Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North Part 24

{29} A man of eighty years of age is seldom seen on the island.--_Kerguelen_.

{30} Kerguelen (writing in 1768) says: "They live during the summer princ.i.p.ally on cod's heads. A common family make a meal of three or four cods' heads boiled in sea-water."--ED.

{31} This bakehouse is the only one in Iceland, and produces as good bread and biscuit as any that can be procured in Denmark. [In Kerguelen's time (1768) bread was very uncommon in Iceland. It was brought from Copenhagen, and consisted of broad thin cakes, or sea-biscuits, made of rye-flour, and extremely black.--ED.]

{32} In all high lat.i.tudes fat oily substances are consumed to a vast extent by the natives. The desire seems to be instinctive, not acquired.

A different mode of living would undoubtedly render them more susceptible to the cold of these inclement regions. Many interesting anecdotes are related of the fondness of these hyperborean races for a kind of food from which we would turn in disgust. Before gas was introduced into Edinburgh, and the city was lighted by oil-lamps, several Russian n.o.blemen visited that metropolis; and it is said that their longing for the luxury of train-oil became one evening so intense, that, unable to procure the delicacy in any other way, they emptied the oil-lamps. Parry relates that when he was wintering in the Arctic regions, one of the seamen, who had been smitten with the charms of an Esquimaux lady, wished to make her a present, and knowing the taste peculiar to those regions, he gave her with all due honours a pound of candles, six to the pound!

The present was so acceptable to the lady, that she eagerly devoured the lot in the presence of her wondering admirer.--ED.

{33} An American travelling in Iceland in 1852 thus describes, in a letter to the _Boston Post_, the mode of travelling:--"All travel is on horseback. Immense numbers of horses are raised in the country, and they are exceedingly cheap. As for travelling on foot, even short journeys, no one ever thinks of it. The roads are so bad for walking, and generally so good for riding that shoe-leather, to say nothing of fatigue, would cost nearly as much as horse-flesh. Their horses are small, compact, hardy little animals, a size larger than Shetland ponies, but rarely exceeding from 12 or 13.5 hands high. A stranger in travelling must always have a 'guide,' and if he does go equipped for a good journey and intends to make good speed, he wants as many as six horses; one for himself, one for the guide, one for the luggage, and three relay horses. Then when one set of horses are tired the saddles are exchanged to the others. The relay horses are tied together and are either led or driven before the others. A tent is often carried, unless a traveller chooses to chance it for his lodgings. Such an article as an hotel is not kept in Iceland out of the capital. You must also carry your provisions with you, as you will be able to get but little on your route. Plenty of milk can be had, and some fresh-water fish. The luggage is carried in trunks that are hung on each side of the horse, on a rude frame that serves as a pack-saddle. Under this, broad pieces of turf are placed to prevent galling the horse's back."

{34} The down of the eider-duck forms a most important and valuable article of Icelandic commerce. It is said that the weight of down procurable from each nest is about half a pound, which is reduced one-half by cleansing. The down is sold at about twelve s.h.i.+llings per pound, so that the produce of each nest is about three s.h.i.+llings. The eider-duck is nearly as large as the common goose; and some have been found on the Fern Islands, off the coast of Northumberland.--ED.

{35} The same remark applies with equal force to many people who are not Icelanders. It was once the habit among a portion of the population of Lancas.h.i.+re, on returning from market, to carry their goods in a bag attached to one end of a string slung over their shoulders, which was balanced by a bag containing a stone at the other. Some time ago, it was pointed out to a worthy man thus returning from market, that it would be easier for him to throw away the stone, and make half of his load balance the other half, but the advice was rejected with disdain; the plan he had adopted was that of his forefathers, and he would on no account depart from it.--ED.

{36} The description of the Wolf's Hollow occurs in the second act of _Der Freyschutz_, when Rodolph sings:

"How horrid, dark, and wild, and drear, Doth this gaping gulf appear!

It seems the hue of h.e.l.l to wear.

The bellowing thunder bursts yon clouds, The moon with blood has stained her light!

What forms are those in misty shrouds, That stalk before my sight?

And now, hus.h.!.+ hus.h.!.+

The owl is hooting in yon bush; How yonder oak-tree's blasted arms Upon me seem to frown!

My heart recoils, but all alarms Are vain: fate calls, I must down, down."

{37} The reader must bear in mind that, during the season of which I speak, there is no twilight, much less night, in Iceland.

{38} The springs of Carlsbad are said to have been unknown until about five hundred years ago, when a hunting-dog belonging to one of the emperors of Germany fell in, and by his howling attracted the hunters to the spot. The temperature of the chief spring is 165 degrees.--ED.

{39} History tells of this great Icelandic poet, that owing to his treachery the free island of Iceland came beneath the Norwegian sceptre.

For this reason he could never appear in Iceland without a strong guard, and therefore visited the Allthing under the protection of a small army of 600 men. Being at length surprised by his enemies in his house at Reikiadal, he fell beneath their blows, after a short and ineffectual resistance. [Snorri Sturluson, the most distinguished name of which Iceland can boast, was born, in 1178, at Hoam. In his early years he was remarkably fortunate in his worldly affairs. The fortune he derived from his father was small, but by means of a rich marriage, and by inheritance, he soon became proprietor of large estates in Iceland. Some writers say that his guard of 600 men, during his visit to the Allthing, was intended not as a defence, as indicated in Madame Pfeiffer's note, but for the purposes of display, and to impress the inhabitants with forcible ideas of his influence and power. He was invited to the court of the Norwegian king, and there he either promised or was bribed to bring Iceland under the Norwegian power. For this he has been greatly blamed, and stigmatised as a traitor; though it would appear from some historians that he only undertook to do by peaceable means what otherwise the Norwegian kings would have effected by force, and thus saved his country from a foreign invasion. But be this as it may, it is quite clear that he sunk in the estimation of his countrymen, and the feeling against him became so strong, that he was obliged to fly to Norway. He returned, however, in 1239, and in two years afterwards he was a.s.sa.s.sinated by his own son-in-law. The work by which he is chiefly known is the _Heimskringla_, or Chronicle of the Sea-Kings of Norway, one of the most valuable pieces of northern history, which has been admirably translated into English by Mr. Samuel Laing. This curious name of Heimskringla was given to the work because it contains the words with which begins, and means literally _the circle of the world_.--ED.]

{40} A translation of this poem will be found in the Appendix. [Not included in this Gutenberg eText--DP]

{41} In Iceland, as in Denmark, it is the custom to keep the dead a week above ground. It may be readily imagined that to a non-Icelandic sense of smell, it is an irksome task to be present at a burial from beginning to end, and especially in summer. But I will not deny that the continued sensation may have partly proceeded from imagination.

{42} Every one in Iceland rides.

{43} I cannot forbear mentioning a curious circ.u.mstance here. When I was at the foot of Mount Etna in 1842, the fiery element was calmed; some months after my departure it flamed with renewed force. When, on my return from Hecla, I came to Reikjavik, I said jocularly that it would be most strange if this Etna of the north should also have an eruption now.

Scarcely had I left Iceland more than five weeks when an eruption, more violent than the former one, really took place. This circ.u.mstance is the more remarkable, as it had been in repose for eighty years, and was already looked upon as a burnt-out volcano. If I were to return to Iceland now, I should be looked upon as a prophetess of evil, and my life would scarcely be safe.

{44} Every peasant in tolerably good circ.u.mstances carries a little tent with him when he leaves home for a few days. These tents are, at the utmost, three feet high, five or six feet long, and three broad.

{45} "Though their poverty disables them from imitating the hospitality of their ancestors in all respects, yet the desire of doing it still exists: they cheerfully give away the little they have to spare, and express the utmost joy and satisfaction if you are pleased with the gift." _Uno von Troil_, 1772.--ED.

{46} The presence of American s.h.i.+ps in the port of Gottenburg is not to be wondered at, seeing that nearly three-fourths of all the iron exported from Gottenburg is to America.--ED.

{47} "St. Stephen's steeple" is 450 feet high, being about 40 feet higher than St. Paul's, and forms part of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, a magnificent Gothic building, that dates as far back as the twelfth century. It has a great bell, that weighs about eighteen tons, being more than double the weight of the bell in St. Peter's at Rome, and four times the weight of the "Great Tom of Lincoln." The metal used consisted of cannons taken from the Turks during their memorable sieges of Vienna. The cathedral is 350 feet long and 200 wide, being less than St. Paul's in London, which is 510 feet long and 282 wide.--ED.

{48} The _Storthing_ is the name given to the Norwegian parliament, which a.s.sembles once every three years at Christiania. The time and place of meeting are fixed by law, and the king has no power to prevent or postpone its a.s.sembly. It consists of about a hundred members, who divide themselves into two houses. The members must not be under thirty years of age, and must have lived for ten years in Norway. The electors are required to be twenty-five years of age, and to be either burgesses of a town, or to possess property of the annual value of 30_l._ The members must possess the same qualification. The members of the Storthing are usually plain-spoken, sensible men, who have no desire to s.h.i.+ne as orators, but who despatch with great native sagacity the business brought before them. This Storthing is the most independent legislative a.s.sembly in Europe; for not only has the king no power to prevent its meeting at the appointed time, but should he refuse to a.s.sent to any laws that are pa.s.sed, these laws come into force without his a.s.sent, provided they are pa.s.sed by three successive parliaments.--ED.

{49} The present king of Sweden and Norway is Oscar, one of the few fortunate scions of those lowly families that were raised to royal power and dignity by Napoleon. His father, Bernadotte, was the son of an advocate, and entered the French army as a common soldier; in that service he rose to the rank of marshal, and then became crown-prince, and ultimately king of Sweden. He died in 1844. The mother of Oscar was Desiree Clary, a sister of Julie Clary, wife of Joseph Bonaparte, the elder brother of Napoleon. This lady was asked in marriage by Napoleon himself, but her father refused his a.s.sent; and instead of becoming an unfortunate empress of France, she became a fortunate queen of Sweden and Norway. Oscar was born at Paris in 1799, and received his education chiefly in Hanover. He accompanied his father to Sweden in 1810, and ascended the throne on his father's death in 1844. In 1824 he married Josephine Beauharnois, daughter of Prince Eugene, and granddaughter of the brilliant and fascinating Josephine, the first and best wife of Napoleon. Oscar is much beloved by his subjects; his administration is mild, just, and equable; and his personal abilities and acquirements are far beyond the average of crowned heads.--ED.

{50} Bergen is a town of about twenty-five thousand inhabitants, situated near the Kons Fiord, on the west coast of Norway, and distant about 350 miles from Christiania. It is the seat of a bishopric, and a place of very considerable trade, its exports being chiefly fish. It has given its name to a county and a towns.h.i.+p in the state of New Jersey.

There are three other Bergens,--one in the island of Rugen, one in the Netherlands, and another in the electorate of Hesse.

{51} _Kulle_ is the Swedish for hill.

{52} Delekarlien is a Swedish province, situated ninety or one hundred miles north of Stockholm.

{53} The family of Sturre was one of the most distinguished in Sweden.

Sten Sturre introduced printing into Sweden, founded the University of Upsala, and induced many learned men to come over. He was mortally wounded in a battle against the Danes, and died in 1520.

His successors as governors, Suante, Nilson Sturre, and his son, Sten Sturre the younger, still live in the memory of the Swedish nation, and are honoured for their patriotism and valour.

{54} The University of Upsala is the most celebrated in the north. It owes its origin to Sten Sturre, the regent of the kingdom, by whom it was founded in 1476, on the same plan as the University of Paris. Through the influence of the Jesuits, who wished to establish a new academy in Stockholm, it was dissolved in 1583, but re-established in 1598.

Gustavus Vasa, who was educated at Upsala, gave it many privileges, and much encouragement; and Gustavus Adolphus reconst.i.tuted it, and give it very liberal endowments. There are twenty-four professors, and the number of students is between four and five hundred.--ED.

{55} See novel of _Ivar_, _the Skjuts Boy_, by Miss Emilie Carlen.

{56} At Calmar was concluded, in 1397, the famous treaty which bears its name, by which Denmark, Sweden, and Norway were united under one crown, that crown placed nominally on the head of Eric Duke of Pomerania, but virtually on that of his aunt Margaret, who has received the name of "the Semiramis of the North." --ED.

{57} There is now a railway direct from Hamburgh to Berlin.--ED.

{58} A florin is about two s.h.i.+llings sterling.--_Tr._

{59} Herr T. Scheffer of Modling, near Vienna, gives the following characteristic of this new dipteral animal, which belongs to the family muscidae, and resembles the species borborus:

_Antennae_ deflexae, breves, triarticulatae, articulo ultimo ph.o.e.reco; seda nuda.

_Hypoctoma_ subprominulum, fronte lata, setosa. _Oculi_ rotundi, remoti.

Abdomen quinque annulatum, dorso nudo. _Tarsi_ simplices. _Alae_ inc.u.mbentes, abdomine longiores, nervo primo simplici.

Niger, abdomine nitido, antennis pedibusque rufopiceis.