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built of lava, are the highest buildings in Reykjavik. Directly behind the town is a small fresh-water lake, about a mile in length. What surprises me most is the luxuriance of the vegetation. Potatoes several feet high and in blossom, and finelooking turnips, and beds of lettuce, appear in almost all the gardens. In the governor's garden I see a very flourishing-looking tree, trained against the south side of a wall. This is not quite large enough for a main-mast to a man-of-war, but still it might make a tolerable cane,—that is, provided it were straight. It is about five feet high, and is, perhaps, the largest tree in Iceland. The temperature now, in midsummer, is delicious. The people I am highly pleased with, so far as I have seen them. There is an agreeable frankness about them, and a hearty hospitality not to be mistaken.

"I shortly prepared for a journey to the Geysers. They are only seventy miles from the capital; but if the traveller get over that ground in two days he will do well. Roads-except mere bridle paths or vehicles of any kind, are unknown in Iceland. All travelling 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 shoeleather, to say nothing of fatigue, would cost nearly as much as horse-flesh. The horses are certainly serviceable, hardy little animals. A stranger in travelling must always have 'a guide;' and if he goes equipped for a journey, and wishes to make good speed, he must have six or eight horses; one for himself, another for the guide, and one or two for the baggage, and then as many relay horses. A tent is carried, unless a traveller chooses to take his chance for lodgings. Such a thing as a hotel is not found in Iceland, out of the capital. He must take his provisions with him, as he will be able to get little on his route except milk; sometimes a piece of beef, or a saddle of mutton or venison, and some fresh-water fish. The luggage is carried in packing-trunks that are made for the purpose, and fastened to a rude sort of frame that serves as a pack-saddle."

GREENLAND.

It is now known that Greenland and other parts of America were visited by the Northmen or sea-kings of Scandinavia in the ninth and tenth centuries.

While Alfred was engaged in expelling the Danes from England, and bestowing the rudiments of civilization on his country, these daring sea rovers of Northern Europe had discovered and were forming settlements in Iceland. They had thus already made

more than half the voyage between Europe and America.

A century later Iceland itself was able to send out her colonies; for we read not only of the discovery of Greenland by these hardy and adventurous Northmen, but of their forming settlements on its coasts.

Notwithstanding, therefore, the renown to which Columbus is justly entitled for his subsequent discoveries, the coast of America was really known to European adventurers several centuries before his day.

Greenland is a vast island, at least ten times larger than Britain; but its exact extent is not known, as its northern limit, which lies far within the Arctic Ocean, has never been explored.

The American expedition of 1853, under the command of the celebrated Dr. Kane, reached a point on the western coast of Greenland further north than had previously been attained. It was within six hundred miles of the North Pole. Here they discovered an immense glacier, since named the Humboldt Glacier, which, as described by Dr. Kane, rose like a solid glassy wall, 300 feet above the level of the water! He considers this great glacier to be the northern termination of a vast ice ocean which occupies the interior of nearly the whole of Greenland. " Imagine," says he, "the centre of such a continent-for Greenland is in mass strictly continental -occupied through nearly its whole extent by a deep, unbroken sea of ice, that gathers perennial increase from the water-shed of vast snow-covered mountains, and from all the precipitations of the atmosphere upon its own surface. Imagine this moving onward like a

great glacial river; seeking outlets at every fiord and valley; rolling icy cataracts into the Atlantic and Greenland seas; and, having at last reached the northern limit of the land that had borne it up, pouring out a mighty frozen torrent into unknown Arctic space. ....... Here was a plastic, moving, semi-solid mass, obliterating life, swallowing rocks and islands, and ploughing its way with irresistible force through the crust of an investing sea."

...

Attempts were made by one of Dr. Kane's sledge parties to climb the glacier; but, though provided with apparatus, they failed in all their efforts to scale the stupendous mass. Another party, pushing northward and keeping parallel to the glacier, at a distance of about six miles from it, came in sight of a vast open sea extending as far as the eye could reach. This sea abounded with seals, bears, and all kinds of Arctic birds. It would thus seem as if the limit of the icy barrier had been reached, and that probably round the Pole itself there exists an open sea in which animal life is abundant.

In this discovery is comprised all that is known of the northern coast of Greenland.

The western coasts are indented by numerous creeks and fiords; in many of which the ground, for two or three months in the year, looks verdant and yields tolerable pasturage.

The eastern coasts can rarely be approached by the whalers, as the vast streams of ice which in summer are constantly driven from the north create a formidable and generally an impassable barrier.

THE GREENLANDERS.

OUR first knowledge of the Esquimaux race was obtained from Greenland; for the native inhabitants of Greenland are true Esquimaux. The habits of these people have been made familiar to us by the accounts given to the world by Danish colonists and missionaries, hundreds of years ago; and, in later times, by the Arctic explorers and whale fishers who have visited the frozen regions of the north.

They inhabit a vast territory, extending from Greenland to the shores of the Pacific; and yet the whole Esquimaux race is supposed to number only about 50,000, or not much more than the population of such a town as York. The average stature of the Esquimaux is far below that of European nations. The common height is little more than five feet, and an Esquimaux of six feet would be a giant among his people.

The Esquimaux have no intercourse with other nations, except as they may occasionally be visited; and hence their language and customs are preserved almost free from change.

Uninfluenced by the demands of fashion, the dress of the Esquimaux never alters. Their garments are composed of the skins of the rein-deer, seals, and birds; and great skill is shown in their construction and arrangement. The fine sewing which they perform on skin is done with the bones of birds, instead of needles; and for thread they use the sinews of rein-deer, seals, or whales, split very thin and twisted together double or threefold with their fingers.

The Northern Esquimaux live in snow or ice houses; but the huts in the south of Greenland are made of stone or wood, and covered with brush, turf, and earth. In the summer they live in tents made of skins. It is not uncommon to find several families crowded together in the smallest possible space, where they eat, drink, and sleep, with fish and flesh lying all around, and dogs reposing on every side.

The food of the Esquimaux consists of almost every animal found within their region; but the seal and the walrus are their principal support for nine months of the year. Their improvidence often reduces them to terrible straits. Captain Parry speaks of meeting with some who had no food, and who were devouring the very skins which composed their clothes, to keep them from starvation.

The children are carried about by the mother very carefully on her back, in a fur hood, until they are two or three years of age, and then they take care of themselves, being expected to imitate what they see others do. A boy very early has a bow and arrow put into his hands, that he may practise shooting at a mark.

He also

throws stones at some particular object at a little distance, to determine the correctness of his aim. Toward his tenth year, his father provides him with a kayak, that he may initiate him in the arts of rowing, rising, oversetting, and coming up again, fowling, fishing, and all those dexterous feats in which he is himself skilled. In his sixteenth year he is expected to accompany his father in sealcatching; and his first seal is made the occasion of great festivity. The girls, at fourteen years of age, are required to sew, cook, and dress leather; and two or three years later they must learn to row the woman's boat and build houses.

The men make all the fishing and hunting implements, and prepare the wood-work of the boats; and the women cover them with skins. When a seal is conveyed to the shore, the women cut and cook it, and arrange the different parts which are appropriated to clothing, shoes, and other uses, and manufacture them accordingly. In these processes they use only a circular knife, formed of bone or ivory; a sharp bone as a needle; and their teeth, with which they soften and pull the skins into the desired form. The men leave all the proceeds of the hunting and fishing to them; but, on the whole, they have a hard life. While they remain with their parents, they share the fortunes of the family, but from the age of twenty their life is full of precarious toil.

The traffic of the Greenlanders is, of course, limited to a very small number of articles. The stone kettles used in cooking, the arrows and other instruments for fishing and hunting, articles of clothing and the skins from which they are manufactured, form their principal stock-in-trade. In the southern part of Greenland, the drift-wood, unknown in the north, gives them a greater variety of articles; and they often exchange things which are manufactured from it, for whale bone, whale sinews, or some parts of the whale which are considered delicious food. They not unfrequently load their sledges and boats with various commodities, and start off with their families on a trading expedition. A roving life is so natural to the Esquimaux, that, even if business of this kind did not incite them, they would prefer the change. They often stay away for a year or more; during which time they build a house in

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