ICELAND 81 



lation and interbreeding, the Icelandic Raven may 

 show the same tendency towards albinism that the 

 Faroe birds do; but all the other ravens that I 

 saw in Iceland were of the normal colour. I tried 

 very hard to shoot one of these pied birds, but 

 never succeeded in getting nearer than one hundred 

 yards, owing to the flat nature of the tundra. 



On July 3rd we moved on to the north end of 

 the lake to a farmhouse called Reykalid, and 

 thence trekked on over a great barren country, 

 half desert, half mountain, till by midnight we 

 reached a lonely farm with an unpronounceable 

 name, ending with the usual vatn in English the 

 Lake of the Eternal. 



Whilst Geoff was putting up the tent I went down 

 to the lake-side to draw some water, and there a 

 sight met my gaze which filled me with strange 

 longing and regret a regret that I had not brought 

 my rifle for there, as plain as feet could make it, 

 was the perfectly fresh spoor and sign of a good 

 herd of wild reindeer. 



Thorgrimmer had admitted that there were 

 reindeer here, but deprecated the taking of a 

 rifle, as they were so scarce as rarely, if ever, to 

 be seen, being few in number and ranging over a 

 big country. Like a fool I had listened to him and 

 left my rifle at Akuyreri, so my feelings as a keen 

 hunter may be realised when next morning, as we 

 rode off in a sandstorm to the waterfall of Detti- 

 foss, we came plump up against two reindeer 

 bucks, lying on a little mound within seventy 

 yards ! At first they absolutely refused to run 

 away, but stood and tried to stare us out of coun- 

 tenance. One was a fine fellow with a really 



G 



