i8 ICELAND. 



few inches high, which are found in a few spots, and 

 ambitiously called "forests," are to be so designated. 

 There is little or nc turf also ; yet there is no lack of 

 wood, though no ship or human hand brings it to their 

 shores. 



The Gulf-Stream sweeps part of the coast, assuaging in 

 a most notable degree the severity of their climate. It 

 also bears to them, from the long circuit of its stately 

 march, innumerable trees of many species with roots and 

 branches attached, and logs of valuable wood, gnawed by 

 the sea, to brighten the hearth and build their log houses 

 firm against the storm. 



Game is very plentiful in Iceland. With salmon and 

 sea-trout in the streams, and teal, snipe, golden plover, 

 ptarmigan, wild goose, and wild swan on the fiords and 

 moors, the sportsman need never be at a loss ; not to 

 speak of the countless flocks of sea-birds which frequent 

 the coast, from the " Great Northern Diver " to the little 

 fat puffin, which only needs to be shorn of its feathers, 

 have a wick passed through his body, and be set on end 

 in a saucer, in order to form a brilliant light for th& 

 household. 



Besides fish, there are exported from Iceland, wool, 

 eider-down feathers, knitted things in great numbers, and 

 sulphur. The whole public annual income of the island 

 is but 3,000/., and the Government expends fully twice 

 that sum upon it, so that the connection is not a very 

 profitable one for the mother country. 



I would add that of the many natural beauties of the 



