ure arrived. The day b
letters of introductio
. Picturssen, the bish
iavik. My uncle expre
pressions of b
ious baggage being safely on board the Valkyria
favourable?"
a sou'-easter. We shall pass down the
ail through the straits. In an hour the capital of Denmark seemed to sink below the distant waves, and the Valkyria was skirting t
expedition. Perhaps you would keep us company to the centre
heroic prince of Denmark. It now answers the purpose of a sumptuous lodge for the doorkeeper of t
he tower of Helsingborg, built on the Swedish coast, and the schoo
ependence. She was taking to Rejkiavik coal, household goods, earthenware, woo
he passage take?
ed, "if we don't meet a nor'-
subject to cons
t be uneasy, we shall get
er doubled the Skaw a
passed the Skager Rack
d entered th
eterhead, and the Valkyria turned her lead towards the F
the Faroes only with some difficulty. On the 8th the captain made out Myganness, the southernmost of these
les of the sea pretty well; my uncle, to his own intense di
he was obliged to put off these inquiries until his arrival, and spent all his time at full length in his cabin, of whic
us a good view of Myrdals jokul, which overhangs it. The cape is
ormous perforated rock, through which the sea dashed furiously. The Westman islets seemed to rise out of the ocean like a group of rocks in a liquid
rom coming on deck to admire these
ighted east of us the beacon on Cape Skagen, where dangerous rocks extend far away seaward. An Icelandi
pale and wretched-looking, but still full of enthusia
in the arrival of a vessel from which every one e
he schooner he dragged me forward, and pointing with outstretched finger north of the bay at a di
ll! Sn
silence, he went into the boat which awaited him. I foll
Professor was soon aware of the presence he was in. He delivered him his letters from Copenhagen, and then followed a short conversation in the Danish language, the purport of which
or, M. Finsen, whose appearance was as military, and
But M. Fridrikssen, professor of natural sciences at the school of Rejkiavik, was a delightful man, and his friendship became very precious to me. This modest philosopher spoke only Danish and Latin
his house contained, and we were soon installed in it with all our luggag
le, "we are getting on, a
!" I said,
we have nothing t
but after all, when we have gone down, w
elf about that. Come, t
brary. Perhaps there
, and I should be
there I will go into
It is not what is upon this island, but
wandered whereve
refore under no necessity to inquire the road, which exposes
other extends the vast bay of Faxa, shut in at the north by the enormous glacier of the Sn?fell, and of which the Valkyria was for the time the only occu
the merchants and traders, in wooden cabins made of red planks set horizontally; the other street, r
carpet, or some appearance of a kitchen garden, the sparse vegetables of which (potatoes, cabbages, and lettuces), would
I found the public cemetery, inclosed with a m
but compared with the town hall of Hamburg, a palace in
d out of the volcanoes by their own labour and at their own expense; in high westerly winds it was manifest t
h, with shame I confess it, I don't know a single word; after an examination I should have had to stand last of the forty scholars educated at this little college, and I s
. The Icelandic huts are made of earth and turf, and the walls slope inward; they rather resemble roofs placed on the ground. But then these roofs are meadows of comparative fertility. Than
but heavy, blond Germans with pensive eyes, conscious of being far removed from their fellow creatures, poor exiles relegated to this land of ice, poor creatures who should have been Esquimaux, since nature had condem
Scandinavian lands a 'vadmel,' a hat with a very broad brim, trousers with
ore gowns and petticoats of dark 'vadmel'; as maidens, they wore over their braided hair a little knitted bro
ridrikssen's house, where I found my