236 SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY 



Ker and I are going to it. It is in Danish, though the lingo they 

 speak here is Faroese, a sort of hybrid between Danish and 

 Icelandic." 



A later letter, bearing no date, begins : 



" We have had our first day in Iceland. Yesterday we came 

 through mist and fog all day with the whistle continually sounding. 

 This morning when we woke at 8 o'clock we were on the point of 

 anchoring at Eskifjord on the S.E. coast of Iceland. The hills 

 are craggy and the fjords are not unlike the Norwegian fjords, 

 but more barren looking. The vegetation is scattered along the 

 streams, which run down towards the sea ; they are green and 

 there are green patches here and there, but for the most part 

 the land is grey and barren. There are patches of snow low down 

 on the hills, and green spots here and there high up, which I 

 imagine to be green moss. The town consists of a dozen houses 

 or so, like the Norwegian houses of wood, and painted ; but 

 there are some turf huts among them new and old Iceland. 

 We had our usual cup of tea and toasted cookies, and then we 

 landed for a walk of 6 miles to the Iceland spar mines, which we 

 saw from the steamer on the way up. The track runs down the 

 fjord and is like the road up Glen Rosa, only stonier. We met 

 three ponymen on our tramp, and our versatile friend Hanson, 

 the American, had quite a long talk with them. Did I tell you 

 he spent about four months in Iceland, ten years ago ? He 

 could speak Icelandic then and remembers some still perhaps 

 not quite so much as I know of Danish. I find I can follow what 

 they say from its likeness to Norwegian, and I am beginning to 

 get a few sentences together. These men galloped off on their 

 ponies to the village, while we tramped on breakfastless. The 

 mine is more a quarry than a mine. It is thickly crystallised, 

 but in large clear crystals. I have, in spite of strict prohibition, 

 brought several pieces with me ; but we saw one piece about 

 5 in. cube which was absolutely clear, and worth some 800 kroner 



