THE NATURAL WONDERS OF ICELAND. APART from the interest that lies in the proposed wholesale transfer of the Icelandic nation to Alaska, the people of the Denmark island dominion have other claims upon the attention of Americans. To Icelanders the honor of being the discoverers of America is claimed by them to be due. Shortly after the first colonization of Iceland (A. D. 874) a mariner named Gunnbjorn was driven by a tempest to the shores of Greenland. some 300 miles distant, and from that time on settlements were founded and a regular intercourse established. In 1001, one Bjarnj Herjulfssonur-it is well that school children should remember this name-while on a voyage from Iceland to Greenland was driven by a storm out into the Atlantic. After sailing for some days he discovered a beautiful wooded country where plains and rising grounds alternated with each other along the coast, but as he could not prevail on his crew to land, he returned to Greenland. His glowing descriptions of the country implanted a desire for further investigation in his countrymen, one of whom, named Leifr, soon after set out for it in a vessel manned by thirty-five men. Το the southwest of Greenland he discovered land, which, according to the description given, is supposed to have been Labrador, but farther to the south he found the same wooded land which Bjarnj had discovered. Thereupon he determined to explore its coast for some distance, and two days afterward he came with a north-westerly wind to an island that was separated from the mainland by a strait. After sailing through this strait he came to a beautiful inland sea, on the shores of which he erected a dwelling. The sea teemed with splendid salmon, and the grass retained its fresh appearance throughout the winter. The days here were not so short as in Greenland and Iceland; for on the shortest winter day the sun was nine hours above the horizon. One of the crew, who was a German, had discovered that grapes grew wild there. Leifr named the land Vineland. Subsequently it was visited by Leifr's brother, who was killed by natives, but a settlement which after a little took root in the country continued to trade with them for 200 years. It is, perhaps, as well to add that Vineland is supposed to have been Massachusetts in the vicinity of Boston, the other parts of this country in which the Northmen are supposed to have settled being near Mount Hope Bay, Rhode Island, and as far south as Cape May. In the next place the country possesses a history of almost unequalled antiquity among modern European nations, and a rich and unique literature. As has been said above, Iceland was settled in 874, but many years before that it had been visited by the Norwegian vikings. The productiveness of the islands firstattracted the visitors, but what chiefly promoted colonization was the oppressive rule of Harold, the fair-haired King of Norway. At first a patriarchal government prevailed, but toward the year 928 the colonists established a free republic, which remained in existence 300 years. The Norwegian monarchs had long looked covetously upon this sturdy community, however, and at last in 1262 King Haken succeeded in bringing it under his sway, though with the express reservation that Iceland should retain its independence and be governed by its own laws. In 1387 Iceland became part of the Dano-Norwegian kingdom, and so remained until the partition of the two countries in the beginning of the present century, when Iceland was in corporated with Denmark. The exact relations between the two countries does not seem to be understood by the principal parties, for even in official language Iceland is sometimes called a colony, sometimes a province, and sometimes a dependency. The Ice landers, however, use none of these terms, but simply call their country the Land. The Icelandic tongue is the old Scandinavian, or original Norse, being the oldest living language of the Teutonic family. The stationary character of the language is partly explained by its secluded position in an island and partly by the zealous studyof the Icelanders of the ancient songs and sagas. The first characters in which Icelandic was written were the Runics, which are supposed to be adaptations from the Phoenician alphabet. At the time of the introduction of Christianity these were superseded by the Roman alphabet in the form then used by the Anglo-Saxons and Germans. The alphabet consisted of thirty-six letters, thirty-four of which are still used. The language has a great facility for forming new words, but it does not adopt the common foreign names of science and new inventions. Thus a telegraph is called "frettafleygir,” bearer of news, and a telegram “hardfrett," quick news. The Icelandic literature, which, with the exception of a few unimportant Norwegian productions, has been written wholly in Ice land, consists generally of songs of victory or of praise, elegies, epigrams, and sagas and skalds, or fictitious or historical romances. These works really belong to the ancient period of Icelandic literature, the second or modern period dating from a revival of the seventeenth century. History, homilies, jurisprudence, poetry were all taken up, and with such spirit and fruit that during the last hundred years no other nation can show so large a proportion of literary men. Iceland is in shape a good deal like that of the heart, the greatest length being 325 miles and greatest breadth 200 miles. Its area, including the adjacent islets, is 39.758 square miles, of which 16,243 are habitable. The population in its most flourishing period exceeded 100,000, recent censuses giving the figures as follows: 1863, 68,084; 1869, 69.508; 1870, 69.763. At present it is in the neighborhood of 70,000, but is again on the decline, due to the gradual exhaustion of the fertility of the island and the increasing severity of its winters. The present project of moving the nation is not the first. In 1785 starvation and disease had brought the population down to something like 30,000, and the proposition was seriously entertained of removing the remnant of the people from the country. Prosperity, however, slowly returned to the Icelanders, and the project was abandoned. The coast line of Iceland is deeply indented with bays, fiords-inlets extending far inland between lofty terraced mountains-and jutting promontories. The western fiords are studded with rocky inlets, and open, like those of the northeast, to enormous ice. drifts. Iceland is of volcanic origin, the centre being an elevated band of THE NATURAL WONDERS OF ICELAND. tufa, from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the sea and forming a wilderness covered with vast lava beds, barren heights, tracts of black volcanic sand, hot springs, and bog. The mountains lie about the coast. chiefly in the south, among which are a number of fertile valleys extending along the water courses. Some of the loftiest mountains have an altitude ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 feet, while some few volcanic peaks attain to a greater height. Snaefell, for instance, reaches 5,290 feet, Hecla 4,961 feet, Eyatjalla 5.432 feet and Oraefe 6,241. These volcanoes form solitary and barren crests, rising from the plains, without any connection with a mountain ridge or plateau. Hundreds of eruptions have been recorded from these and other craters, the last being in 1862, all being more or less violent and destructive. Iceland has several lakes, though all have been partly filled up by lava flows. The Midge Lake in the north and the Thingvallavata in the south, are each ten miles long by four wide. rivers of Iceland are numerous and of good size, but unfitted for navigation because of their torrential and broken character. Perhaps the most celebrated feature of Iceland scenery is the great number of intermittent hot springs, which have given the name of geysers to similar springs elsewhere. The principal town is Reyjavk, a small and rather picturesque town of 1,400, modelled after Copenhagen. It has three principal streets and an irregularly-built suburb, and, as the capital, does a fair amount of business. A bishop resides here, it publishes two weekly papers, and is the centre of the national educational facilities, which are confined to elementary instruction. 105 The only mode of travelling in Iceland is on horseback. Roads do not exist, and the bridle paths, though certainly good, are at the same time remarkably simple in their construction. Bridges are a rarity, and the general methods of crossing a stream are by ferry or swimming. The houses are partly of earth and partly of stone, and have a turf roof, which in summer time is so green that it can scarcely be distinguished from the surrounding fields. Timber work is seldom to be found, Iceland being a woodless country and the cost of transportation from the seaports being great. Wooden houses are only found in the two principal towns. The Icelandic house, however, is no hut, but possesses an intricate interior, and is sometimes quite artistically arranged. Sometimes, too, the house is little more than an earthen burrow, low, smoke-stained, and filthy. A good deal of the interior dirt is due to the fact that the houses are mostly built without fireplaces. For the accommodation of their sheep and cattle the farmers have small turf windowless houses, erected a short distance from the residence. The stables have no stalls, and the horses move about as they like. Generally speaking the farmhouses are built close together, each farmer requiring a large grass walk for his flocks, which sometimes are very numerous, and for hay for the winter store. The Icelandic agriculturist cares nothing for gay colors, and his house is always painted of a sombre gray or dark red. Cereals cannot be grown with any success in this country, the only native grain being a wild sand-oat, from which an eatable kind of bread can be made. In addition to grass, which is the principal vegetable produce of the country, little else is grown beside potatoes and turnips. cap The every-day costume of the women consists of a tight-fitting woollen knitted bodice, of a dark color, with narrow sleeves buttoned at the wrists, and a full skirt. As a set-off a striped or checked apron, usually green or red, is worn. The characteristic head dress is a small black cap, furnished with a long, silken tassel. When the state costume is put on the is supplanted by a high white headdress, something in the shape of a helmet, studded with gilt stars and enveloped in a white veil of tulle. The bodice is of black cloth, richly hemmed with gold or silver oak leaves. The skirt, also of cloth, is embroidered with silk and silver, while a gold belt of ingenious workmanship encircles the waist. Over all is thrown a full cloak of Black cloth, with a cape of green velvet trimmed with ermine. have very which they Sometimes The Icelandic women thick and beautiful hair, arrange in graceful plaits. it is dark and curling, but generally it is of corn-golden hue. Blue eyes and pink and white cheeks accompany this, and the result is decidedly pleasing. The men are well grown, but are not so good-looking as the women, and are remarkable for their long waists and short legs. The churches usually consist of a little, square shaped, tar-covered barn, either made out of planks or of earth, with two small windows in the gable and a little aperture in the roof. Externally, with but very few exceptions, they are destitute of any kind of adornment. The churchyards are just as unostentatious, for a tombstone is a rarity A cross even is scarcely to be found upon a grave in Iceland, and the green mounds are soon levelled to the ground. The usual food with which the traveller is entertained is smoked or dried mutton, which, when not too old, is not an unpleasant dish. The common bread consists of thin, flat cakes, but even this is not an article of daily consumption, the poorer classes eating dried fish instead, plentifully smeared over with a sour butter, or even a mixture of tallow and oil. On the coast the people eat a great quantity of fresh fish, principally halibut, while in some parts of the interior trout and salmon form a large part of the daily menu. Corn brandy and coffee are the principal drinks, vast quantities of both being taken. Snuff taking and smoking are also largely indulged in. There is no deep sea fishing carried on, however, for, strange though it may seem, the Icelanders, though they are brought up by the sea, and though they derive a great part of their sustenance from it, are not a nation of sailors. In some parts of the south coast of Iceland the people eat horse flesh and thrive on it, saying that it imparts good complexions, but the animal is too expensive and useful to be used as an article of food. Dogs are favorite animals every Icelander keeping a prodigious quantity of them. Whaling is not very vigorously prosecuted, partly because of the Icelanders' poor seamanship and partly because the variety found in these waters is not a valuable Lastly come the sea birds. which are quiet an important article of diet. one. Iceland, as has been remarked, is a treeless country, although here and there may be seen a plot containing trees. But woods are not really missed in the landscape. When, for instance, |