1911-1912.] Iceland Spar and the Polariscope. 439 



M\l,— ICELAND SPAR AND THE POLARISCOPE, 

 Br Mr F. B. TURNBULL, F.S.M.C. 



{Commimicated, April S4, 19 IS.) 



Before going on direct to the subject of Iceland itself, it 

 might be interesting to give you an idea of how one gets 

 there, and of the facilities for reaching that land. There are 

 two lines of steamers, the Thore Line and the United Steam- 

 ship Co., both of which are Danish Lines. These steamers 

 generally call at Leith from Copenhagen en route for Iceland, 

 also on the return journey to Copenhagen. They run on the 

 average about every three weeks in the summer time, and 

 very comfortable little steamers they are, the main objection 

 to Britishers being that they are, like most of the Continental 

 owned boats, over-heated and under- ventilated. The journey 

 from Leith to Iceland, in the summer time with good weather, 

 generally takes from four to five days, but one can never be 

 certain to a day, owing to the difficulties entailed in dis- 

 charging cargo, which has mostly to be done into barges, and 

 then rowed ashore — a very slow procedure. Eegarding this 

 discharging of cargo, which sometimes consists of live-stock, 

 such as cows, ponies, &c., very amusing incidents are frequently 

 witnessed, while the poor sailors are often driven to distrac- 

 tion. We will presume we have sailed north up the east 

 coast of Scotland, past the Orkneys and the Shetlands, till 

 we reach the Faroe or Sheep Islands. The approach to the 

 Faroe group is very fine ; it presents to our view a magnificent 

 panorama of weirdly formed islands, — sharp, precipitous rocks, 

 rising sheer from the ocean. Most of the islands are regularly 

 terraced in successive layers of trap -rock. Some of these 

 singular hills are sharp along the top, like the roof a house, 

 and slope down on either side to the sea at an angle of about 

 45°, while again others of them are mere isolated stacks, 

 standing out of the sea like so many needles. The hard 

 trap-rock, nearly everywhere alternating with the soft tufa 

 or claystone, sufficiently accounts for the regular stair-like 

 layers which form a characteristic feature of these picturesque 



