ICELAXD. 39 



summer dawn and twUiglit meet, and the snovrs, mountains, table-lands, plains, 

 are often bathed in a deep crimson light. 



Till recently the people used no other timber or fuel except the drift-wood, 

 which is now, however, replaced by the Norwegian pine and the peat of the local 

 boo^. Excellent meiidows abound, yielding large quantities of hay, but the 

 country is almost treeless, except in some sheltered spots, where the willow, birch, 

 and sorb, or service-tree, are met. Formerly it was better wooded, and in medieval 

 times the south-western district was largely under timber. Its destruction has 

 been attributed more to the recklessness of the people, especially the smelters, 

 blacksmiths, and charcoal burners, than to the climate. 



The Icelandic flora presents no species peculiar to the island. Everything has 

 been introduced from Asia, America, and especially from Europe, and in its 

 vegetation the island now belongs to the Scandinavian and British, svstems. Its 

 fauna al-;o is essentially European, though mucb poorer than that of the nearest 

 islands and peninsulas. TVhole orders of animals are entirely absent, and not a 

 single butterflv occurs, though twelve species of moth have been discovered. Xo 

 reptUes, snakes, lizards, or grasshoppers are met, but some districts are rendered 

 almost uninhabitable by the myriads of gnats and midges. In one of these districts 

 is situated the Myvatn, or " Mosquito Lake," on an island in the centre of which a 

 chief is said to have cast an enemy bound hand and foot, who was quickly destroyed 

 by these winged pests. 



The birds of Iceland, nearly all of uniform white, brown, or grey colours, 

 comprise, besides twenty-five species introduced from Europe, eighty-five indigenous, 

 more than half of which belong to the order of divers. They seem to have been 

 greatlv reduced in numbers during the present century. The large penguin has 

 ceased to exist, and other species have become rare, especially in the interior, 

 where thev can never have been very numerous. Yet the birds still form the 

 chief resource of the people on many parts of the coast, which but for them would 

 become almost uninhabitable. They yield their feathers, tbeir down, their eggs, 

 flesh, and oil, and their dried bodies are often used as fuel instead of turf end 

 drift-wood. 



The eider duck is justly regarded as one of the greatest treasures of the island, 

 producing as it does, without any outlay, from £1,000 to £''2,000 worth of down 

 yearly. Hence the precautions that have been taken to preserve the species. Xot 

 only is eider hunting prohibited, but no guns are allowed to be fired in their haunts, 

 so that they become quite tame. In the island of Vigr, near the Isa-Fjôr6r, the 

 manor-house is covered with nests, and the birds occupy all the open spaces about 

 the doors and windows. 'U'h en hatching they allow their eggs to be removed, one 

 or two only being left to continue the species. 



There appear to be not more than two or three indigenous land mammals — the 

 mouse, the field mouse, and perhaps the fox. Xor are all the European domestic 

 animals here represented. Some have entirely disappeared — as, for instance, 

 the pig — while the cat and goat are very rare. Under the influence of the 

 climate the horse has developed into a special breed — hardy, patient, capable of 



