PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 299 



was largely used for the smelting of bog iron-ore and for charcoal 

 for smith's work. Even as late as 1870 charcoal was used in 

 every farmstead during hay-making for the purpose of beating out 

 and sharpening the scythes. Numerous remains of ancient char- 

 coal-pits are still to be seen in many places where no woods are 

 found today. Burning woods are several times mentioned in the 

 Sagas. They were set on fire either accidentally or also maliciously 

 for revenge or out of mischief. But for centuries the sheep and 

 goats have been the \vorst enemies of the woods; during winter 

 when the snow is lying on the ground they procure their means of 

 sustenance chiefly from the woods, nibbling off all the buds and 

 gnawing the branches and stems. Even in the middle of the 13th 

 century the greater part of the woods had disappeared from the in- 

 habited districts, and the remnants have since that time been gra- 

 dually diminishing. It is a wonder that woods still exist in Iceland 

 to such an extent that, including shrubs, they cover an area of about 

 454 square km. 1 In the beginning of the 15th century all the cop- 

 pice-woods had disappeared from Hunavatns and Skagafjardarsyslur, 

 but in Eyjafjardarsysla some remains of woodland persisted till the 

 beginning of the 19th century. Now the whole stretch of land from 

 Eyjafjordur to Hrutafjordur is devoid of wood. Even in the middle 

 of the 18th century woods, fairly high in growth, existed in several 

 places from which they have now disappeared; they were greatly 

 damaged by the Katla and Laki eruptions of 1755 and 1783 re- 

 spectively. 



Generally speaking, it may be said that the same kind of vege- 

 tation prevails throughout the island; taken as a whole, there is no 

 great difference between north and south, high and low. The cha- 

 racter of the flora is the same everywhere, although on a closer in- 

 spection it will be seen that the composition of the plant-formations 

 varies somewhat, and that certain species are peculiar to, or spe- 

 cially common in, certain districts. The different species vary ex- 

 tremely as regards the number of their individuals; true, the largest 

 areas are covered with a continuous carpet of grasses, sedges, dwarf- 

 willows, heathers and Grimmias, but some species characteristic of 

 rocky flats, such as Armeria maritima, Polygonnm viviparum, Cerastium 

 alpimim, Salix herbacea, Silene maritime., Oxyria digyna, Sibbaldia 

 procumbens and others, occur widely distributed as scattered indi- 

 viduals throughout the island from the coast to the snow-line. Ac- 



1 Landshagsskyrslur fyrir Island, 1911. Reykjavik, 1912, p. 89. 



The Botany of Iceland. I. 20 



