By Fell and Fjord; or, scenes and studies in Iceland ... With illustrations

Preface

. This little book is a record of travels in Iceland, of which the pleasure was greatly enhanced by the saga-lore previ ously acquired, and the legends gathered by the wayside. I am not aware that any other book about Iceland has taken the special line that I have attempted to follow in mine— the connection of the land with the sagas ; and it may there fore assist some of the tourists who now visit the island in increasing numbers to enter more into its peculiar charm of local legend and past literature. These journeys, made in three different years, were full of enjoyment, which increased with the knowledge of the language, and larger accpuaintance with the Icelanders them selves. For much true kindness and hospitality, to which I cannot here do full justice, I take this opportunity of thanking my many friends in the island.

Some chapters relating to our first journey have already appeared in ' Good Words.' The illustrations are woodcuts, or reproductions of pen-and-ink outlines, from my water colour sketches ; and although they have lost with the colour any attractiveness the originals may possess, it is hoped that they may serve to explain the letterpress. NOTE. A few Icelandic words are used without translation, as — a (pronounce as ow in prow), river — as Thjorsa, Thors river Ellida, Ellid river. Bond/!, yeoman, peasant proprietor, but often used of the head of a family even when not a landowner ; hence our word husband — i. e. , hus-bond. Bæ (pronounce by), dwelling. Fjall, fell, mountain. Jokull, glacier. Prcstr, priest or clergyman. Tun, enclosed grass-land round a farm, equivalent to the Scottish town.

Vellir, valley. Icelandic is pronounced as written, with Italian vowel-sounds, besides others peculiar to itself. The consonant Thorn, or th English, and the soft modification of the d, which is pronounced dh, both represented by different characters in Icelandic, are here printed th and d, not to confuse the page. CONTENTS. CHAl*. PA0E I. WHY WE GO THERE, ...... 1 II. ON THE WAY THERE FAROE ISLANDS, ... 4 III. REY'KJAVIK AND THE PONIES, ... . . 13 IV. GEYSIR, ........ 20 V. LOCAL ORIGIN OF ICELANDIC LITERATURE FORMS OF SAGAS, 34 VI. 'LANDNAMABOK' THE 'EDDAs' STURLUNGA WOMEN OF THE SAGAS SAINTS BIOGRAPHIES — MORALITY' MODERN LITERATURE, ...... 41 VII. MOSSFELL HVALFJORD AND ITS LEGENDS REY'KHOLT KALMANSTUNGA — CENTRAL LAVA SURTSHELLIK, . 58 VIII. NORDTUNGA BORGASYSLU — - IIOLTVORDSHEIDE THE NORTHERN COAST, ...... 77 IX.

FISHING IN ICELAND LAXDALE AND ITS SAGAS KVENNA - BREKKA BlAsKOC.AEIIEIDA BACK TO THINGVELLIR, ....... 91 X. RECENT MISFORTUNES IN ICELAND TRADE NEW CON- STITUTION PASTORAL WEALTH CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE, ........ 106 XI. HOUSEKEEPING DINNERS OUR PARTY SOCIETY MANNERS LANGUAGE, . . . . . ] 14 XII. KRISUVIK SULPHUR-MINES, . . . . .122 XIII. VATNSLEYSI KIRKJUVOGR AND REYKJANES AURORA HOME AGAIN HINTS TO TRaVVELLERS, . . CONTENTS. VIIIVNR XIV. A JOURNEY IN 1878 ULFJLOTSVATN GEYSIR, ANOTHER ERUPTION GULLFOSS 1IUNI THJORSA STORU VELLIR, ....-••• 138 XV. HECLA NEW VOLCANOES KIRKJUBAE FLJOTSLID, . 149 XVI. MARKARFLJOT RIVER THORSMARK FLOODS AND FORDS, . . . . • ■ • .157 XYir. OVER MARKARFLJOT NJAl's COUNTRY FLOA EYRA BAKKI TO REYKJAVIK, . . . . .169 XVIII. HVALFJORD BORGARFJORD, ..... 178 XIX. EGIL AT BORGARFJORD, ...... 185 XX.

STAFHOLT REYKHOLT SNORRI STURLASON AND HIS FATE GILSBAKKI I'ASS OF OK BENIGHTED, . 196 XXI. THINGVELLIR IN FORMER DAY'S THE TALK OF THE MAIDENS SOLITUDES BESSERSTAD DOGS KRISU- VIK HOME AGAIN, ...... 206 FAROES TO AKUREYREI STEINSTADR OVER OXNADAL XXII, HEATH MIKLABÆ AND ITS GHOST SORCERERS HIDDEN TREASURES THE SPECTRE LOVER, . . 222 XXIII. CHURCH SERVICES CLERGY MAGISTRATES DRINK IN ICELAND AND NORWAY TOBACCO BEAUTY, . . 238 XXIV. TO BAKKASTADR TO THE HUNAFJORD THINGEY'RI VATZDALE, ....... 247 XXV. LEGENDS OF VATZDALE INGMUNDR THE OLD HAL FRED THE SKALD, ...... 255 XXVI. OVER GRIMSTUNGAHEIDE TO KALMUNSTUNGA VARMA LEIK BENIGHTED MOSSFELL, .... 264 XXVII. EXCURSION TO KEYKJADAL AND EY'RABAKKI, . . 276 ■; CHAPTEE I. WHY WE GO THEEE. VERY year a few people go now to Iceland for their summer holidays ; they are generally drawn there by one of three attractions — the fishing, the geol ogy, or the old literature.

It was the literature that brought me — the vivid Sagas which set the men and women of the past before us as if we had known them our selves, " offering the truth of them," to quote Carlyle, " as if seen in their real lineaments by some marvellous opening across the black strata of the ages." Then there is the language, a dead one now in its old Norwegian home, but the living speech in Iceland still, giving the island the sort of interest for the student of old Norse that classical scholars would feel if some lonely island could be found where the Greek of Pericles or the Latin of Augustus was still the common speech. All this had for years invested Iceland in my mind with such a halo of romance, that it is high praise of the country to say that the reality proved equal to the expectation.

A As to the other attractions — and perhaps those who have not a good working enthusiasm for at least one of the three, should avoid Iceland — the salmon and trout fishing is sometimes very good. It is said to have fallen off of late, especially in dry seasons, though it was excellent again last year (1881). But it will soon deteriorate unless the Icelanders are roused to the necessity of preserving better, attending to close seasons, and checking the take of fish in boxes and stake-nets at the mouths of some of the rivers. There is amusing bird-shooting for those who like to go over a great deal of ground, and do not care to make big bags. There is, however, no ground game, and no large game except reindeer, which are exceedingly difficult to kill. Now for the third attraction. Intending travellers often ask if there is fine scenery in Iceland.

Yes, emphatically, for geolo gists ; but as regards others, it is difficult to say, for in more than most cases the answer depends on taste. There will be time on the voyage to appreciate the spirit of the bold mariners who first crossed these waves, without charts or compass, guided only by their brave instincts and the midnight stars, and to realise what pluck and manhood is inferred by their choice of a home. The modern Icelanders have ratified that choice. They love their island, but it seems wonderful that they dare to stay in that volcanic waste, north of the forests, north of the corn, where only the hardy grasses clothe a fraction of the soil, — a little handful of people in constant battle with the ele ments. How can they face the separation of that stormy sea, the solitude of the winter, the darkness, the cruel frosts, the ter rible tempests ?

Those first settlers who chose the land were men indeed — they feared none of these things if they had but liberty ; and the stories of their voyages and wars, their home life and conversations, show them as above all strong — skorungr, they are constantly styled, a word meaning stirring, dominant, or high-spirited. Defying the rude weather, the wild country, and each other, they lived their lives thoroughly, even brilliantly and gaily ; they could not afford, like the people of the South, to rest and dream, and thus tend to become indolent and corrupt. WHY WE GO THERE. 3 Even the passing traveller shares something of that cheery defiance of grim surroundings as he rides along the almost trackless ways that have yet been trodden by so many generations. And the scenery, though often far from beautiful, and sometimes downright ugly, is at least ' exciting and singular, and full of interest to geologists.

There are valleys to be traversed, many miles long, all marsh-lands ; there are mountains to be crossed, des titute of any scrap of wholesome vegetation, with only occasional patches of moss of an unnaturally vivid green to accentuate the dark colours of the background ; there are stretches of country, all black fissured lava, as far as the eye can see ; there are cold black bogs, and hot blue bogs, ice - laden rivers, and boiling streams. All this is not pretty, but it is stimulating. There is something more sad and pathetic in the scenery the Icelanders themselves most admire. The smooth patches of cultivated meadow-land, the little lonely houses in the wilderness of marsh-land or barren hills, the gardens where a few vegetables and hardy flowers are tenderly shielded from the storms, the sheepfolds by the farms, the stir of human life round the home steads, the simple industries surrounded by the outside formless chaos.

But the scenery is in some parts truly beautiful, in the grand blending of mountain and sea views up the fjords : and the sun, which in the South is sometimes an enemy, in the North is always a friend. All the long summer day it causes the wild landscape to pass from charm to charm ; everything rejoices in the perpetual sunshine ; the air is crystal clear, the colouring intense beyond description. No wonder that Frey was a favourite deity here in old days ; no wonder that they praised the sun in Iceland— Oh Frey in the South lands, How dread is thine ire ! " Oh Frey in the North lands, Thou sweetest of powers, Thou lord of the death-bow, Thine arrows are fire. Thy breath on the mountains Turns ice into flowers. Thy light touch is madness, Thy warm kiss is death, Thy smile on the marshes The pestilence' breath." Thy smile on the meadows Is life to the fold, Thy touch on the maid's hair Turns flaxen to gold.

Chapter II. On The Way There

— FAROE ISLANDS. Early in June 1875 we sailed from Leith on a Wednesday at noon, for the first time bound for Iceland. My friend and I were full of joyous anticipations as we slipped down the Firth of Forth in an oily calm. Let those hardy mariners who are used to the " roaring forties," and know all the humours of the sea in long voyages, excuse us for writing down some of the details of our little voyage ; for, though not the most unpleasant, it was the worst we ever had. Happily ours is not a common experience on this passage. All through the first night the calm lasted, though I did not like the look of the weather, the white light, the occasional fitful puffs that wrinkled the sea, and the thickness that gathered and grew around us. We were ten passengers, English and Icelanders, in the little steamer, only about 250 tons burden.

She has now laid her iron bones somewhere in the sea, so no one need be warned against her more. None of the ship's company had ever been to Iceland before. We especially liked the Steward, who, though he was but a shrimp of a boy, with a sweet treble voice for singing, deserves a capital letter ; for as Steward, he was a grave and sharp official, and quite up to his business. By Thursday morning we were steaming up the Pentland Firth near the red wall of cliffs, up which the foam was beginning to spring, and flash ominously. The curious swirl of water that seems generally — FAROE ISLANDS. 5 churning there was working more than usual, scuds of rain swept from the thick weather to the east, and heavier blasts of wind drove the seas up behind us, till by the time we had cleared the Orkneys, the decks were all swimming, and very dirty weather had set in.

We ought, I believe, in prudence to have stopped at Thurso, or at least run past Faroe — for all could see that a south easterly gale was brewing ; but some Danes had previously bar gained to be landed at Suderoe in Faroe, for a fabulous bribe, so away we toiled in search of this island. On Friday it blew worse — no observations could be taken; but after dark we came upon shoaling water, and no doubt we had reached the southern point of the island. But there was no gleam of light in the sky, nor beacon on the land. Within the lighted cabin, which was rolling about as if a giant were using it as a dice-box, I watched the officers of the ship poring over the chart with anxious faces, and the lines of Allingham's sea-song ran dismally in my mind — Now bring the chart, the doleful chart ; See where these mountains meet — The clouds are thick around their head, The mists around their feet.

" The captain said at last, " Well, though we have got hold of the land, I can't tell which side of the point we are on, so I shall just put her head to the sea." It is very disagreeable to have her head put to butt at such a sea. How she shrieked and wrestled and tossed, as hour by hour the fury of the gale increased, and with it the "deaf'ning clamours," that still do not hinder sleep, till in the middle of the night a noise beyond noises roused me ! Something broke open the cuddy-door, and tore through into my little state cabin with a rush and a roar ; a great wave had come in and filled the lower berth. After the wave came the captain, saying, " No danger, ladies and gentlemen — merely a blunder in the steering." Then came two men with swabs and buckets and a light, showing me the black water swaying about, that never left my cabin-floor again.

" Well, I call this labour in vain," said one. "You wouldn't have her water-logged?" said the other. I fell into a not cheering conversation with one sailor who came from my own county. " You see, ma'am, she was built for the trade between Kirkcaldy and London, and you know what that is : she was never meant for these seas." And these words recurred in the grim grey early dawn, when I thought that the port-hole which opened into my berth ought surely to have had a dead-light ; it went under water at every roll for quite an appreciable time, leaving me in darkness, to which succeeded an awful view of grey mountain waves, with foam like a drifting snowstorm whizzing past — and this, too, in a deck cabin. It became too dreary, so I contrived to jump over the water in the cabin, and make a hasty toilet in the empty saloon.

On looking out at the door, it seemed as if the waist of the ship was a river, rushing alternately to starboard and port, and foaming against the masts and hatchways. In front a tall grey wave rose above the bridge, and the steamer climbed straining up, and then rushed down into a shadowed valley on the other side. I turned away remarking, " And she was built for the trade between Kirkcaldy and London !" " And I wish we were trading there," said a sailor. However, the captain told me she was holding her own — which was something to know, whatever was her own. But it was sad to think that all this time we were going, if at all, the wrong way. They got a sort of observation out of a brighter spot in the clouds, as it seemed to me, and found we were sixty miles out of our course already ; but we could not put about, and were thankful for sea-room.

At night, when we did put about, we were duly warned, and yet, in spite of all precautions, I was jerked off the sofa on the transom, where I had taken refuge from my flooded cabin. But when we had a course our spirits rose, and all seemed pleasant ; we admired the great rollers, called here Spanish waves, and contrived to laugh at our numerous discomforts, except on that fatal day when the salt water leapt into both the tea and the soup. Our meals were like games at ball ; for in spite of guards and fiddles, everything was flying. The swinging tray swun« things off. Soup or tea had not a chance except in the hand ; — FAROE ISLANDS. 7 bottles were only safe in the pocket ; and meat slipped off the dishes. There were occasional rifts of blue in the stormy clouds when we sighted to the south-east the gaunt blue precipices of the southern Faroes.

The islands rose in stupendous cliffs, their steadfast lines contrasting grandly with the changing undulating billows which broke high on their sides. We advanced between two mountain-chains, separated by a stormy gulf, where rose the two great rocks called Store and Lille Dimon. Store Dimon is a great resort of puffins — about 5000 are taken there annually. They say a basket of eggs can be let down straight from the top to the sea, 1500 feet below ; and yet there are inhabitants, and a clergyman visits them once a-year. His flock pull him up by ropes, the only mode of access. On Lille Dimon there are only four-legged sheep. The Faroese cliffs, though smooth below, are often fantastic above, broken into what the natives call troll kona fingers (troll wife's fingers) which our sailors call devil's thumbs.

One such appeared at first like a gigantic black monk, with arms stretched out as if in blessing; but as we advanced he lost grace, and be came huge, uncouth, and threatening — a good emblem of the Dominican order, which began with theological learning, and developed the Inquisition. When we swung round the point into Hvalbae Bay on Suderoe, we were in the so-called garden of the Faroes. There was a little wooden village dotted irregularly over the steep shore, whence the mountain rose abruptly in grassy slopes to the basaltic cliffs above. There were waterfalls and little streams, and a few fields of rye. Here are coal-fields also, which our Danish passenger meant to work ; but they lie inconveniently high up the hillside, unless, indeed, the coal could be lowered down the cliff straight to the sea.

There were several fishing-smacks in the offing ; and kindly-looking brown-clad inhabitants came down to welcome us. It all looked sweet and peaceful to us storm-tossed mariners, especially when lighted by a gleam of sun. We met some Kentish fishermen, however, who evidently did not admire the country. " Look at the apples and pears ! " they said ; " see the crops ! " and then with sudden pathos, " Oh, ma'am, can you tell us, are the cherries ripe yet at home?" The captain allowed us one hour ashore ; and an amiable man, who knew a little English, came forward, took us to his house, gave us coffee and Muscat wine and biscuits, showed us the tidy church and well-furnished store, and did the honours with a simple courtesy that quite pleased us. This island is not without old ro mantic legends, many of which cluster round Sigmundur Brettisson, a real hero, a converted sea-king, who imposed Christianity on the islanders at the sword's point.

After many ad ventures he was assault ed by some traitors in his castle, on an island about four miles out to sea ; but he escaped through the sea caverns and swam all the way to this island, where, unluckily, he was found resting on the sea-weed by some thralls, who slew him for his golden bracelets. His story has lately been retold in a poem, written in a kind of modern Icelandic or archaic Danish which some Norwegians are trying to revive ; a useless effort — for one may as well try to stop the current of a river as of a language. It was very rough still when we steamed away to sea ; but as we sat on the now dried quarter-deck, holding by a rope looped to the mast, we thoroughly enjoyed the sailing and the view of the islands till they sank behind the stormy horizon. All went pleasantly on the following day ; and the day after that, when I came on deck in the early morning, I found the sun was shining : the sea, though still high, was bright blue, and before us rose Iceland.

There was a peculiar effect of largeness in the — FAROE ISLANDS. 9 view, — the sky was so transparent, and the land on such a big scale that the whole scene was sublime in its simplicity, and in the contrast between the driving Atlantic billows in the foreground, and the repose of the huge mountain-masses of eternal ice and snow beyond. These mountains rose in long rounded forms and shone with the glitter of ice : they formed part of the great glacier system of the Vatna and Oraefja Jokull. As we drew nearer, the blue shadow below the ice resolved itself into high black cliffs half veiled by the leaping foam of the sea, while here and there we could perceive the opening of a dark-green valley leading inland, and straight before us a huge square rock called Ingolf's Head stood conspicuously out side a narrow bay.

We were a good deal to the eastward of the point usually first made, which was, however, very satisfactory to those who had read the Sagas. Ingolf shofdi, or Ingolf's Head, was the first point of land sighted by Ingolf, the earliest settler in the island, and it was there also that the gallant Kari, the avenger of Burnt Njal, was wrecked close by the home of Flosi the Burner. Kari went up to his house, uncertain as to his recep tion ; but although they had been for years occupied in killing each other's relations, the claims of hospitality were paramount, and from that day they became the best of friends. The weather was clear and bright, and it was most enjoyable coasting along the shore, past the great wastes of the Vatna Jokull which even then were being ascended by the only persons who have ever explored them — Mr Watts, a member of the Alpine Club, and six Icelanders ; past the great arched rocks of Dyrholar or Portland, and the cliffs under the Ejarfjall Jokull, where we could see the waterfalls connecting the upper snows with dark-green valleys, scattered here and there with mounds like mole-hills, which we were told were houses.

Towards evening we passed the low lands where the Markerfljot river runs by several foaming channels into the sea — the scene of the Saga of Burnt Njal. On the other side the Westmanna Islands rose in huge square cliffs out of the sea, and beyond them whales were spouting. Meanwhile, as night drew on, the sky was again breaking into windy flaws ; more water than usual came on deck, and the coast and the islands were lost in drift. The strong current that runs round Iceland met the sea and roused it into foam, and then the south-easter tore down upon us again. It was like the Pastoral Symphony, — peasants dance, and shepherds pipe sweet music, till a few chords break it with threatening significance, then suddenly the storm-music rolls up terrible and overwhelming. The sea seemed to me quite unnatural, sloping slightly upwards on one side and downwards on the other till lost in scud ; it was all tilted to one side rather than wavy, a slope that foamed like boiling water.

We knew the point of Eeykjanes headed us, and that beyond the fairway round it, a terrible line of reefs ran twenty miles out to sea — but we could see nothing. No sailor on board had ever been there before, and there are no lights on the coast, though if there had been, I believe we could not have seen them two miles off. We could, however, only go on as we were ; we tried to lay to, but made very bad weather of that. There was a little shelter from the projection of the quarter deck at the cuddy-door, and there, clinging to an iron railing, it was interesting to watch the furious sea, and the sea-birds that wheeled screaming over our deck. As they came driving into sudden lamp-light out of the darkness, one excused them for not respecting our deck ; for it was almost like the outer sea, black water broken into foam, the stinging foam that drenched us all.

Depressing things began to occirr. The little steward bustled up, apparently in command of two or three seamen, and carried off the cabin mattresses forward. " Is there water in the engine room ? " I asked despondingly. " Oh no, ma'am, only a little com ing down the fore-hatchway." There was water in the hold, as we afterwards found when we unpacked our trunks. Then a — FAROE ISLANDS. ship's officer whispered to one of the gentlemen something be ginning with, " Don't tell the ladies," and of course the ladies instantly wished to know everything ; but it was only what was plain enough, that we had to drive on, and had to hit the right channel, and did not know exactly where it was. Happily the little steamer behaved bravely, and did not break her screw propeller till the next voyage ; but the motion was excessive, and at last the swinging cabin-lamp, the last breakable thing, smashed to pieces and left the cabin in darkness ; and the captain actually wished to shut up the ladies in that darkness !

But we felt ourselves better off where we were, and would not go ; and indeed, though the tension of nerves was great, it was not wholly disagreeable. I can still see, in the first glimmer of morning, or rather of lighter weather,- for there was no night, the face of a young Icelandic girl, fair against the darkness, with floating golden hair, as tranquil as the figure-head of a ship, or as any of her sea-roving ancestors. And at last an Icelandic gentleman, who had been all night on the look-out with the captain, swung down from the bridge, and ran up to tell us, with a voice of joyous congratulation, that he had seen the land close by — had recognised a landmark, and knew how to steer. By 3 a.m. all anxiety was over — wind and sea abated as the tide went down ; and moreover we saw, blessed sight, a schooner before us in the fairway — the first ship since Faroe.

I went into the engine house to dry myself, and condole with a weary engineer, who wanted to know if we were near a port, and began again to suggest we ought to have been coasting between Kirkcaldy and London ; but I would hear no more of that. We tumbled thank fully into wet berths, and slept till late morning, when we woke near Keykjavik, just a week out from Leith. We were rolling still in the swell, but in an arm of the sea running up to the left under fine mountains. The morning was brilliant, and the colouring of sea and land was intensely vivid. Reykjavik lay to the right. It was like a small Norwegian town, a cluster of black wooden houses scattered irregularly along the shore and up a rising bank. Behind it lay a black flat, bounded by a fine range of distant volcanic hills — the sul phur-mountains of Krisuvik.

To the left the purple mountains trended westward, till sixty miles away the snows of the last of the range, Snæfell Jokull, glimmered like a daylit moon. There is no pier or innerharbour at Reykjavik, only some wood en jetties, but usually there is a fair amount of shipping in the fine roadstead. We were soon surrounded by small boats, and people glad to welcome us in safety ; for there had been a gale in Ice land heavier than any that had been experienced since mid winter — most unwonted weather for June. Bad passages are, however, like bad dreams when one awakes, they are forgotten on arrival, or, at least, not remembered so as to deter people from going to sea again. We landed, — and I may mention as characteristic, that as our boatman had to carry our numerous packages a long way up to our lodging, I paid the boy what seemed to me about enough ; but meeting the man a few days later, he insisted on returning to me one-third of the fee, as it was too much.

The next agreeable trait which met us was the hospitality. We were asked everywhere to coffee, to dinner, to tea, both by people to whom we had introductions and others, and we were never a day on our own resources all the first week we spent at Reykjavik. But such things belong to pre-guide book days, and will vanish before the advance of the tourist.

Chapter III. Reykjavik And The Ponies

There are three streets in Reykjavik parallel to the shore, and one leading up inland at each extremity of the town ; these are nicely gravelled, and neatly kept. There is also a square, with grass in the centre, in the middle of which stands a fine statue of Thorwaldsen, the only ornament of the town. The rest of it is all irregular, houses dotted about by twos and threes over a considerable space of country. The public buildings consist of an ugly salmon-coloured church they call the cathedral — a plain whitewashed house for the governor — and a larger one, salmon-coloured again, for the college. Most of the houses are of timber painted black, picked out with white ; many stand in gardens among hardy flowers, or, with a complete disregard for appearances, turnips and potatoes. How I longed often to do a little gardening, and square things up ! for the Icelanders have no ideas about out-of-doors amenity.