3i8 



NA TURE 



[July 31, 1884 



the surface of the sea in 186S ; this, too (one of the 

 northernmost promontories of Iceland), has frequently 

 been visited by violent earthquakes, notably so in 1S72. 

 Towards the east the island rises precipitously out of the 

 sea to the height of upwards of 300 feet, but slopes to the 

 westward, where all the habitations of the people are 

 scattered about. The flora is scanty, and the plants 

 stunted in a remarkable degree ; as far as I had oppor- 

 tunity to observe, the vegetation seemed to bear a dis- 

 tinct Arctic impress as compared with that of the main- 

 land. The sward is covered with Arctic willow (Salix 

 herbacea), resembling the same plant when met with on 

 the mainland at an elevation of 1 500 to 2000 feet above 

 the sea-level. The flora of the eastern portion of the 

 island is much more varied, as compared with that of the 

 western, owing to the soil being much more fertile there 

 from the guano deposited by the multitudes of birds 

 which haunt that part of the island. Every ledge of 

 rock is covered with the so-called " Skarfa-kal" (scurvy- 

 kale, scurvy-grass, or spoon- wort, Cochlearia officinalis). 

 Altogether I managed to collect here between fifty and 

 sixty species of plants, all of which are also found on the 

 mainland, only these are of a more stunted growth. No 

 heath vegetation occurred, and no ligneous, if I except the 

 above mentioned willow, which only grows to the height 

 of one inch and a half. 



The temperature of Grimsey is much milder than 

 might be supposed from the geographical position of the 

 island. Although it is visited every two out of three 

 years by the Arctic ice, the average temperature of the 

 year is + l°'4 Celsius. August is the hottest month in 

 the year, -\-l\ J C. ; March the coldest, - 3* C. The 

 highest degree of heat in 1876 was + 20' C. ; the greatest 

 cold in 1SS0, - 30° C. The mildness of the temperature 

 is accounted for by the fact, ascertained of late years 

 beyond a doubt, that a small branch of the Gulf Stream 

 splits off from the main current on encountering the 

 resistance of the western submarine spurs of the rocky 

 masses on which Iceland is built up, the flow of which 

 branch, on wheeling round the north-western peninsula 

 of the country, takes an eastward direction along the 

 whole extent of the northern coast. The average tempera- 

 ture of the sea round Grimsey is about 4° C. in January and 

 3° C. in February. The pastor of the island, M. Pjetur Gud- 

 mundsson, has for many years been engaged in exceed- 

 ingly careful meteorological observations on behalf of the 

 Meteorological Institute of Copenhagen. This most 

 worthy gentleman, living here in conspicuous poverty, like 

 a hermit divorced from the world, though he has the 

 comfort of a good wife to be thankful for, is not only re- 

 garded as a father by his primitive congregation, but 

 enjoys moreover the reputation of being in the front rank 

 among sacred poets in modern Iceland. 



The inhabitants derive their livelihood, for the most 

 part, from bird-catching, nest-robbing, and deep-sea 

 fisheries. The precipices that form the eastern face of 

 the island are crowded with myriads of various 

 kinds of sea-fowl. On every ledge the birds are 

 seen thickly packed together ; the rocks are white with 

 guano, or green-tufted with scurvy-grass ; here everything 

 is in ceaseless movement, stir, and flutter, accompanied 

 by a myriad-voiced concert from screamers on the wing, 

 from chatterers on domestic affairs in the rock-ledges, and 

 from brawlers at the parliament of love out at sea, the 

 surface of which beneath the rocks is literally thatched at 

 this time of the year with the wooing multitudes of 

 this happy commonwealth. If the peace is broken by a 

 stone rolled over the precipice, or by the report of a gun- 

 shot, the air is suddenly darkened by the rising clouds 

 of the disturbed birds, which, viewed from the rocks, 

 resemble what might be taken for gigantic swarms of 

 bees or midges. 



The method adopted for collecting eggs is the follow- 

 ing : — Provided with a strong rope, some nine or ten stal- 



wart men go to the precipice, where it is some 300 feet 

 high, and one of the number volunteers or is singled out 

 by the rest for the perilous "sig" i.e. " sink,'' or " drop," 

 over the edge of the rocks. Round his thighs and waist, 

 thickly padded generally with bags stuffed with feathers 

 or hay, the " sigamadr" " sinkman," or " dropman," ad- 

 justs the rope in such a manner as to hang, when dropped, 

 in a sitting posture. He is also dressed in a wide smock 

 or sack of coarse calico, open at the breast, and tied 

 round the waist with a belt, into the ample folds of which 

 he slips the eggs he gathers, the capacity of the smock 

 affording accommodation to from 100 to 150 eggs at a 

 time. In one hand the "sinkman" holds a pole, 16 feet 

 long, with a ladle tied to one end, and by this means 

 scoops the eggs out of nests which are beyond the reach 

 of his own hands. When the purpose of this "breath- 

 fetching" "sink" is accomplished, on a given sign the 

 "drop-man" is hauled up again by his comrades. This, 

 as may readily be imagined, is a most dangerous under- 

 taking, and many a life has been lost over it in Grimsey 

 from accidents occurring to the rope. 1 



For the pursuit of the fishery the island possesses four- 

 teen small open boats, in which the men will venture out 

 as far as four to six miles cod-fishing ; but this is a most 

 hazardous industry, owing both to the sudden manner in 

 which the sea will rise, sometimes even a long time in 

 advance of travelling storms, and to the difficulty of 

 effecting a landing on a harbourless island. 



Now and then the monotony of the life of the inhabit- 

 ants is broken by visits from foreigners, mostly Icelandic 

 shark-fishers, or English or French fishermen. 



Of domestic animals the islanders now possess only a 

 few sheep. Formerly there were five cows in the island, 

 but the hard winter of i860 necessitated their extermina- 

 tion, and since that time, for twenty-four years, the people 

 have had to do without a cow ! Of horses there are only 

 two at present in the island ! Strange to say, the health 

 of the people seems, on the whole, to bear a fair com- 

 parison with more favoured localities. Scurvy, which 

 formerly was very prevalent, has now almost disappeared, 

 as has also a disease peculiar to children, which, in the 

 form of spasm, or convulsive fit, used to be very fatal to 

 infant life in former years. 



Inexpressibly solitary must be the life of these people 

 in winter, shut out from all communication with the outer 

 world, and having in view, as far as the eye can reach, 

 nothing but Arctic ice. The existence of generation after 

 generation here seems to be spent in one continuous and 

 unavailing Arctic expedition. The only diversion afforded 

 by nature consists in the shifting colours of the flickering 

 aurora borealis, in the twinkling of the stars in the heavens, 

 and the fantastic forms of wandering icebergs. No won- 

 der that such surroundings should serve to produce a 

 quiet, serious, devout, and down-hearted race, in which re- 

 spect the Grimsey men may perhaps be said to constitute a 

 typical group among their compatriots. However, to dispel 

 the heavy tedium of the long winter days, they seek their 

 amusements in the reading of the Sagas, in chess-play- 

 ing, and in such mild dissipations at mutual entertain- 

 ments at Christmas-time as their splendid poverty will 

 allow. Th. Thoroddsen 



SEA TS IN RAILWA Y CARRIAGES 



IN a recent article in Science ft Nature the writer, after 

 animadverting on the lateness of the day at which 

 shoemakers have at length begun, though still very imper- 

 fectly, to take account of the osseous framework of the 

 human foot, proceeds to investigate the relation between 



■ This is a fate that befalls too many of the "sinkmen" of Iceland, for 

 there are numbers of them all round the coast. It would be easy, at a very 

 small cost to the treasury of Iceland, to provide a perfectly safe movable 

 apparatus for every district where life must be sustained at the above- 

 described risk. The authorities would, no doubt, readily meet any reason- 

 able request on the subject. — E. M. 



