276 ICELAND: ITS HISTORY AND INHABITANTS. 



less than at St. Johns, 16° farther south, namely, 39.5° F., or as 

 much as that of parts of Asia situate over 17° (over 1,000 miles) 

 farther south. Grimsey, off North Iceland, cut in two halves by 

 the Arctic Circle, is 5° F. warmer in Januaiy than Stockholm. The 

 coolness of the summer, however, reduces the annual mean. The 

 mean temperature of summer at Eeykjavik is only 53° F. (July, 

 59.20° F.). The sea round the south, west, and east coasts of Ice- 

 land is never less than 41° F., while on the north coast the nearness 

 of polar ice drifting down from Greenland occasionally, every four 

 or five years, causes a fall in temperature. 



It will thus be seen that Iceland has a temperate climate, while 

 the clearness of its atmosphere rivals that of Italy. "xV medium 

 of matchless purity "' this combination of sea and mountain air has 

 been well called, and it is most bracing and exhilarating — " like 

 drinking champagne," an English traveler says in her book on Ice- 

 land. It is freer from microbes than the air of any part of Europe, 

 and, according to the researches of Dr. W. L. Brown, the blood of 

 an Icelander does, on an average, contain more hemoglobin than 

 that of other inhabitants of Europe. 



No country on earth of equal size contains so varied and wonderful 

 natural phenomena. The glaciers of Switzerland ; the fjords, salmon 

 rivers, and midnight sun of Norway ; the volcanoes, grottoes, and sol- 

 f ataras of Italy, on a grander scale ; the mineral springs of Germany ; 

 the geysers of New Zealand ; the largest waterfall, next to Niagara, in 

 the world, the Dettifoss, all are here. Nowhere has nature been so 

 spendthrift in giving a geological lesson to man. If there be ser- 

 mons in stones, volumes lie unread here. Here we see her Titanic 

 forces at work building up a country. 



Let us approach this wonderland. A high tableland, out of whicli 

 rise sharp peaks and glittering ice fields, and into which run winding 

 fjords, fringed by rocky islets on which the waves break in a white 

 line of foam. You do not miss the forest, wdiich is not there, for the 

 vivid brilliance of the air shows the glacial white and volcanic black, 

 and sunset turns them to rich purple and violet. 



Iceland is a plateau region composed of older and more recent vol- 

 canic masses, not older than the Tertiary period, of an average alti- 

 tude of from 1,650 to 2,000 feet, occupying thirteen-fourteenths of 

 the island. It consists of basalt and palagonite tufa and breccia ; the 

 latter, the younger formation, in the center and toward the south, 

 while the greater part of the west, east, and north coasts is of basalt, 

 or nearly t vvo-thirds of the island. The glaciers rise like broad domes 

 from this plateau. In the south, where the glaciers come down to the 

 sea, there are no harbors for 250 miles, from Djupivogr to Eyrar- 

 bakki. for all the fjords have been filled up with detritus brought 

 down by the glaciers. But the basaltic regions are cut and furrowed 



