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Will you not likewise do so?" "I feel no interest in the subject," said my uncle. "What for me is curious in this island, is not what is above the surface, but what is below." I bowed by way of reply, put on my hat and furred cloak, and went out. It was not an easy matter to lose oneself in the two streets of Reykjavik; I had therefore no need to ask my way.
Shakespeare, Milton, and Pope have been translated into the native tongue; one of the best printed newspapers I have ever seen is now published at Reykjavik; and the Colleges of Copenhagen are adorned by many an illustrious Icelandic scholar; but the glory of the old days is departed, and it is across a wide desolate flat of ignoble annals, as dull and arid as their own lava plains, that the student has to look back upon the glorious drama of Iceland's early history.
"They smell a little fishy, but no matter. It's all the better for a voyage to Iceland. You'll be used to the smell before you get to Reykjavik; and it's wholesome very wholesome! Nothing makes a man so fat." I made a small selection a rough jacket and a few other essential articles. "Nonsense, man!" roared the captain, "take 'em all!
Two semi-monthly newspapers are published at Reykjavik, in the Icelandic language. They are well printed, and said to be edited with ability. I looked over them very carefully from beginning to end, and could see nothing to object to in any portion of the contents.
Iceland, a dependency of Denmark, with its own Parliament, gave municipal suffrage in 1882 to all widows and spinsters who were householders or maintained a family, or were self-supporting. In 1902 it made these voters eligible to all municipal offices, and since then a fourth of the council members of Reykjavik, the capital, have been women.
Our return to Reykjavik afforded no incident worth notice; the 'Reine Hortense, keeping her course outside the ice, encountered no impediment, except from the intense fogs, which forced her from the impossibility of ascertaining her position to lie to, and anchor off the cape during part of the day and night of the 13th.
On the morning of the 14th, as we were getting out at the Dyre Fiord, where we had anchored, we met to our great astonishment the 'Cocyte' proceeding northward. Her commander, Sonnart, informed us that on the evening of the 12th, the 'Saxon' in consequence of the injuries she had received, had been forced back to Reykjavik.
For, by the shade of Nora Finnegan, you shall be hungry no more!" WHEN Urda Bjarnason tells a tale all the men stop their talking to listen, for they know her to be wise with the wisdom of the old people, and that she has more learning than can be got even from the great schools at Reykjavik.
My next letter will be from Iceland; and, please God, before I see English land again, I hope to have many a story to tell you of the islands that are washed by the chill waters of the Arctic Sea. Reykjavik, Iceland, June 21, 1856. We have landed in Thule!
What with the spray and mist, moreover, it was a good ten minutes before I could make out the writing, and when at last I did spell out the letters, their meaning was not very inspiriting: "Nous retournons a Reykjavik!" So evidently they had given it up as a bad job, and had come to the conclusion that the island was inaccessible. Yet it seemed very hard to have to turn back, after coming so far!
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