第38章 LETTER VIII.(1)

START FROM REYKJAVIK--SNAEFELL--THE LADY OF FRODA-ABERSERK TRAGEDY--THE CHAMPION OF BREIDAVIK--ONUNDERFIORD--THE LAST NIGHT--CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE--FETEON BOARD THE "REINE HORTENSE"--LE PERE ARCTIQUE-WE FALLIN WITH THE ICE--THE "SAXON"DISAPPEARS--MIST--A PARTINGIN A LONELY SPOT--JAN MAYEN--MOUNT BEERENBERG--ANUNPLEASANT POSITION--SHIFT OF WIND AND EXTRICATION--"TONORROWAY OVER THE FAEM"--A NASTY COAST--HAMMERFEST.

Hammerfest,July.

Back in Europe again,--within reach of posts!The glad sun shining,the soft winds blowing,and roses on the cabin table,--as if the region of fog and ice we have just fled forth from were indeed the dream-land these summer sights would make it seem.I cannot tell you how gay and joyous it all appears to us,fresh from a climate that would not have been unworthy of Dante's Inferno.

And yet--had it been twice as bad,what we have seen would have more than repaid us,though it has been no child's play to get to see it.

But I must begin where I left off in my last letter,--just,I think,as we were getting under way,to be towed by the "Reine Hortense"out of Reykjavik Harbour.Having been up all night,--as soon as we were well clear of the land,and that it was evident the towing business was doing well--I turned in for a few hours.When I came on deck again we had crossed the Faxe Fiord on our way north,and were sweeping round the base of Snaefell--an extinct volcano which rises from the sea in an icy cone to the height of 5,000feet,and grimly looks across to Greenland.

The day was beautiful;the mountain's summit beamed down upon us in unclouded splendour,and everything seemed to promise an uninterrupted view of the west coast of Iceland,along whose rugged cliffs few mariners have ever sailed.

Indeed,until within these last few years,the passage,I believe,was altogether impracticable,in consequence of the continuous fields of ice which used to drift down the narrow channel between the frozen continent and the northern extremity of the island.Lately,some great change seems to have taken place in the lie of the Greenland ice;and during the summer-time you can pass through,though late in the year a solid belt binds the two shores together.

But in a historical and scientific point of view,the whole country lying about the basanite roots of Snaefell is most interesting.At the feet of its southern slopes are to be seen wonderful ranges of columnar basalt,prismatic caverns,ancient craters,and specimens of almost every formation that can result from the agency of subterranean fires;while each glen,and bay,and headland,in the neighbourhood,teems with traditionary lore.On the north-western side of the mountain stretches the famous Eyrbiggja district,the most classic ground in Iceland,with the towns,or rather farmsteads,of Froda,Helgafell,and Biarnarhaf.

This last place was the scene of one of the most curious and characteristic Sagas to be found in the whole catalogue of Icelandic chronicles.

In the days when the same Jarl Hakon I have already mentioned lorded it over Norway,an Icelander of the name of Vermund,who had come to pay his court to the lord of Lade,took a violent wish to engage in his own service a couple of gigantic Berserks,[Footnote:Berserk,i.e.,bare sark.The berserks seem to have been a deion of athletes,who were in the habit of stimulating their nervous energies by the use of some intoxicating drug,which rendered them capable of feats of extraordinary strength and daring.The Berserker gang must have been something very like the Malay custom of running a muck.

Their moments of excitement were followed by periods of great exhaustion.]named Halli and Leikner,whom the Jarl had retained about his person,--fancying that two champions of such great strength and prowess would much acid to his consequence on returning home.In vain.the Jarl warned him that personages of that deion were wont to give trouble and become unruly,--nothing would serve but he must needs carry them away with him;nay,if they would but come,they might ask as wages any boon which might be in his power to grant.The bargain accordingly was made;but,on arriving in Iceland,the first thing Halli took it into his head to require was a wife,who should be rich,nobly born,and beautiful.As such a request was difficult to comply with,Vermund,who was noted for being a man of gentle disposition,determined to turn his troublesome retainers over to his brother,Arngrim Styr,i.e.,the Stirring or Tumultuous One,--as being a likelier man than himself to know how to keep them in order.