing from the Einvígi, or simple duel, by

the rites and rules which accompanied it. The Norwegian duel was worthy

of the Scrithofinni; the combatants were fastened together by the belt,

and used their knives till one was killed. How pugnacious the old pagan

Scandinavians were, may be judged from the wife’s practice of carrying

the husband’s shroud to weddings and “merry makings.”

[123] Paijkull gives the length, one geographical mile, and the maximum

depth, 140 feet; too short and too deep.

[124] The curlew (_Scolopax arquata_), when young, is apparently called

a whimbrel (_Numenius phœopus_) in the London market.

[125] It is analysed by Bunsen (Art. II., loc. cit.).

[126] Skapt is a “shaved” stick, haft, shaft, or missile; Skapt-á, the

shaft-river = Scot. and Eng. Shafto; and hence, Skaptár-fell (sounded

_Skapta-fell_), is the Shapfell of Westmoreland (Cleasby), the Icel.

“sk” being generally permuted to the softer English “sh.”

[127] Baring-Gould places it near Holt, east-north-east of Erlendsey.

[128] The “frow-stack” is a skerry, resembling a woman’s skirt. Sir

W. Scott (The Pirate, xxvi.) says the “_Fraw-Stack_,” or Maiden Rock,

an inaccessible cliff, divided by a narrow gulf from the island of

Papa, has on the summit some ruins, concerning which there is a legend

similar to that of Danoë. Vigr (a spear, in the Orkneys Veir) describes

a sharp-pointed rock.

[129] Erlendr is here a proper name: usually it is an adjective,

meaning “foreign” = the Germ. Elendi.

[130] Also the single day’s passage from Reykjavik to Berufjörð is $12,

or one-third of the full passage to Granton, which takes eight to nine

days. The other and far more important complaints against the “Diana”

have been noticed before.

[131] From Ör, negative, and Höfn, a haven: as will be seen, the plural

Öræfi is also applied to a wilderness.

[132] In the Færoes the whale is written “Qual,” a pronunciation still

retained in Iceland.

[133] Mr Newton’s valuable paper in the _Ibis_, containing all that

is required _quâ_ Iceland ornithology, has been alluded to. He quotes

the works of the late Hr Petur Sturitz, of Professor Steenstrŭp

(Videnskabelige Meddellser for Aaret 1855), of the venerable Richard

Owen (Paleontology, 2d edit., 1861, and Trans. Zool. Soc., June

14, 1864), and of many other writers. An interesting note about

the “only wingless, or rather flightless, species of the northern

hemisphere,” and two recorded instances of the _rara avis_ being kept

in confinement, are given by Baring-Gould, Appendix A., pp. 406, 407.

[134] My companion, Mr Chapman, a New Zealander, who has returned to

New Zealand, suggested that, despite Dr Hector, the Moa, a bird eight

feet high, may still be found alive in some of the forest fastnesses of

his native island.

[135] According to Barnard, the last European auk was killed in 1848,

at Vardö, a Norwegian fortress on the frontier of Russia.

[136] Berufjörð is derived from Berr, of whom more presently, or from

Bera, a she-bear, the animal being often floated over upon ice-floes:

Bare Firth, from “berr,” bare, which has been proposed (Longman, p.

33), is a mere error. It is the longest, if not the largest, feature

of this coast, except Reyðarfjörð, which lies to the north, separated

by three minor inlets. The “look-out” stands, according to nautical

charts, in N. lat. 64° 39´ 45´´, and W. long. (G.) 14° 14´ 15´´ (in

Olsen 14° 19´ 47´´), the latter supposed to require correction. The

difference of time from Reykjavik is about 30´. The variation (west)

diminishes: it was laid down at 39° or 40°, but on May 18, 1872,

Captain Tvede made it 35° 15´. Here local attractions, often causing

a difference of half-a-point within a few hundred yards, would puzzle

“George Graham of London.”

[137] Mr Watts, who is now publishing an account of his march, and who

has started a third time for the Vatnajökull, gave me this list of

stations:

1. Reykjavik to Reykir.

2. To near the Tindafjallajökull, south of Hekla; very rough path.

3. Over the deep Mælifellssandr to east, where the valleys are grassy.

4. To the Búland farm.

5. To Kirkjubær cloister, on the Skaptá.

6. To the Núpstaðr farm, a long day’s march. Here provisions and forage are

procurable.

[138] Mr Tom Roys, an American, accompanied by his four brothers,

established himself at Seyðisfjörð, and used a rocket harpoon patented

by himself, and so much “improved” that it will hardly leave the gun:

the shell explodes in the body, kills the animal instantly, and, by

generating gas, causes the carcass to float; if not, the defunct is

buoyed and landed at discretion. He first hunted with a small sailing

craft, and in 1865, after bagging seven to eight animals, each worth

$2000, he brought from England a screw of 40 tons burden to tow his

whaling boats. He calculated that 365 whales would allow 1 lb. of food

to 68,000 souls every day in the year: he also proposed pressing the

meat for feeding dogs and fattening pigs (!). In that year his total

bag till August was twenty-five whales, of which he landed thirteen. I

was told, however, that the speculation proved a failure, and that Mr

Roys went off to Alaska. At Seyðisfjörð, distant two days’ march, there

was a Dutch steamer, which last year had killed thirteen whales. When

reduced to the last extreme, we thought of travelling home in her, but

future explorers must not count upon such opportunities.

[139] Uno Von Troil (129, 130) gives interesting notices of the

whale. He divides the mammals into two kinds: (1.) “Skidis-fiskur,”

or smooth-bellied, with whalebone instead of teeth; the largest,

“Stettbakr,” or flat-back, measures nearly 200 English feet, and

the “Hnufubakr” is only 50 feet shorter. Of the Reydar-fiskur, or

wrinkle-bellied (No. 2), the largest is the “Steipereidur,” attaining

nearly 240 English feet; the “Hrafnreyður” and the “Andanufia;” all are

considered very dainty food; and the Icelanders say the flesh has the

taste of beef. The whales with teeth are (1.) the eatable, such as the

Hnysen, the Hnyðingur, the Hundfiskur, and the Maahyrningr; and (2.)

the ice-whale, or uneatable, with its subdivisions, the Roðkammingur

and the Náhvalur, were both “forbidden as food by some ancient

regulations, and particularly by the Church laws. The Icelanders

believe that the first sort are very fond of human flesh, and therefore

avoid fishing in such places where they appear.” The carnivorous whales

were frightened away by carrying “dung, brimstone, juniper-wood, and

some other articles of the same nature, in their boats”--an idea worthy

of the black tars who navigate Lake Tánganyika.

[140] Professor Paijkull adds the Reyðr (whence Reyðarfjörð),

_Physeter_ or _Catodon macrocephalus_, a large spermaceti whale; he

also gives to the Iceland waters the Arctic walrus (Icel. Rosm-hvalir;

_Trichecus rosmarus_), and the narwhal (_Monodon monoceros_). The Sagas

specify twenty-five kinds of whales.

[141] The Ork. Hockla is the dog-fish, _Squalus acanthius_ or

_archiarius_. Mr Vice-Consul Crowe gives the names “Nákarla or

havkalur,” probably misprints; he adds, however, that the Greenland

shark rarely attacks man unless molested by him. This assertion, which

is made in all popular books, may, I believe, be modified by the reason

given in the text. He also tells us that the hide is cheaper than

either seal or lamb skin, but is neither strong nor durable--this again

I doubt. The Greenland shark is called by some travellers Háskerðingr,

and it can swallow, they say, a reindeer.

[142] Properly short-breeks, or curt-hose, from Stuttr, stunted,

stinted, scant (Cleasby).

[143] Iceland does wisely to preserve her seals. Argyleshire in the

olden time, and especially the holms south of Skye, were famed for

them; now they are very wild and not likely to be caught basking on the

rocks, or bathing in shallow water. Old bull seals, who may measure 5

feet 6 inches, are wary in the extreme, and seldom allow the use of

the club. Phoca must also be hit on the head, or the hunter will see

no more of him. In Greenland the packs have been almost killed out by

the scores of vessels which Dundee and Peterhead, Norway and Sweden,

Denmark and Germany, send every year, and it is reported that without

a “close time,” the breed will become, like the oyster and the crab,

almost extinct. San Francisco has been sensible enough to preserve the

flocks of Proteus by the strong arm of the law--I wonder if grim old

“Ben Butler” still tries to stare man out of countenance as he floats

off the Ocean House.

[144] Mr Blackwall satirically suggests that our Huggins and Muggins

may descend from this respectable parentage, whilst he trusts that

the Smiths, Smyths, and congeners, “will duly acknowledge the sturdy

Scandinavian yeoman, Smiðr Churlsson, grandson of the jovial old

fellow, Grandfather, who had the honour of pledging a bumper with a

celestial deity, as their common ancestor.”

[145] A fourth; hence our farthing.

[146] Evidently from Caballus, the word which has so successfully

ousted the more classical Equus. The Dictionary makes the horseload =

5 trusses; Uno Von Troil, 12 to 15 lispunds, each about 17 Eng. lbs.

avoir.

[147] Mr Jón A. Hjaltalín informs me that on the borders of Norway

and Sweden several local names are called after Sóti and Bera, and

the legend may have been transplanted to Iceland. It is not found in

the list of Sagas quoted by the Cleasby-Vigfusson Dictionary: I am

therefore inclined to refer it to the sea-rover Hallvarð Sóti, of whom

we read, “Thence Kol steered his course out of the river to Norway ...

and came on Hallvarð Sóti unawares, and found him in a loft. He kept

them off bravely till they set fire to the house, then he gave himself

up, but they slew him, and took there much goods” (Burnt Njál, ii. 2).

[148] The aneroid (compensated) showed 27·63; the thermometer, 67°

(F.) in the open air. On the return march, the former was 28·08, and

the latter 76° (both in pocket). At sea-level the instruments stood at

30·04 to 30·12, and 63° (F.).

[149] The name was formerly derived from Loka, to shut, like Wodan from

Vaða, even as Juno a Juvando, and Neptunus a nando. The Dictionary

suggests that the old form may have been Wloka (Volcanus), the _w_

being dropped before the _l_ according to the rules of the Scandinavian

tongue. It is strange that though Öðin, Thórr, and Loki were by far the

most prominent personages of the heathen faith, the name of the latter

is not preserved in the records of any other Teutonic, or rather let us

say, Gothic people.

[150] Loka-sjóðr, or Loki’s purse, is the cockscomb, or yellow rattle

(_Rhinanthus crista galli_).

[151] Mr Tuckett, of Alpine fame, shows us anent this word that

“strange game (Anglicè, wild-goose) has been started in the dark forest

of etymology.” Like Avalasse and Avalaison (a _debâcle_ of rain or

melted snow), the Schnee-schlipfe is certainly derived from the low

Latin “advallare,” to advance valleywards: others propose “a labendo;”

“Lau,” the warm spring winds; “avaler” (_e.g._, avaler son chaperon),

the village; “Abländssch,” in French “Avéranche,” and, lastly, the

German Lauwíne, “Löwin,” because these avalantic descents have the

rage and power of a lioness. I may add that in mountainous Europe each

valley seems to have its own name, Lavena, Labina, Lavigne, Avelantze,

Evalantze, Líantze, etc., etc., etc.: the giant snow-ball is called in

and about Italian Recoaro “Valanghi” and “bughi di neve.”

[152] It is only fair to repeat what the _Standard_ (August 29,

1874) says of this worthy: “The man to whom I should strongly advise

any English visitors to Iceland to apply for advice and active

assistance--a resident in Reykjavik, speaking excellent English,

active and energetic, whose name is Gislasson--was, in his early days,

a theological student, and previous to his ordination was appointed

to the pastorate of Grimsey. He declined to go, and withdrew from

the ministry. I do not know whether the Grimsey fishermen lost a

good priest or not, but I know that the English gained an excellent

counsellor. He is the Grímr of Baring-Gould’s well-known book, but if

the sketch of him there contained is at all true to the life, he must

have wonderfully improved.” I have spoken of him as we found him.

[153] This Snæfellsjökull, which we shall see from a far nearer

point, is not laid down in the map: it lies due south of Snæfell, the

mountain. Thus there are three Snæfells in Eastern and Western Iceland.

There are also two Eyvindars, both snowless; one near the road, the

other close to the Vatnajökull: we distinguished them as the eastern

and the western. Finally, there is an Eastern as well as a Western

Skjaldbreið.

[154] The Dictionary gives “Grip-deildir,” rapine, robbery. Deild

(dole, deal) and Deildir (dealings) are common in local names,

especially to boundary places which have caused lawsuits, _e.g._,

Deildará (boundary-river), Deildar-hvammr, etc.

[155] Uno Von Troil (p. 108) gives the Icelandic names of four Agarici.

[156] The volcanic ashes and lapilli show supra-marine eruptions, but

the water-rolled stones tell another tale.

[157] _The_ Möðruvellir, the abode of Guðmund the Rich or Powerful, was

up the Eyjafjörð, and the map still shows a chapel there.

[158] It is thus written by all travellers: Herði-breiðr, however, from

Herðar, would be the adjective “broad-shouldered.”

[159] According to the “Antiquaires du Nord” (p. 434, vol. 1850-60),

“Slesvig” means Vík, or bay, of the Slè or Sli Arundo Arenaria. But is

not this word the Icel. Slý, water cotton (_Byssus lanuginosa_), used

as tinder?

[160] This traveller mentions eider-ducks at Mý-vatn. We saw none, and

the farmers declare that the birds do not leave the sea-shore.

[161] Pronounce but do not indite “Krabla”--there is no such written

word as Krabla. The Dictionary gives “að krafla,” to paw or “scrabble;”

it also means to scratch, and perhaps the obtuse agricultural mind has

connected this pastime with the evil for which sulphur is a panacea.

[162] Some travellers call them Makkaluber, and Icelanders write

“Makalupe,” a corruption of Macaluba, famed for air volcanoes, near

Girgenti, itself a corruption of the Arabic “Maklúb.”

[163] The docks of Southampton, built where he sat, have somewhat

stultified the simple wisdom of the old man.

[164] Thus in the Dictionary. Baring-Gould (p. 429), or possibly his

printer, calls it Vell-humall, which would be “gold hop.”

[165] In 1776 Professor Henchel found it “about 200 paces in diameter.”

(See Appendix, “Sulphur in Iceland,” Section I.)

[166] The lay and the succession of the strata so much resembled those

quoted in Mr Vincent’s paper that they need not be repeated here.

[167] As has been seen, I would considerably reduce these figures.

[168] This “banquise,” as the French call it, is said to form a compact

belt extended thirty miles from shore in the Skjálfandifjörð.

[169] It was there found by the late Sir Henry Holland; Dolomieu had

some specimens, but he did not know whence they came.

[170] The Dictionary gives Lá, surf, shallow water along shore; and

hair (Lanugo). I found it extensively used to signify a low place where

water sinks, the Arab’s “Ghadir.”

[171] Depill is a spot or dot; a dog with spots over the eyes,

according to the Dictionary, is also called “Depill.” Cleasby

translates Stein-delfr (mod. Stein-depill) by wagtail, _Motacilla_.

[172] Thverá, the “thwart-water,” from Thver, Germ. Quer, and Eng.

Queer, is generally translated Crooked River, Rivière à travers: the

term is often applied to a tributary which strikes the main stream at a

right angle.

[173] Aðalból is a manor-house, a farm inhabited by its master, opposed

to a tenant farm.

[174] From the verb Kreppa, to cramp, clench. The map gives the name to

the eastern headwaters of the Jökulsá, rising from the Kverk.

[175] The experiments of M. J. M. Ziegler of Winterthür show the drying

power of ice; a difference of 32° per cent. humidity in the glacier air

and in the air of the adjacent plain.

[176] Thus in the dictionaries; but it seems to have another sense in

popular language.

[177] In Chapter XIV. I have given the reasons why the Mý-vatn mines

were not recommended by the Danish engineers.--R. F. B.

[178] Jukes and Geikie, Manual of Geology, 3d edition, p. 55.

[179] Liebig’s Familiar Letters on Chemistry, p. 152.

[180] Ure’s Dict., vol. ii., p. 432.

[181] Simmond’s Dictionary of Trade Products, p. 367; Muspratt’s

Chemistry, vol. i., p. 320.

[182] Liebig’s Letters, p. 149.

[183] Simmond’s Dictionary of Trade Products, p. 351.

[184] See Exports for 1872.

[185] Liebig’s Familiar Letters on Chemistry, p. 150.

[186] See Smee’s My Garden.

[187] Richardson and Watts’ Chem. Tech., 2d edit., 1863, vol. i.,

part iii., pp. 2 and 3. This old calcarelle furnace has been greatly

improved. It must not be described as a “blast-furnace.”

[188] Simmond’s Dict. Trade Products, 1863, art. “Sulphur.”

[189] Quoted _in extenso_, Appendix, Section III.

[190] Henderson’s Iceland, 1818, Introduction, p. 4.

[191] _Ibid._, p. 7.

[192] _Ibid._, vol. i., p. 160.

[193] _Ibid._, p. 176.

[194] Henderson’s Iceland, 1818, vol. i., pp. 166, 167, 170, 171, 173,

174, 177.

[195] S. Baring-Gould’s Iceland, 1863.

[196] Shepherd’s North-West Peninsula of Iceland, 1867, p. 157.

[197] Ure’s Dict. of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, 1860, vol. iii., p.

830.

[198] Dr F. J. Mouat’s Adventures and Researches among the Andaman

Islanders, 1863, p. 169.

[199] Letter of A. de C. Crowe, Esq., 27th June 1872.

[200] Paijkull, pp. 217, 244, 245, 246, 247.

[201] These two items are calculated at excessive and extravagant

rates. The first item (15s. per ton) was supplied by an eminent

shipowner, and the amount of freight is also overstated.

[202] A certain Hr “Thorlákur O. Johnsen,” whom I met in Iceland, wrote

to the _Standard_ (Nov. 16, 1872), and asserted my “entire ignorance”

concerning Iceland generally, and the relationship between Denmark and

Iceland in particular. What his ignorance, or rather dishonesty, must

be, is evident when he states a little further on: “As to the so-called

wisdom of the Danish Government in leasing the mines to strangers,

there can be only one reply, that _all the mines in Iceland, whether of

sulphur or other minerals, belong to Iceland and not to Denmark_.”--R.

F. B.

[203] I presume this to be a clerical error for “Hlíðarnámar”

(Ledge-springs).

[204] The words in italics show the good old Æsopian policy, “dog in

the manger” redivivus. The Icelandic “hand,” when not superintended by

foreigners, is idle and incurious as the native of Unyamwezi: he will

not work, and the work must not be done for him by strangers! In the

Journal I have suggested employment of the natives, who might learn

industry by good example and discipline.--R. F. B.

[205] The words in italics show the “narrowness of the insular mind:”

the idea of £10 per annum being an item of any importance in the

extensive operations which would be required to make these sulphur

diggings pay!--R. F. B.

[206] Iceland is here ignored, perhaps from the jealousy which foresees

a fortunate rival.

[207] These immense fluctuations in the market are probably caused

by the _Phylloxera vastatrix_ now devastating the Continent. Trieste

alone, for instance, has of late years imported as much as twenty

cargoes of 200 tons each (a total of 4000) per annum; and the unground

sulphur sells at about £7, 10s. per ton as in England. The spread of

the disease is likely to cause an increased demand.

[208] In 1864, according to Mr Consul Dennis, the author of Murray’s

“Hand-book of Sicily,” the two most important mines of Girgenti were

“La Crocella” and “Maudarazzi” near Comitine, belonging to Don Ignazio

Genusardi. They yielded annually 140,000 quintals = 10,937½ tons, worth

about £70,000, and gave constant employment to 700 hands (chiefly from

the opposite town of Arragona), at the daily cost of about £60. The

produce was shipped at the Mole of Girgenti, and the road was thronged

day and night at certain seasons with loaded carts and beasts of

burden, chiefly mules.

Caltanissetta, Serra di Falco, on Monte Carano, and St Cutaldo are

villages in the heart of the sulphur district. “The scenery is wild and

stern. The mountains are of rounded forms, always bare, here craggy,

there browned with scorched herbage, and in parts tinged with red,

yellow, and grey, by the heaps of ore and dross at the mouths. Corn

will not thrive in the fumes of sulphur; what little cultivation is to

be seen is generally in the bottoms of the valleys. The hills around St

Cutaldo are burrowed with sulphur mines.”

[209] In a recent report to the Italian Government, Sig. Parodi

estimates that Sicilian sulphur will be exhausted in fifty to sixty

years.

[210] Each _ballata_ weighs 70 rotoli = 122½ lbs. avoir., and two are a

mule-load.

[211] On the northern flank of the range, which, running from

north-north-east to south-south-west, nearly bisects the island. It is

a mean town in the mountains. Licata, the southern port, is nearest to

the central mines.

[212] Her chief exports are fruit, oil, and silk.

[213] “Trust” seems to be the _beau ideal_ of trade where it has not

been tried. I have seen its workings in Africa and in Iceland, and my

experience is that it is a pis aller which gives more trouble than it

is worth.

[214] Here it is not stated whether paper or specie “lire” are meant.

[215] It would be better to state that sulphur costing above £5 per ton

cannot at present compete with pyrites; sold below that price it would

soon drive its rival out of the market.

[216] “Brimstone” in the _Mining Journal_ (September 19, 1874) made

England import in 1872 a total of 50,049 tons (= £336,216), but in 1873

only 45,467 tons (= £299,727).

[217] Büdös is elsewhere described as a pointed cone of trachyte 3745

feet high, a solfatara or volcano, which, though never in actual

eruption, incessantly pours forth streams of sulphuretted hydrogen gas,

and these act as vents for the forces generated in the depths of the

earth.

[218] The following is the analysis of the aluminous earth near Büdös:

Sulphuric acid, . . . 51·59 per cent.

Water and sulphuric clay,} . 3·54 ”

mixed with lime, }

Clay, . . . . . 18·98 ”

Silica,. . . . . 14·00 ”

Lime, . . . . . 9·65 ”

Potash,. . . . . 1·00 ”

End of Project Gutenberg's Ultima Thule; vol. 2/2, by Richard F. Burton