the fisheries. They are nearly as infantile in their management as the sulphur-banks; but, if properly attended to, would soon, with a very trifling outlay, become far more remunerative. They are chiefly of two classes, cod and salmon. Of their productiveness our author gives an instance in the fact, that, from a portion of the river in the neighbourhood of Reykjavik, scarcely three hundred yards in length, he landed, in two hours, three fine grilse and fourteen large and vigorous sea-trout. Such boundless riches, borne by every tide to their very doors, if appropriated by the islanders, would soon raise their condition far above its present miserable level, and bring comfort and affluence to every homestead. But the same hard fate, which formerly deprived Iceland of the advantages that might have come to her from the Greenland and American traffic, seems still to pursue her. She reaps nothing from her mineral treasures, and can barely draw a scanty provision towards the support of her people from the piscatorial wealth of her rivers and seas. Perhaps this anomalous state of things is solely attributable to an unfortunate combination of circumstances, such as, at different epochs of the world's history, is seen to cling to certain nations, hampering all their efforts, and rendering abortive every attempt to emerge from poverty and obscurity. But it certainly does seem to establish a strong presumption against the administrative system of the Danes, that they should allow strangers to obtain the practical possession of what may fairly be considered the domestic property of their own subjects, or at least of all the beneficial interests which it yields.

In the neighbourhood of Borgar Fiord, our author visited a large establishment situate on the banks of the Huitá, or White River, belonging to the Messrs. Ritchie of Peterhead,

"Where nine Scotchmen were employed in preserving in tins the salmon collected by the Icelanders from the adjacent rivers......... This year (1859) they had had a bad season, the fish taking off suddenly and early, and they had only secured about 20,000lbs. weight, 30,000lbs. being the usual average. Could our fishers purchase the right of fishing for themselves, three or four times that amount might be easily taken without detriment to the supply; but there are so many proprietors along the banks, with whom it is necessary, and at the same time difficult, to come to an understanding, that the only thing to be done is to let them take the fish in their

primitive manner, under piers which they build out in the stream and then purchase at the average price of about three pence a pound. Several similar establishments exist on the various large salmon-rivers, and one in the north has just been purchased by the enterprising owners of our steamer, (Messrs. Henderson of Glasglow), from which even the Icelanders annually export 50,000lbs. weight of kippered fish to Denmark; so the supply in this island may be almost said to be inexhaustible. Some dozen fish, brought on ponies from the head of the northern branch, (of the White River), were lying in a tub preparatory to curing, the largest weighing twenty-one pounds: it was considered very fine one, their average weight running low in the southern rivers, whereas in the north a fish of thirty or forty pounds weights is by no means uncommon. They seemed less given to obesity and much more vigorous than those which frequent our shores, and altogether a firmer and finer fish."-(pp. 120 21.

Of the amazing productiveness of the cod-fishery we may form an idea from the fact, that the whole south-western corner of the island bears the designation of Guldbringe Syssel, or gold-bringing country, "from the golden cod-harvests" gathered along its shores. Breida Fiord, the great north-eastern estuary is almost a more favourite haunt of the cod. The fisheries here are,

"Not only monopolized, but carefully fostered and subsidized by the French government. This year (1859) there are two hundred and sixty-nine French vessels engaged, varying from forty to eighty tons burden, aud manned with crews amounting in all to seven thousand fishermen ; not merely hardy and able bodied seamen, natives of the Channel and Biscayan ports, but men who for the most part have served their appointed time in men-of-war.

"The owners of these vessels receive a subsidy; and the crews, besides an annual bounty of fifty francs, cheap tobacco, clothes, &c., participate in the rewards held out for service in the French navy from further service in which they are exempt save in the event of hostilities. Three men of war are constantly cruizing with them, and in the ports they frequent, to afford them any assistance they may require either in men, spars, provisions, or medical aid. It is needless to remark, that, from the severity of their occupation, and the careful training they have received, no such formidable reserve of trained seamen exists, except those engaged in a similar occupation and under similar regulations, on the banks of Newfoundland, where they amount to nearly twenty thousand men.' pp. 207-8.

*

* In an enumeration of the natural resources of Iceland, we can

But, after all, whatever attractions the history and ancient literature of Iceland may possess for the scholar and the archaeologist'; whatever temptations her sulphurbanks and fisheries may present to the capitalist; her enduring source of interest, ever novel, and ever permanent for the traveller, the tourist, the man of science, and the general traveller, is the multitude of natural marvels, which lie scattered broadcast over the land in endless profusion and variety. Some of these cannot be found elsewhere; some among them may be individually excelled by objects of the same kind in other countries; but as a collection they cannot be matched. As we view them, or read of them, they may well evoke all our feelings of curiosity and wonder, of sublimity and awe; and we find ourselves alternating between astonishment at the versatility of Nature's powers, and terror at the irresistible. agencies which she employs, and the relentless efficiency with which they do their appointed work. We shall devote our remaining space to a rapid survey of these objects. The length to which our observations have already run would prohibit a more detailed notice; were we not indeed already dispensed from it, not only by the general acquaintance which we may fairly assume our readers already possess, but by the fulness with which they are described. by Captain Forbes,

The excursion to Thingvalla may be passed over for its triteness. There is nothing about the place which can appear singular in Iceland. The special peculiarity which is generally dwelt upon is its situation as a sort of island, cut off from the surrounding lava-field by "a yawning fissure-fifteen feet wide, sixty deep, with a fathomless moat at the bottom"-and joined to the main field by a

hardly pass over the Surturbrand. By this name are designated extensive beds of bituminous wood which makes a very fair substitute for coal, and of which the north-western peninsula presents three distincts layers. It is supposed to owe its origin to the mys terious bounty of the gulf-stream, and of the current from the northern coast of Asia; each of which through endless ages continued, and still continues to bear its tribute of drift wood to the shores of Iceland. An attempt is being made to extend the usefulness of the Surturbrand by the enterprising owners of the Mail Steamer. Should the experiment prove successful it will probably give a stimulus to working some of its extensive beds.

natural lava-causeway. The Isola Farnese, some twelve miles from Rome on the Florence road, near the site of the ancient Veii, is of similar structure, the only difference being that the material is travertine, an advanced stage of lava. To complete the likeness there are sulphur springs and other Icelandic adjuncts in the neighbourhood.

Our author commenced his regular tour by attempting the ascent of Snæfell's Yökul. He crossed by boat from Reykjavik to Borgar Fiord; he strongly recommends all future travellers to avoid this mode of travelling, and to stick to the ponies in preference. Proceeding northwards, he passed a wild and extensive range, "where earthquake and fire have done their work earnestly, and old and modern formations are heaped about in wild confusion and profound degradation." From the summit of this range he opened up the magnificent view of the valley of Huitá, or White river, a deep and rapid stream, which at its mouth is half a mile in width. In the descent he passed

"A most remarkable four-sided pyramidal mountain called Honn, to which the Egyptian pyramids are mere pygmies in comparison, and not more regularly constructed. It is composed of regular super-imposed beds of trap, gradually diminishing to a point, and forming the steps, as it were, of four colossal staircases, each one of which is perfectly symmetrical, and looks much more like the handiwork of some bygone race of giants than a freak of nature; the almost mechanical neatness of this natural pyramid contrasting strangely with the ruthless destruction which surrounds it.”— P. 119.

It is at the lower end of this valley, near the mouth of the Huitá, that the great salmon-curing establishment exists of which we have already extracted the description. Turning his course towards the east, our author ascended the Reykiadal, or Smoky Valley, over which "youthful geysers and thermal springs are scattered with a lavish hand," whence probably its name. An idea of this singular district may be formed from the fact that, from one spot, he counted twenty-seven distinct columns of vapour. Within a few yards of one of these thermal springs stands a farm-house. The site had evidently been selected with a view to culinary convenience; for in an iron pot, lying in the stream, the family meal was simmering. Some of these juvenile geysers were alternating jets. A mile further up the valley, and near another farm, is a natural steampump, working through three holes in a rock. The lower

most serves as a spout to pour the hot water into a basin hollowed by nature, and used as a bath; the two upper ones act as pipes through which the steam alternately rushes at each discharge from the orifice below. In the centre of this valley is situate the parsonage of Reykholt, or Smoky Hill, formerly the site of Snorro Sturleson's palatial residence, of which the only remains now visible are a large mound of earth, some scattered blocks, and the celebrated Snorralang or " Snorro's Bath." This last is a well-built circular trough, thirteen feet wide, by four deep, and is supplied with water from a nest of hot springs, which trickle through a course that has been formed for them beneath the road. This little stream "is icy cold, then boiling, and subsequently lukewarm, all within the space of a couple of hundred yards"-a condition of things, which lends considerable probability to our author's conjecture, that these thermal jets are not, in strictness, hotsprings derived from subterranean sources; but owe their elevated temperature to the fact of their waters flowing over or traversing lava surfaces, which either have never cooled, or are retained in a state of high heat by volcanic agencies underneath which still continue in permanent activity.

Turning his back on Reykholt, Captain Forbes directed his course towards Snæfell's Yökul, the bourne of his excursion, distant some eighty miles. The line of travel

there was no road-lay right across the country, and, whatever its faults, cannot be accused of uniformity or tameness. At one time the track led across a lava waste, a sort of "red, vitrified-looking inland sea, tossed hither and thither, and blown into a thousand fantastic shapes." Now a huge ash-cone has to be mounted, or a rapid stream to be crossed, which presently disappears under an old lava-field. On the way, a "sand-and-cinder hill is passed, crowned with a dark vitrified rampart of lava, resembling a gigantic old embattled turret, some 600 feet in diameter; hence its name of Ellborg, or the Fortress of Fire." At another point,

"We break away on a three hours' ride across the marshes, that here extend from the sea to the base of the mountain spur with occasionally elevated or firmer spots. A curious geological transformation appeared to be progressing on the summits of these elevated tracks they presented in many places, bare surfaces of the finest black mud, the edges of which were often so soft that it was