Oct. 14, 1875J 



NATURE 



511 



off the south-west corner, one arm proceeding northward 

 and the other along the south coast, both reuniting in the 

 North Atlantic between Iceland and Norway. We have 

 certainly much yet to learn about the causes which con- 

 tribute to form the climate of a country, but without the 

 action of some such influence as would be derived from 

 the Gulf Stream, it seems to us difficult to account for 

 the comparatively mild climate of Iceland as contrasted 

 with the decidedly Arctic climate of countries in the same 

 latitude. But this is a dangerous question to enter upon; 

 what is wanted at present is not so much discussion as 

 facts. 



Capt. Burton tells us in his preface that he " went to 

 Iceland feeling by instinct that many travellers had pro- 

 digiously exaggerated their descriptions, possibly because 

 they had seldom left home." Stay-at-home people will 

 therefore be grateful that so experienced a traveller and 

 so trained an observer as Capt. Burton has gone over the 

 old ground and told them in a plain, matter-of-fact, yet 

 exceedingly graphic way, what is actually to be seen. In 

 his account of his tour the usual " stupendous " writing 

 will not be found, and many indeed may be inclined to 

 think that the narrative has too much of the " nil 

 admirari" spirit about it. This is not our opinion : Capt. 

 Burton shows frequently throughout the work that he is 

 quite prepared to admire all that is admirable in the 

 country and its people, and concerning the latter espe- 

 cially, it was quite time that we should have a sober and 

 trustworthy account. Travellers hitherto have been too 

 much inclined to look upon the Icelander under quite 

 an auroral glow, as a descendant of the " Hardy Norse- 

 man " with his traditional tawny beard, fair hair, brawny 

 build, splendid fighting qualities, with an infusion of rude 

 gentleness. The Icelander is no doubt a descendant of 

 the dauntless men who contributed their share in the 

 building up of the English people, but there seems little 

 reason to doubt that he is a degenerate one. If we can 

 beheve Capt. Burton, as well as the reports of some other 

 recent travellers, the chief virtue of the Icelander is lazi- 

 ness, which keeps him as well from doing harm as positive 

 good. Even that gentleness of manner and primitive sim- 

 plicity of social intercourse which early travellers tell us 

 characterised the people, seem to be rapidly leaving them. 

 But this is inevitable, and from a practical and humane 

 point of view not to be regretted ; it is the first stage in the 

 breaking up of their long lethargy, and to doing away 

 with a condition of society which is really an anachronism. 

 There does not seem to be native energy sufficient to the 

 development of the resources of the country, and it is 

 well that foreign attention and foreign capital should 

 be drawn to it, {especially with an eye to the no doubt 

 extensive sulphur resources ; we believe such intercourse 

 would benefit the Icelanders by bringing them, with all 

 their dormant good qualities, into the active life of the 

 present. 



It is unnecessary to follow Capt. Burton in what was to 

 a great extent a tour, though an unusually critical one, 

 over previously trodden ground, rather than a journey of 

 exploiation. He begins at the end with pretty full notes 

 of a visit to Orkney and Shetland, which he paid on his 

 return from Iceland. Concerning the prehistoric and 

 other antiquities of these islands he has of course some- 

 thing to say, and we commend his criticisms to the anti- 



quarian. In Iceland he stayed some time at Reykjavik 

 before setting out to explore the island, and concerning 

 the capital, its institutions and people, as well as what is 

 to be seen in the neighbourhood, he has much to say, 

 finding a little to praise and a great deal to blame. The 

 Icelander can obtain a very fair education in his own 

 country, with even a smattering of science, and it seems 

 to us that it would not take much to convert the High 

 School of Reykjavik into a really good high-class school. 

 Much has been expected to result from the new constitu- 

 tion granted to Iceland last year ; we have no doubt that 

 this, combined with other new influences, will have a good 

 effect upon what we cannot but regard after all as a healthy 

 scion of a good stock. After spending some days at the 

 capital Capt. Burton set out on a trip to the north in the 

 Jon Sigtcr^sson steamship. The principal features of 

 the west and north-west coast are described with con- 

 siderable minuteness, and many interesting details given 

 concerning the various places at which the steamer 

 stopped— Stykkishdlm, Flatey, Eyri or Isafjord, BorS- 

 eyri, and Grafards, the termination of the trip. At 

 every stopping-place Capt, Burton used the short time at 

 his disposal rrost industriously in making himself ac- 

 quainted with whatever was noteworthy. Some space is 

 devoted to the SnaefcllsjokuU (4,577 Danish feet) and its 

 associations, and to the striking features which charac- 

 terise the hold noith-west peninsula. 



On his return from the northern trip, Capt. Burton made 

 the popular round from Reykjavik by the Krisuvik sulphur 

 springs, Hekla, the Geysirs, Thingvellir, back to the 

 starting-point. Here his observations are especially 

 minute, and his descriptions somewhat photographic, as 

 it is in reference to this region that previously travellers 

 have been specially exaggerative. Capt. Burton has of 

 course seen too much of some of the most " stupendous '"' 

 scenery in the world to be much impressed with any of 

 the features to be seen in this often travelled round. It 

 is evident, however, that he desired to observe without 

 bias, and to record impartially what he saw ; and if at times 

 he seems too depreciatory, there is ample excuse for his 

 measured statements in the irritation naturally caused by 

 the ecstatic descriptions of previous travellers. With regard 

 to the sulphur deposits at Krisuvik and in the My-vatn 

 district, ample information will be found in the work ; 

 Mr. Vincent's paper read at the Society of Arts is repro- 

 duced, and a considerable appendix is devoted to the 

 subject, consisting of papers by various authorities who 

 have given attention to the subject. Capt. Burton himself 

 seems to think that much more can be made out of the 

 My-vatn district than out of that of Krisuvik. 



Hekla, Capt. Burton speaks of as a humbug, and its 

 ascent mere child's play. "The Hekla of reality is a 

 commonplace heap, half the height of Hermon, and a 

 mere pigmy compared with the Andine peaks, rising de- 

 tached from the plains. ... A pair of white patches re- 

 present the * eternal snows.' . . . We [there were two young 

 ladies with him] had nerved ourselves to 'break neck or 

 limbs, be maimed or boiled alive,' but we looked in vain 

 for the 'concealed abysses,' for the 'crevasses to be 

 crossed,' and for places where ' a sUp would be to roll to 

 destruction.' We did not sight the ' lava-wall, a capital 

 protection against giddiness.' The snow was anything 

 but slippery." In short, for those who have never seen 



