440 Icelaftd Spar and the Polariscope. [Sess. 



islands. It seems probable that in some remote period they 

 have been subjected to violent physical abrasion, perhaps 

 during the ice-drift, and are now affected by the terrible 

 storms which occur in these regions. The hard frost in 

 winter converts the moisture into minute wedges of expand- 

 ing ice, which plays havoc with the crumbling rock. The 

 small town of Thorshavn, with its old fort just outside, presents 

 rather a fishy smell as we go ashore. As a rule the houses 

 are built of stone for a few feet next the ground, then tarred 

 wood, with a turf roof to complete the edifice; and it is 

 rather a curious sight to see a man with his scythe on top 

 of his house busy mowing the hay, while on another house- 

 top the sheep will be feeding away quite contentedly. There 

 is really nothing to be seen here of much interest beyond the 

 primitive way in which the people live. On leaving the 

 Earoe Isles we got under way again, directing our course to 

 Iceland, the high ice -covered mountains of which land we 

 should sight after about 40 hours' sailing. As we are now 

 far north and in the land where for a certain time of the 

 year the sun never sets, it reminds one of the amusing inci- 

 dent so well related by Lord Dufferin in his admirable book 

 on Iceland. Previous to his going north he had shipped on 

 board a cock and a number of hens. He says: "I had 

 observed for some days past, as we proceeded north and the 

 nights became shorter, that the cock we had shipped on board 

 at Stornoway had become quite bewildered on the subject of 

 that meteorological phenomenon called the Dawn of Day. 

 In fact, I doubt whether he ever slept for more than five 

 minutes at a stretch without waking up in a state of nervous 

 agitation, lest it should be cock-crow. At last, when night 

 ceased altogether, his constitution could no longer stand the 

 shock. He crowed once or twice sarcastically, then went 

 melancholy mad ; finally, taking a calenture, he cackled lowly 

 (probably of green fields) and leaping overboard, drowned 

 himself. The mysterious manner in which every day a fresh 

 member of his harem used to disappear may also have preyed 

 on his spirits." 



Iceland is, next to Great Britain, the largest island in 

 Europe, its surface being about a fifth part greater than that 

 of Ireland. It lies in the midst of the Northern Ocean, and, 



