ICELAND 53 



Puffins darted like arrows across the waves towards 

 the cliffs. Gay male Eiders with their brown mates 

 were also in evidence, and everywhere were Cormor- 

 ants and Shags. Away to the west, standing up 

 bold and lonely in the ocean, was the Meal Sack Rock, 

 known to naturalists as the last home of the Great 

 Auk, and tenanted by these birds until 1835. 



Reykavick is prettily situated in a small green 

 harbour. To the north there is a long, low promon- 

 tory, on which stands, fifty miles away, the imposing 

 peak of Snaefell Jokul, 4701 feet high. To the 

 north-east stretches the narrow Hvalfjord, crowned 

 by the Akrafjall and the rosy-hued Esja. 



We arrived at Reykavick, the capital of Iceland, 

 on the 18th of June, but before going on shore I 

 must say one word about our fellow-passengers. 

 First, there was a charming old gentleman, Mr. B., 

 who had undertaken the voyage to get rid of hay- 

 fever, from which he was suffering. Iceland, he 

 fancied, was the one place on earth where haymaking 

 must be an impossibility; but on consulting a local 

 guide-book, he amused us all very much by reading 

 out that " haymaking and fishing were the principal 

 industries of the Icelandic people." When we first 

 went ashore, my sister and I strolled out on to some 

 rocky ground covered with about an inch of scanty 

 grass, when we were instantly attacked by a shock- 

 headed youth, who warned us that we were treading 

 down the hay crop ! So on consideration we con- 

 cluded that Mr. B. might possibly survive his trip 

 to northern latitudes after all. 



Then there was an Icelandic M.P., who, in his 

 capacity of Minister of the Interior, took three 

 helpings of the everlasting sheep's-head, the sight 



