A Summer in Iceland ... Translated by M. R. Barnard. ... Illustrated

Preface

. Iceland and the Icelanders are comparatively but little known to us. Those of our countrymen who have visited the island have, from their inability to speak the language, to a great extent, been precluded from acquiring that intimate acquaintance with the manners, and the public and private life of the inhabitants, which a knowledge of the vernacular alone can ensure. It occurred to me, therefore, that by translating "A Summer in Iceland," the author of which seems to have made it his business to pass nothing by unobserved, I might be doing good service ; and if I have only succeeded in rendering it in a style as readable and agreeable as is the case in the original, the many pleasant hours I have passed in imagination with the Author on the snow-clad " Jokuls " and the sandy " heiiSi " of Iceland will not have been thrown away.

M. E. B. 1st June, 1868. P.S. — In order to render the volume more complete, I have appended a list of the Fauna and Botany of the country, from Gaimard's voluminous work. The woodcuts, I should state, are the same which are used in the original, and were executed in Sweden. CONTENTS. CHAPTEB I. PAGE Voyage from Copenhagen to Iceland — Great Auk — Ice-mountains — Eeykjavik — Description of Town — Icelandic Officials — Schools — Clergy — Newspapers — Mode of Travelling — An Icelandic House — A Dilemma- Style of Building — A Parsonage — Internal Arrangement of Houses — Stsange Fuel — Stables — Agriculture — Mode of Salutation — Mount Esja — National Costume — Everyday Dress— Physical Appearance and the Darwinian Theory — Icelanders warm-blooded — Icelandic Shoemakers . 1

Chapter II

Leave Reykjavik — Lava Streams — An unpleasant Ride — Thunder and its Effects — Guides — Letters of Recommendation — Fording a River — View of Hekla — A Paradise — Position of Clergy — Their Income— Similarity between Icelandic and Swedish Accent — Hrutshellir — Skogafoss — Solheima- Jokul — Jokul Floods — 1>rasi and Lo.mundr — Dyrholarey or Portland — A Patent Saddle — Viksdalr — Curious Rock Formations — The Volcano Katla — Its Eruptions — The Sea becomes Land — Valleys filled up — View from Mj'rdals-Jokul . — Myrdalssandr — Passage over the Kuda — Icelandic Churches — An Epitaph — Strange Incident — A Proselyte — Magnus Eiriksson, the Colenso of Iceland — Icelandic Intolerance — A Man eaten up by Horses .46 CHAPTER HI. Skaptar Volcano — Eruption in 1783 — A River dried up — Enormous Lava Stream — Fearful Devastations — Consequences of the Eruption — Pestilence among Animals and Men— New Rivers formed —Bread and Butter — A Fairy Tale — Icelandic Fare — The Meaning ofthe word "Beg" — Snuff Horns and Powder Flas3ks — Remarks on Brandy Imports — Strange Advertisement—Articles of Import — Reppstyrer or Constable — A Farmhouse in the Eastern Districts — Fording Places — Skeidarar-.TSkul — Progressive Motion of Glaciers — Iceland formerly a "Wooded Country — Skeidararsandr — Svinafells-Jolml — Crevices — Danger of falling into them — Glaciers melting on the Surface — Oræfa- Jokul and Volcano — Eruption in 1727 described — Terrific Results — Great Mortality — Journey Continued — Bird Rocks — Bird-catching in the Færoe Islands — Great Dimon — Insect Powder — Its Blessings — Mercantile Caravans — Icelandic Whip . . . .92 CONTENTS.

VIII 256 CHAPTEB IV. PAGE Volcanic Systems— Basaltic Formations— Tufa— Geological Age of Iceland— A Dog on Horseback— Bemarks on Dogs— Tape-worms— Mountain Passes —Dangerous Mountain Excursions— fioadside Flowers— Sira Bjarni and his Eider Ducks— Fishery and the Frenchmen— Icelanders not a race of Sailors— French Companies— Eider Down— A Wooden House— Lonsheioi —Absence of Woodland not depressing— A Natural Crinoline— Wages of Guides— Price of Horses— Hippophagy— Eecipe for a good Complexion — A Bishop with Nine Hundred Children — Bemarks on Birds — Plants . 142 CHAPTEE V. The Mineralogy of Iceland — Zeolites — Tho Darwinian Theory again — Bsilandstindr — Mountain Guides— Fissures and Mountain Slips— Mountain Formations — Valleys — Glacial Age — Phenomenon of Friction — Lava from the Glacial Age — The Glacial Age and the Fjords — Expedition to Greenland — Drift Ice — Discovery of Greenland — Discovery of America due to Iceland— Traits of Character — Glorious Sunsets— Rey Sarf j ur5r — Icelandic Spar — " Lausna" Stone — Mountain Passes — Legend of Hrutafjarftarhals — Whale Fisheries — Novel Harpoon — A whole Nation fed by a Whale — Fishery of the Færoe Islands — HaskerJSingr — A New Prophet in the WTiale's Belly — Delicacies of the Sea — Mode of Preserving Fish — Fresh-water Fish 178 CHAPTEB VI.

Surturbrandr — Its Origin — Snow Fonds — Journey over the HeiSi — Alftaviksfjall — Hvitserkr — Sheep-farming and Agriculture — From HjaltastaSr to VopnafjbrSr — An Adventure — Passage across JokulsS. — Curious way of Crossing a River — Basaltic Columns — Grimssta35ir— Peasant Girls on Horseback — JokuM, in Axafirdi — Reykjahlid — Krafla — Sulphur Springs — Mud Springs — Geysirs — Journey to Htisavik — Return to Reykjahlid — Volcanic Crater "Cauldron" — HerSubreiS — Solfataras — Excursion on a Lava Stream — Volcanic Craters of Lcirhnilkr — Eruptions of 1724-1730 . — Myvatn or "Mosquito Lake" — Reindeer ...... 216 CHAPTEB VII. From Beykjahlid to Akureyri — Akureyri — Medical Staff — Homœopathy — Epidemics — Icelanders and Scandinavianism — Emigration to Brazil — Iceland "The Best Land under the Sun" — Wood-carving — Painting — Icelandic Foxes — Tales about Foxes — Catching Ptarmigan — Hot-springs of Beykir — A Night-Bide over the HeiSi — A Night under the Open Sky — Storisandur — SurtsheUir — Its Origin — Legend of SurtshelBr — Geitlands-jokul — Legend of Throndalr — Attempts to re-discover it — Cracks in a Lava Stream — Almannagja — Pre-historic Lava Stream — Beturn to Eeykjavik .

CONTENTS. IX 316 CHAPTEB VIII. PAGE Discovery of Iceland — Colonisation of the Country — Political Divisions — Ancient Laws — Lost Independence — Iceland and Denmark — Iceland under the Norwegian Kings — Calmar Union — What country is Iceland ? — Financial Matters — Iceland's Decadence — Monopoly : Its Effects — Free Trade : Its Happy Besults — Brandy Imports — A Banquet — The Dessert . 285 CHAPTEB IX. Days of the Week— tingvalla Church — Laugardalr — Subaqueous Bridge — The Geysir System — Great Geysir — Strokkr — Eruptions of Strokkr — Subterranean Noises — Origin of Geysirs — The Geysir not of great Date — A Night by the Geysir — Journey to Hekla — Hekla — Eruption in 1766 — Eruption in 1845 — Premonitory Symptoms — First Effects — Showers of Ashes — Continuation of Eruption — Lava Stream — Cessation of Eruption — Beturn to Eeykjavik— From Eyrarbakki to Krisuvik — Dangerous Coast — Shipwrecks — Oil on the Waters — Sulphur Springs at Krisuvik — Farewell to Iceland ............. b LIST OF PLATES.

SkoGAEOSS Frontispiece. PAGE Dyrholarey, or Portland 71 Drying Fish 214 Crossing a Riyer 229 ALMANNAGji. 283 Hekla ICELANDIC PRONUNCIATION. _. is pronounced like ow æ „ „ ai in said. it „ -.i yed ei " " " I Dipthong. 6 „ „ ou. F B u „ „ u in fool. au „ „ eui 8 „ d pronounced soft. fl, fu „ „ bl, bn h „ „ aspirated. U „ „ dl nn „ „ dn j> „ „ th in the. WEIGHTS (Danish). Thc Danish pound is equal to 1-jV lbs. English avoirdupois. MONEY (Danish). s. d. 1 skilling is equal to about 0 j English 1 mark „ „ 0 4} „ 1 rix-dollar „ „ 2 3 „ 1 Sp. dollar „ „ 4 6 „ MEASURES. The Danish foot is 12s- English inches. The Danish mile equals 8,244 English yards, or 4J English miles and 330 yards. Fifteen geographical miles (Danish) equal one degree. N.B. — English measurement is used throughout, unless when the reverse is expressly stated.

LIST OF WOBDS USED. Amtmand, deputy governor; dalr, -valley ; fjord, firth or fjord ; fjeld, mountain; fljot, river; foss, waters 'all ; hraun, lava stream ; hei8i, mountain road ; hreppstiori, constable, bailiff; hver, boiling spring ; landfoged, steward; syssel, sher iff dom ; sysselmand, sheriff; sira, reverend; surturbrandr, lignite, mineralized wood ; tun, enclosed fields round a farmhouse ; bær, house ; vatn, lake; jokul, ice mountain; skredjokul, glacier (N.B. — This word cannot be properly translated into English) ; holm, rocky island ; wadmel, coarse homespun cloth. i-

CHAPTER I.

Voyage from Copenhagen to Iceland — Great Auk — Ice-mountains — Eeykjavik — Description of Town — Icelandic Officials — Schools— Clergy — Newspapers — Mode of Travelling— An Icelandic House — A Dilemma— Style of Building — A Barsonage — Internal Arrangement of Houses — Strange Fuel — Stables — Agriculture — Mode of Salutation — Mount Esja — National Dress — Everyday Dress — Physical Appearance and the Darwinian Theory — Icelanders warm-blooded — Icelandic Shoemakers. CELAND is a country abounding with legends and myths, which tradition and the hand of nature have each done their part in recording. Her people, an offshoot of the Scandinavian family (who have maintained their ancient language and customs, though of course tempered by the influence' of Christianity and the long lapse of time, and in whose breast the love of liberty still burns as brightly as of old), though few in number, occupy a place among the enlightened families of the world ; B while hei* Jokulls, or ice mountains, her warm springs, her volcanoes and streams of lava, her sandy plains and rapid rivers — the mighty works of Nature — afford an inexhaustible field for wonderment and for investigation.

Iceland is truly a land of reminiscences, where well-nigh every spot has its history, written by the hand of man. But besides this it is an open book of Nature, a country where the formation and trans formation of the earth's crust take place on so grand a scale, that the lapse of even a few years is often sufficient to make the effects of this transforming power evident to the attentive observer. And this circumstance is not without importance to the scientific investigator ; for that language must needs be far easier to interpret where the same person is enabled to read both its alphabet and its written words, than where one cen tury can only decipher the former, and has to leave it to a succeeding age to arrange the letters in an intelligible form. In the investigation of science, therefore, Iceland is a country of vast importance; while to the inhabitant of Northern Europe she is allied by family ties, — a sister country, with whom one fain would cultivate a more intimate acquaintance.

When I made up my mind to travel in Iceland, in the summer of 1865, my friends at home asked me, why I did not rather bend my steps towards Italy ? I was free to choose, and I do not doubt that had I visited the land "Where the flower ofthe orange blows," I should have returned from my trip with mingled feelings of admiration and regret ; but my summer in Iceland afforded me so much enjoyment in the contemplation of its beautiful and instructive scenery, and in the intercourse I had there with so many amiable individuals, that I should have bitterly repented had I permitted the sirens of the south to tempt me, instead of THE ICELANDER AND THE ARAB. 3 obeying that magnetic impulse that attracted my aspirations and longings towards the north. But still, in a certain respect, a trip to Iceland is an adventurous one ; and it is essential to keep one's eyes open to the instructive lessons the rugged soil is capable of imparting, if one would not be wearied by the monotony of its desert tracts, the nakedness of its fjelds and herSi (moors or mountain roads), the multiplicity of its foaming rivers, and, not the least, by the difficulties that beset the traveller on his journey.

Often and often, during the lonely hours that I have passed in riding over those barren tracts, where not even a blade of grass served to remind one of an animated nature, have I thought of the Arabs of the Desert, with whose mode of life, indeed, the Icelander's bears some resemblance ; for, with both of these the horse i3 their trusty companion. The latter can scarce go a single step without his horse ; and, should this fail him, his life is placed in peril. It must carry him over long and barren wastes, where hardly a handful of grass is to be seen wherewith to appease its hunger ; and yet the Icelandic horse has one great advantage over its Arabian congener — it never lacks water ! In the following pages it shall be my aim to give the reader a true and faithful sketch of the scenery, the character of the people, their customs and manners, while I shall cursorily touch on the political and mercantile relations of the country.

I may as well mention in this place that my principal object in visiting Iceland was for scientific purposes ; and more especially did I desire to cultivate my studies in mineralogy and geology — branches of science in which that country is so rich. In the month of January, then, 1865, I left home for Copen hagen. This city is, unquestionably, the best resort for any one who purposes travelling in Iceland, and who desires to gain all the information he can previously to setting out on his b2 journey. There he will find several Icelanders, who may be said to represent the intelligence of their country ; there, too, he will be able to make the acquaintance of a gentleman who possesses a most intimate acquaintance with the country — I refer to Professor Steenstrup ; and, lastly, he will find there a rich collection of natural objects in the University Museum, which will prove of the greatest possible service to him in the pursuance of his scientific researches.

The harbour of Copenhagen had been so blocked up with ice in the spring of this year, that the steamer which ought to have sailed on the 1st of March, and which usually runs six times during the season, to and fro, between Iceland and the Danish capital, could not set out till the beginning of April. It had not, however, been my intention to go by her, as her destination was Reykjavik, on the south-west of the island, for I had purposed taking a passage in a merchant vessel bound for the eastern coast ; and my reason was, that this part of the island is the most interesting in a mineralogical point of view, while, as regards its geology, it has been less explored than any other portion of the country. But a few days before this ship was to sail I learnt that a Danish vessel of war was on the point of leaving for Iceland, and I therefore sought and obtained permission to avail myself of this more comfortable and agreeable mode of travelling.

The name of the vessel was the Fylla, a screw schooner, mounting three guns, and with a crew of seventy men. We left Copenhagen on the 4th of May, and I fully expected that we should reach our destination in ten or twelve days, as the mail-boat Arcturus, though touching at Scotland and the Færoe Islands, usually takes a fortnight on her passage ; but fate willed it otherwise, and for three long weeks we were tossed about on the North Sea before setting foot once more LIFE ON BOARD. 5 upon land. For though the Fylla was a screw steamer of 150-horse power, yet her supply of coals was limited, and we therefore had to sail the greater portion of the way, and, as the wind was generally against us, we had to remain longer on the sea than was altogether in accordance with my wishes at least. We encountered our first storm off the Norwegian coast, and many a pale face on board bore witness to the disagreeable feelings of the infier man, caused by the rough usage of the boisterous Skager-rack.

Storm number two met us as we were passing a narrow sound between Fair Hill and the Shetlands, and drove us half-way back across the sea towards Norway ; and, lastly, after encountering a great deal of rough weather, storm number three — the most violent of all — assailed us on the last day of our passage. I say the last, for I had calculated upon eating my dinner that same evening in Reykjavik. It drove us far to the south ; I do not know to what point in the Atlantic. The sea was so heavy that we often went under it as well as over it. I lay in my hammock in a little cabin, which— that is to say the hammock — kept banging up against the sides, and of course dispersed my pleasant dreams about land a tout prix ; while to add to my comfort, the salt water poured down through the skylight and drenched me as I lay, and wetted ail my clothes through and through.

It was, indeed, a most uncomfortable night ! I need not say much about life on board ship. It is pretty much the same everywhere, I suppose. Of course the usual degree of excitement was got up when a whale passed close by us, blowing and puffing like a steam-engine ; or when one of the hens flew overboard and was fished up again ; or when a vessel came in sight, which, I may state, is rather an exceptional occurrence between the Shetlands and Iceland. Certainly a good many vessels, schooners and smacks, go to Iceland every year from Copenhagen, Bornholm, Norway, and England, but they sail mostly at different times, and are bound to different ports. There are about twenty ports and mercantile establishments of different degrees of importance in Iceland ; in some of them, especially in Reykjavik and Akureyri, there are a good many resident merchants.

Vessels, therefore, have different places of destination, so that although there are annually a good many craft bound to the island — in 1863 there were 148 vessels of 6,850 tons burden— yet, when the large extent of sea they have to traverse, and the different periods at which they sail, are taken into consideration, it will be under stood that it is rather a rarity to sight a strange sail. It was about the eighteenth day of our passage, after we had been driven far to the south, and were again heading our way towards the north, that we first got Iceland in sight. It was one of the lofty rocky islands in Fuglasker, south-west of Reykjanes, the most south-westerly point of Iceland, that our eyes first fell upon. In consequence of this our course was somewhat altered, and we sailed or steamed towards the main land, which, however, was enveloped by an impervious fog.

When it cleared off we were so near land that we could plainly see the surf breaking against the barren rocks which surround the coast. Again, therefore, we had to change our course towards the sound between Eldey, the most northerly of the Fuglasker islands, and Reykjanes ; and in the course of the evening our eyes were gladdened by the sight of the looming fjelds and mountain-tops of the peninsula, which juts out in the form of a boot from this corner of Iceland, and thus com pels vessels coming from the south to describe three parts of the circumference of a circle, if they wish to reach Reykjavik, which is situated at its northern extremity. This peninsula is remarkable for its numerous lava streams and volcanic THE GREAT AUK. craters. The very name — Eldey, or fire island — is an indi cation that volcanic influence has extended beneath the sur face of the sea to this group of islands; in fact, several volcanic eruptions have taken place here, the last of which occurred in 1783, when the surface of the sea was covered so thickly with pumicestoue that ships were hindered in their course.

In the same year a volcanic crater appeared above the surface of the sea, but the loose slag of which it was composed was speedily washed away by the constant action of the waves, and the newly-formed island disappeared in the course of the same year. These Fuglasker, or Geirfuglasker, as their southern part is termed, are remarkable as having been the home of the now extinct great auk (Alca impennis), a kind of penguin, whose The Great Auk wings are merely swimming flaps. From the fact of there being other Geirfuglasker in several places round the Icelandic coast, there is reason to suppose that this bird was once com mon there. But the species is supposed to be now quite extinct, owing partly to the persecutions they have undergone at the hands of man or from birds of prey, joined to the little tenacity of life evinced by them.

They form thus one of the most valuable ornithological specimens of which a museum can boast.* On the evening of May 21, when the weather was calm, we passed by Reykjanes, and were struck with the graceful flight of a bird named " Sula " (the gannet), somewhat smaller in size than a goose, and of a beautiful yellowish white colour. They were flying in long rows over the sea. The following day, as we sailed into FaxafjortSr, we passed close by several of them. With their heads under their wings, they were slumbering peacefully on the water, and did not notice our approach till we startled them by clapping our hands. FaxafjorSr composes one of those broad bays with which the west coast of Iceland is furnished. To the south it is bounded by a peninsula of volcanic formation, and on the north it is separated from Breidifjoror by a similar tongue of land, which juts out into the sea, and which is crowned by the Snæfell-Jokull, a volcano, 4,577 feet high, whose snow-clad cleft summit, when viewed from Reykjavik, rises up from the sea like a pyramid.

The entrance into Faxafjorbr is very imposing. The chain of mountains that traverse either peninsula to the north and south is continued in the background by a belt of lofty f j elds, of which the majestic Esja, to the north-east of Reykjavik, especially attracted our attention. The mountains, moreover, were rendered more prominent by having their summits and a great part of their sides covered with large masses of snow, which the summer sun had not yet melted ; while dark perpen- * The last known specimen of this species that is known to have existed was killed at Vardo, a Norwegian fortress on the Russian frontier, in 1848. — Ta. MOUNTAINS AND TABLE-LAND. 9 dicular walls of rock, and peaked crags on which the snow could find no resting-place, stood out in bold relief, and pre sented a most picturesque scene to the eye.

Iceland, as is well known, is a mountainous country, and resembles in this respect the northerly parts of Norway and Sweden. Some of the loftiest mountains have an altitude varying from 2,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea ; while some few volcanic mountains attain to a greater height, such as the above-named Snæfell-Jokull, Her$ubreii5 and Snæfell in the eastern part of the island, of which the first is 5,290 feet, and the other 5,808 feet high. Then there is Hecla, which is 4,961 feet high ; Eyafj alia- Jokull, 5,432 feet, on the south coast ; and last and highest of all, Oræfa-Jokull, 6,241 feet. The summits of the mountains appear as sharp ridges, and as table-land. The sharp-ridged mountains which are to be found along the coast serve as gigantic partition walls between the numberless fjords that everywhere intersect it ; while the table-lands are to be found more in the interior of the country.

The volcanoes fre quently form solitary and barren crests, rising up from the plains, without any connection with a mountain ridge or plateau ; sometimes they spring up from a ridge or plateau, and some times the volcanic eruption takes place on the lower table-lands without any apparent connection with the mountains them selves. This lower table-land — which, together with extensive plateaux, constitutes the entire interior of the country — is esti mated to reach a height of 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the sea, and it is necessary to cross over it in passing through the island from one shore to the other. The lowlands— which are, in fact, the only habitable portions of the island — consist only of narrow strips, running parallel with the coast, or lying at the bottom of deep valleys. Sometimes, however, though this is exceptional, they appear in the form of a plain or wide valley, which in such cases runs for some distance into the country.

After this trip, let us return once more on board the Fylla, and see that she comes safe and sound into port, while we occupy ourselves with some considerations of wider extent. We will only add, that seen from a distance in the fjord, the land which we were approaching seemed to consist only of cold, snow-clad mountains, as the lowlands as a rule are so narrow in extent, that at a distance of even a few miles they are scarcely discernible. The port of Reykjavik is formed by a little bay on the land side, and is bounded towards the sea by some islands and holms — favourite breeding-places for eider ducks, which may almost be considered a kind of domesticated bird in Iceland. After cruis ing about for some hours outside these holms, our pilot at length came on board ; and then, with all sails set and at full speed, we steered our course into the long-wished-for harbour, and cast anchor on Monday afternoon, the 22nd of Maj', alongside a French frigate, which, in company with a number of small merchant vessels belonging to different countries, had arrived there before us.

This, then, was Reykjavik that lay before us : a small town with small houses, rather dusky-looking in appearance from seaward, owing, perhaps, to a number of tarred warehouses that shut out from view, in their rear, some painted dwelling-houses ; and possibly too because a great many of the neighbouring dwellings were besmeared with the same pitchy covering. This, then, was the far-famed Iceland, on whose soil I purposed to travel many a mile during the course of the summer. The first natives we saw were the pilot and his companions, dressed in a complete suit of dark wadmel (home-spun cloth), with round hats furnished with long lappets, and possessed of good-natured REYKJAVIK. 11 intelligent faces withal. Their promise to provide us with fresh fish, however, I must confess, was for the moment the most attractive point about them.

As soon as we had cast anchor, I repaired ashore to the Swedish and Norwegian Consul, Herr Siemsen, a merchant of Reykjavik, in order to get him to recommend me a lodging during my stay in the town. I now learnt, during my interview with him, that though the houses in Reykjavik were insignificant to look at, yet that inside I should find them to be replete with all the conveniences and comforts of civilised life ; an observation which I found amply confirmed from my subsequent acquaintance with the good people of Reykjavik at whose houses I visited. I lose no time . in recording this fact, to prevent the reader who may be un acquainted with the actual relations of the place from thinking that Reykjavik is a semi-barbarous village. On the contrary, Reykjavik corresponds exactly, as far as regards manner of life and comfortably furnished dwellings, to its model, the city of Copenhagen ; while it numbers among its inhabitants many intelligent and well-educated persons.

The houses in general, however, are small : wooden buildings of one story, with gable roofs, often only painted on the side towards the street, while on the others they are tarred. But as regards their internal arrangements, I can only say that they are all that can be desired. The town is by no means large : it boasts of three principal streets, running parallel with the sea, only two of which, however, are, properly speaking, inhabited ; and of three cross streets. Moreover, an irregularlybuilt suburb adjoins it on both sides, in which the houses are constructed of turf, while a lake bounds it on the rear. On this side are situated the church and the school-house, which, together with the Stiftamtmand's (Lord-Lieutenant) house, compose the public buildings of the town. Reykjavik, therefore, is a neat little town, with regular streets, which, though they certainly are not paved, are yet at least dry and clean in summer time ; for driving is a tiling unknown in this country, where a cart is not to be found, and where everything is carried on horseback.

Its situation is decidedly picturesque ; and the view from the town, with its pretty harbour, and the blue sea outside, and majestic Mount Esja in the background, forms a very charming picture indeed. The population of Reykjavik is of a mixed character, partly Danish, partly Icelandic. To the first nationality belong the greater proportion of the merchants ; while among the last named may be ranked the officials, a few mechanics, and the fishing population. The number of residents in the town is about 1,500 ; and counting those living in the country close by, it amounts to about 2,000. If it be possible to form any opinion from the comfort which prevailed in the houses of the merchants to whom I had the pleasure of being introduced, not in Reykjavik alone, but in other parts of Iceland too, I should certainly be tempted to say that commerce in that country was an exceedingly remunerative business.