Show go r S 7 icelandic cela features 1 we a the ledger iceland offers such exceptional advantages and opportune opportunities to the sportsman the tourist the naturalist the mountaineer and the seeker of health that in no distant future it is destined to become the tourist field of europe the glaciers of switzerland the fjords the salmon rivera riven and the midnight sun of norway are re all there and moreover the volcanoes grottoes and solf ataras of italy on a grander scale the pure and clear atmosphere 0 of italy the mineral springs of germany and the geysers or hot springs of the yellowstone park are all there them nowhere has nature been so spendthrift in assembling wonderful phenomena in one spot the summer surn er lasts from june till the first week in october A feature noticed by all travelers is th the clearness ess and purity of the atmosphere rivaling that of italy mountains are distinct at a distance of miles there is no country in the known world where volcanic eruptions have been so numerous as in iceland or have been spread over so large a surface no part of the isle is wholly tree free from the marks of volcanic agency arid and it may be b truly called the abode of subterranean tirra nean heat vesuvius is dwarfed into insignificance by the twenty volcanoes of iceland all of them larger the lava flood at the eruption in iceland in 1875 1975 has been computed to contain millions of cubic feet while the largest eruption of vesuvius on record that of 1794 threw out only of cubic feet of lava some of the icelandic lakes are studded with volcanic isles miu miniature lature quiescent Strom bolls whose craters rise from bases green with a prolific growth of angelica and gra grasses ases even in the bosom of the sea cea off the coast there are hidden volcanoes about the end of january 1783 1793 names flames were observed rising from the sea some thirty miles mil es off cape Beyk janea they lasted several months until a terrible eruption commenced miles away in the interior In when they disappeared A few years ago rocks and islets emerged from the sea bea in this place another volcanic feature is the solf atara tars valleys plains studded ded with a number of low eone cone shaped hillocks from whose tops je jets of steam ascend in other places bollins mud issues from the ground six to elloit feet in the or air as in new we zealand standing on the feeble crust where literally ate fl erand azad brimstone are an in inces incessant saut action having bet before your eyes terrible terr lige proofs of what is going on benea beneath tb you yon enveloped in capora your ea eara stunned with noises is a strange sensation 1 As to the hot springs those in rk the most magnificent cent arel ie j tier per baas ia s the most ost curious among th 9 phenomena of this sort ibm la 1 iceland CilL on U entering ji the valley taney mi columna 1 tn n of ot 1 abbe ing ft 0 1 a o it if JL I 1 ikkei 0 f 2 fiort A fb tm 0 V the i ter U idi iMe es thia te fx aa it i A or I 1 I 1 into the ar x 1 ve r no aulm through in tha tia d 4 beti Ota orin yaney teran 1 I iiii bic 1 1 abc akil ikil I 1 1 b lr stew aj 1 4 irm k iver f 1 co all I 1 4 ni t 1 60 I 1 1033 4 r 4 J i liti X ait I 1 Z j f r drw f liae meu Aws t 5 jw Z 1 iiii K 1 i 1 4 I 1 I 1 7 iw AWK iwer I 1 14 Z Z ww ail IN ia I 1 ab aa 5 w zaia A kg 1 4 PM e 94 b W ra C fi fr cr air ti I 1 t 7 er V powers babana BM BanA no nor wilhe belet yet went abent after the lapse lit 0 I 1 abw thi arev the volcano still am burta out of eternal snow aaa 4 the he imnetu impetuous ous thundering ot of the geysers continues to disturb the stillness of the solitude iceland la is a wide field open tor for discovery and the country pre presents objects to the mind with astonishment on OIL a any part of the coast one win find innumerable gulls older eider ducks etc in the interior wild ducks grouse whim berels plovers plover and snipe arb am plentiful on an the moor and heaths deaths here are am the th best stocked moors in the world twenty to thirty brace of grouse can be bagged by a fair air shot in the course of a few hours besides here are swans curlews curfews cur lews and the chance of a shot at a reindeer A picturesque scene is the ann annual nal killing of blackbirds and auks auka which nestle in the almost inaccessible rocks along the coast some of these are as high as 1000 feet and their clefts cleft and ledges can only be visited by letting you yourself lf down oa i line fastened d on the top the lines consist of four to seven thongs of ox hide twisted together strong enough to carry a man and his booty the rock climber has a long stick in his hand to balance himself one of it its s I 1 two ends Is an iron crook the other a snare of horsehair to entrap the birds some lines are sixty to eighty metres long and every climber has two one of which he pulls when he wishes to be hauled up coming to a ledge in the rocks he unties himself and walks along picking up eggs and killing birds of course great dangers are attached to this manner of f fowling A sharp edge projecting from the rock may cut the line the may inadvertently loosen a stone or make a false step then the unhappy man Is invariably torn to pieces by projecting angles and edges in the rock before he finds his grave in the merciful deep below the water of the aerated springs in iceland possesses strong but grateful degree of pungency very much like that of soda water after it has been exposed to the air for a few seconds the water is kept in constant and violent agitation by the escape of carbonic acid gas and taken in large quantities may cause intoxication the natives call these springs ale wells the accommodation in iceland is not equal to that which the land of the midnight sun and switzerland give to the traveler traveler the only hotels to be found are in the half a dozen towns on an the coast in the interior one must take on a farm or camp out in a tent it should not be omitted to state that the only mode of conveyance is on horseback on the ponies which have been praised so much by every traveler who has written upon iceland iceland has the same right as norway to be called the land of the midnight sun the midnight sun can be seen in the north of the island there Is the difference that this land of 0 the midnight sun is unexplored |