90 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



north. For several days no land was visible — nothing but an interminable 

 waste of waters ; when suddenly the snow-clad mountains of Iceland were seen 

 to rise above the mists of the ocean. Soon after Naddodr landed with part of 

 his crew, but discovered no traces of man in the desert country. The viking 

 tarried but a short time on this unpromising coast, on which he bestowed the 

 appropriate name of Snowland. 



Three years later, Gardar, another northern freebooter, while sailing to the 

 Hebrides, was likewise driven by stormy weather to Iceland. He was the first 

 circumnavigator of the island, which he called, after himself, Gardar's holm, or 

 the island of Gardar. On his return to his native port, he gave his countrymen 

 so flattering an account of the newly-discovered land, that Floki, a famous vi- 

 king, resolved to settle th^re. Trusting to the augury of birds, Floki took with 

 him three ravens to direct him on his way. Having sailed a certain distance 

 beyond the Faeroe Islands, he gave liberty to one of them, which immediately 

 returned to the land. Proceeding onward, he loosed the second, which, after 

 circling for a few minutes round the ship, again settled on its cage, as if terri- 

 fied by the boundless expanse of the sea. Tlie third bird, on obtaining his lib- 

 erty a few days later, proved at length a faithful pilot, and flying direct to the 

 north, conducted Floki to Iceland. As the sea-king entered the broad bay 

 which is bounded on the left by the huge Snafells Jokul, and on the right by 

 the bold promontory of the Guldbringe Syssel, Faxa, one of his companions, re- 

 marked that a land with such noble features must needs be of considerable ex- 

 tent. To reward him for this remark, which flattered the vanity or the ambi- 

 tion of his leader, the bay was immediately named Faxa Fiord, as it is still call- 

 ed to the present day. The new colonists, attracted by the abundance of fish 

 they found in the bay, built their huts on the borders of a small outlet, still 

 bearing the name of Rafna Fiord, or the Raven's Frith ; but as they neglected 

 to make hay for the winter, the horses and cattle they had brought with them 

 died of want. Disai3pointed in his expectations, Floki returned home in the sec- 

 ond year, and, as might naturally have been expected from an unsuccessful settler, 

 gave his countrymen but a dismal account of Iceland, as he definitely named it. 



Yet, in spite of his forbidding description, the political disturbances which 

 took place about this time in Norway led to the final colonization of the island. 

 Harold Haarfager, or the Fair-haired, a Scandinavian yarl, having by violence 

 and a successful policy reduced all his brother-yarls to subjection, first consoli- 

 dated their independent domains into one realm, and made himself absolute mas- 

 ter of the whole country. Many of his former equals submitted to his yoke ; 

 but others, animated by that unconquerable love of liberty innate in men who 

 for many generations have known no superior, preferred seeking a new home 

 across the ocean to an ignominious vassalage under the detested Harold. In- 

 golfr and his cousin Leif were the first of these high-minded nobles that emi- 

 grated (869-870) to Iceland. 



On approaching the southern coast, Ingolfr cast the sacred pillars belonging 

 to his former dwelling into the water, and vowed to establish himself on the 

 spot to which they should be wafted by the waves. His pious intentions were 

 for the time frustrated, as a sudden squall separated him from his penates, and 



