I C E L A N D
Plate IV. ICELAND (in Danish, Island) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, immediately to the south of the polar circle. It extends from 63° 23′ to 66° 33′ N. lat., and from 13° 22′ to 24° 35′ W. long. Its distance from the north of Scotland is 500 miles, from Norway 600 miles, and from Greenland 250 miles. The greatest length of the island is 300 miles, from east to west, and its greatest breadth 200 miles. The area is estimated at 39,200 square miles, 7000 more than that of Ireland.
The geological formation of the island is throughout volcanic. It rests on a foundation of palagonite, or palagonite tufa, called in Icelandic “mó-berg”; and on this foundation are raised plateaus of basalts, and mountains of trachyte and other volcanic ejections. The whole island seems to have been filled up by volcanic agency. In some of the mountains the lavas occur in tolerably regular parallel strata or terraces, separated here and there by layers containing lignite, as in the similar volcanic plateaus of Faroe and Greenland.
Coast. The whole of the south coast, from Hornafjörður in the south-east to Reykjanes in the south-west, is entirely unbroken by bays or firths. If such ever existed, they have been filled up by the glaciers and the sand and mud carried down from the volcanic ice-mountains situated close to the south coast. The coast-line is not, however, a straight line, but a broad arch, as the land swells out in the middle south wards to a considerable extent. On the north of Reykjanes a broad bay called Faxaflói (Faxi's Bay) cuts into the land; it is bounded on the north side by Snæfellsnes, and has an area of 54 miles by 30. On the north side of Snæfellsnes the long Breiðifjörður (Broadfirth) nearly cuts off the north-west peninsula from the rest of the island; it is 80 miles long and 40 broad. The Breiðifjörður is noted for its great number of small islands, most of them inhabited, and all of them affording breeding places for the eider duck. To the north of the Breiðifjörður, innumerable bays cut into the peninsula at every turn, giving it some what the look of the outstretched hand of a man; the longest of these is Ísafjarðardjúp (Icefirthdeep), 45 miles long. On the north side of the island, between Horn (Cape North) on the west and Melrakkaslétta (Fox Plain) on the east, there are several large firths. Furthest to the west is Húnaflói (Bearcubs' Bay), about 60 miles long, which nearly meets the Breiðifjörður running in from the west; the tongue of land which separates them and connects the north-west peninsula with the rest of the island is hardly 5 miles broad. The other firths on the north side are Skagafjörður, Eyafjörður (Firth of the Isles) 36 miles long, Skjálfandafjörður, and Axarfjörður (Axefirth). The Melrakkaslétta is separated from Langanes, the north-east point of Iceland, by the Þistilfjörður (Thistlefirth). The whole of the east coast of the island is indented by numerous narrow firths like those found in the north-west peninsula, but none of them are of any great length. Sailing round the island from point to point, the distance is 900 miles, but if we follow the coast-line it is not less than 2000 miles.
Interior. The centre of the island is a table-land, or rather a broad flattened ridge, sloping down to the north and the south, the average height of which above the level of the sea is about 2000 feet. It consists of arid sands and rugged tracts of lava, the most important of which bear the names of Ódáðahraun (the Lava of Evil Deeds), Sprengisandur (Bursting Sand), and Stórisandur (Big Sand). This wilderness is frequently broken by high and extensive ice-hills called jökull (plur. jöklar). The ice hills rise to the greatest height in the south-east, where the most extensive ice-field in the island, called Vatnajökull, covers about 4000 square miles. The outliers of this ice-field come close down to the water, hardly leaving room for passage between them and the sea; some of these are the loftiest summits in the island, as Öræfajökull, which is 6466 feet high. South of the west end of the Vatnajökull, called Skaptárjökull, stretches an inhabited slope, interrupted by several small hills, and intersected by considerable streams. The east-most part is called Síða; then follow Landbrot, Meðalland, and Alptaver. West of this the land rises again in the Mýrdalsjökull and the Eyafjallajökull, the latter being 5593 feet high, and here again the mountains come close down to the sea. West of the Eyafjallajökull is the largest plain in the island, stretching westward to the mountain chain terminating in the low cape of Reykjanes, and backed on the north side by several isolated mountains, among which the far-famed Hecla is prominent; its height approaches 5000 feet. This plain consists of stretches of grass land and marshes, affording abundance of grass for pasture and haymaking.
The southern and part of the eastern coasts of Faxaflói, as far as Reykjavík, are very barren and desolate, being almost entirely rugged lava tracts; but the lower parts of the hills then begin to be clothed with grass, affording pasture for sheep, cattle, and horses. North of Reykjavík is a long and narrow firth called Hvalfjörður (Whalefirth), and further on a shorter one called Borgarfjörður (Burghfirth). Between the extremity of the latter and the central highlands there is a large and fertile district, consisting of grassy valleys, divided by low hills, and an extensive plain covered with marshy grasslands. This district is a fair specimen of many of the inhabited parts of Iceland. The level land, the valley bottoms along the river banks, and in many cases the slopes of the hills, are covered with grass, but the soil is too frequently boggy and marshy. The hills are partly covered with heather, and in a few places with stunted dwarf birch. Districts similar in character to Borgarfjörður are the Dalir (Dales) on the south side of Breiðifjörður, the Húnavatnssýsla on the south side of Húnaflói, the Skagafjörður, the Fljótsdalshérað on the east side of the island, and the western half of the plain lying between Eyafjallajökull and the Reykjanes range of mountains. The north-west peninsula consists, as already stated, of narrow firths divided by high and narrow mountain ridges, seldom lower than 2000 feet. In some places the top is a thin rocky edge; in others it consists of sharp-pointed peaks, denuded of all vegetation. Even at a considerable distance the different rocky strata may be distinguished. Sometimes these hills, or rather cliffs, rise perpendicularly out of the water to a height of a couple of thousand feet, affording breeding-places to an immense number of sea-fowl. More frequently the lower parts of these razor-backed hills slope towards the firths, the stony slopes being partly covered with grass or heather. The farms are therefore found along the shores and in short valleys cutting into the hills from the ends of the firths. The east coasts of Iceland present exactly the same character as that of the north-west peninsula. From the end of Eyafjörður a long and fertile valley, bounded on both sides by lofty mountains, runs due south into the country for about 25 miles. The north-east corner of the island, called Þingeyarsýsla, has good sheep pasturage, although its hills and slopes are covered with heather instead of grass to a greater extent than most other districts of the island. It will thus be seen that the inhabited parts run round the coasts, and from
