270 THORODDSEN 



North Iceland. So long as the ice drifts backwards and forwards 

 along the coast, the weather continues to be very changeable and 

 stormy; but once the ice has been grounded on the land, the 

 weather becomes more settled, although colder. The parts of the 

 coast which are most subject to be blockaded by the drift-ice are 

 the north and east sides of the north-western peninsula, especially 

 Strandasysla, and Langanes and Melrakkasljetta. In these districts 

 the effect of the presence of the drift-ice is shown both in the wider 

 extension of the snow-wreaths and in the character of the vegetation. 

 On the east coast of the north-western peninsula, south of Cape 

 Nord (also called Cape Horn) there is no vestige of coppice-wood, 

 while this occurs luxuriantly on the western and south-western side 

 of the peninsula, and at the heads of the fjords. Cabbage and potato 

 plots are also absent along this coast, north of 65 40 ' N. lat. ; while 

 small plots of cabbages occur frequently in ASalvik on the north- 

 western coast of the peninsula at 66 25' N. lat. Even at the head 

 of Hunafloi the influence of the drift-ice is evident: Chamcenerium 

 latifoliam which flowers every year on the plateau, 600 700 metres 

 above sea-level, flowered only twice during eleven years (1878 -88) 

 at Midfjordur. In the districts which are most exposed to the effects 

 of the Polar ice, the herbage is extremely poor owing to the con- 

 stant coldness of the springs and the ra\vness of the summers; the 

 frequent snow-falls even at midsummer, make hay-making precarious, 

 so that the sheep and cattle and thereby the inhabitants are 

 liable to suffer want. 



During the nineteenth century the coast of Iceland has been 

 free from ice on an average about one year in every four or five; 

 but no rule can be formulated for the arrival of the Polar ice on 

 the coast of Iceland; sometimes it remains absent for many years: 



. / 



sometimes it visits the coast several years in succession. The ice 

 arrives at different times as a rule from January to April; if it 

 arrives early, it usually drifts away soon without doing any great 

 damage, but if it arrives near the time of spring, it often remains 

 till far into summer, and causes much inconvenience, hindering 

 navigation and fishing, spoiling the hay-harvest, etc. But it almost 

 invariably drifts away at the end of August, and for the last four 

 months of the year the coast is almost always free from ice. As a 

 rule, the Polar current first carries the drift-ice to the north-western 

 peninsula of Iceland, off Cape Nord, and the main mass is carried 

 out through Denmark Strait; but that part of the ice which besets 



