734 



The National Geographic Magazine 



The Gullfoss or Gold Fall 



Indeed, this custom is a necessity, for 

 there are no towns in the interior, but 

 only solitary farm-houses — often parson- 

 ages — each boasting its own name, and 

 unless the traveler prefers to sleep in 

 a tent, which he must then carrj^ with 

 him, there is no other shelter available. 



The chief drawback to a summer's ex- 

 cursion to this lonely island is the fre- 

 quence' of rain at that season ; but if this 

 be borne in mind and provision made in 

 advance to meet it, the charm of the 

 great natural wonders of the country and 

 the interest, which cannot but be aroused, 

 in its people and their history so com- 

 pletely offset the discomforts of travel 

 as to make them at best one's second 

 thoughts. 



The trip most generally taken by trav- 

 elers in Iceland is made from Reykjavik 

 and includes a visit to Thingvellir, Gey- 

 sir, and Mount Hekla. Thingvellir is a 

 wild and picturesque tract of land and 

 water lying at a level lower than that of 

 the country round about it. That the 

 subsidence of this district occurred dur- 

 ing some violent volcanic agitation of pre- 

 historic time is unquestionable ; it is con- 



clusively proved by corresponding strati- 

 fication on the faces of the cliffs of the 

 perpendicular walls on either side of the 

 sunken district and on the walls of the 

 sunken tract itself. Thingvellir is the 

 dominating point in the annals of Ice- 

 land. For nearly 900 years the Althing, 

 or general assembly of the people, met 

 on this spot, and the public affairs of 

 the country were here discussed and jus- 

 tice administered. It was here also, in 

 the year 1000, that after a fierce debate it 

 was decreed that Iceland should renounce 

 the pagan for the Christian faith. In 

 1800 the Althing was removed to Reyk- 

 javik. 



After Thingvellir it is customary to 

 visit Geysir, where is located the most 

 famous group of the boiling and spout- 

 ing springs of Iceland, from one of 

 which, the largest on the island, the 

 place derives its name. The height of 

 the column of water thrown ud by this 

 fountain when in eruption has been vari- 

 ously measured and conjectured ; it has a 

 known record of considerably over 100 

 feet, but perhaps its average today would 

 not be much in e.xcess of 60 feet. 



