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The National Geographic Magazine 



part of the trade is with Great Britain. 

 In the fifteenth century all the foreign 

 trade was in English hands. Henry VIII 

 negotiated with Denmark in 1518 and 

 1535 for its transfer to England, and its 

 economic and strategic importance to 

 Great Britain has been set forth as late 

 as 1835 in the Quarterly Review by Sir 

 George Mackenzie and Sir WilHam 

 Hooker, who held that Iceland ought to 

 be a British possession. It has been de- 

 clared by experts that the fishing-grounds 

 of Iceland are richer than those of New- 

 foundland, and, though they are much 

 nearer Great Britain, their annual yield is 

 not more than £2,000,000 ($10,000,000), 

 because they are not worked as they 

 ought to be. 



For four hundred years Iceland was an 

 aristocratic republic, ruled by the great 

 families of the early settlers, among 

 whom was a Norse queen of Dublin. A 

 fourteen days' open-air parliament of 

 all Iceland met annually in June at 

 Thingvellir, and the speaker of the law 

 (16g-s6guman) used to recite from mem- 

 ory the whole of the unwritten, elaborate 

 laws of the country to the assembly. In 

 1262-1264 Iceland was united to Norway, 

 and in 1380 with Norway to Denmark. 

 The Danish rule ruined the island eco- 

 nomically, but since the granting of self- 

 government and the reestablishment of 

 the old parliament, in 1874, at Reykjavik, 

 great progress has been made. The reve- 

 nue of Iceland is now six times as large 

 as 28 years ago, and it is probably the 

 only country with no debt, but with 

 1,000,000 crowns of savings in its ex- 

 chequer ; yet more has been expended on 

 the ways and roads of the island since 

 1874 than in all the previous centuries. 



The Icelanders are keen politicians ; 

 women have been in possession of the 

 municipal vote earlier in Iceland than in 

 any other country, and they do not 

 change their names when they marry. 

 The parliament (althing) is composed 

 of an upper house of 12 members and 

 a lower house of 24. 



SCENES FROM EVERY LAND 



Copies of "Scenes from Every Land," 

 by Gilbert H. Grosvenor, are now being 

 forwarded to members of the National 

 Geographic Society who have ordered 

 this volume. Owing to the popularity of 

 the suggestion, it was necessary to print 

 a larger edition than had been planned, 

 and therefore the publication has been 

 delayed several weeks. 



The volume contains more than 250 

 illustrations from the Magazine, with 

 50 to 200 words of description under 

 each picture; a list of nearly 1,000 books 

 of travel, exploration, and general geog- 

 raphy, as well as a small map in five 

 colors. Three-fourths of the edition have 

 already been disposed of. The remaining 

 copies will be reserved for members of 

 the National Geographic Society and 

 readers of its Magazine until December 

 15, after which the balance will be ob- 

 tainable by the public. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS 



Mr Herbert L. Bridgman, of Brook- 

 lyn, has sent to the library of the National 

 Geographic Society a series of fifty pho- 

 tographs of scenes in Khartoum and 

 Egyptian Sudan, taken or purchased by 

 him on a recent visit to that region. 

 Mrs J. Howard Gore, of Washington, 

 has presented to the Society a series of 

 Swedish pictures illustrating the costumes 

 and manner of life of the Swedish peas- 

 ants. 



It is hoped that members of the So- 

 ciety who have an opportunity of taking 

 or collecting photographs during their 

 travels will send them to the library of 

 the Society. If members do not care 

 to part permanently with their pictures, 

 but wish to place them where they will 

 be safe from fire and be taken care of, it 

 is suggested they send them also to the 

 Society. Such pictures will be returned 

 whenever the member desires, and will 

 not be published without the consent of 

 the owner. 



