In order to better maintain rights and settle disputes, in 930 the chiefs or nobles established an aristocratic republic and adopted a constitution. The republic existed four hundred years. Many just laws were enacted, some of which England was glad to borrow. The legislative meetings were held in Thingvalla, a picturesque valley thirty-five miles east of Reykjavik. This valley was formed by the sinking of a lava area of fifty square miles. In the middle of the valley, flanked by two huge jagged walls of lava, is a triangular floor of lava like a large flatiron having separating chasms meeting at the apex. Here the Althing, or general assembly, met annually to make laws and settle disputes. Toward the south the valley slopes gently to Thingvalla Vatn, a beautiful sheet of water of crystal clearness ten miles long and five miles wide, having in some places a depth of a thousand feet. The scenery here is one of rugged beauty and surpassing grandeur. Hard by, a river comes tumbling over its rocky bed, then calmly pours its icy water into the placid lake. No spot is better suited to inspire freedom of thought and lofty imagination than this primitive meeting-place of a legislative assembly.
Eventually, Iceland became subject to Norway and afterward a colony of Denmark, which it remains to-day. Self-government and the re-establishment of the old Parliament at Reykjavik was granted by Denmark in 1874.
Iceland is not only out of debt but has the snug sum of one million crowns in its exchequer. It is an ideal place for the woman's rights advocates, since women here have the right to vote and do not change their names when they marry.
Although the island contains forty thousand square miles, five-sixths of it is uninhabitable. The present population is eight thousand.
It may with truth be called naked because it is only partly clothed with vegetation; moreover, such vegetation as exists is scanty and confined chiefly to the river valleys and their slopes. In the interior are large desert areas covered with lava and shifting sand. This desolate expanse is frequently diversified by extensive jokulls, or elevated ice-fields, one of which occupies four thousand square miles.
Strange as it may seem, the winters in the inhabited sections are not so severe as those of New England, owing to the modifying influence of the warm southwesterly wind and the mild temperature of the surrounding waters. The summers are cool, owing to the nearness of the arctic ice-fields. In the interior on the table-land one is apt to encounter snowstorms even in August.
The only wild animal is the fox, of which there are two varieties, the white and the blue. These animals probably drifted on the ice from Greenland. They are hunted not only for their skins but also because they attack the sheep.
The domestic animals are horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, and cats. The horses and cattle are small. The ewes, instead of the cows, are milked. Iceland ponies are famous for their hardiness and are sure-footed. Large numbers of them are exported to England for service in the coal-mines. There they are condemned to hard labor for life in the dark galleries.
Iceland ranks second among the geyser regions of the world, Yellowstone Park being first. The boiling springs and geysers are not confined to one locality but are scattered widely over the island. The most prominent are east of Reykjavik.
According to its area probably no other part of the world except the island of Java has so many volcanoes. More than one hundred craters and cinder cones have been counted, many of which have been active within the historical period of the island. The most destructive volcanic eruption took place in June, 1783. The spring had opened auspiciously; the cattle, sheep, and horses were cropping the juicy young grass; and the air was balmier than usual. In the latter part of May a bluish smoke accompanied by earthquakes began to spread over the land. As time passed the earthquake shocks increased in violence. The surface of the earth heaved like the ground swell of the ocean after a storm; the atmosphere became filled with choking vapors and blinding smoke; the sun was darkened and the low rumbling sounds became heavy peals of thunder. Presently two mighty streams of lava, one of which was fifteen miles wide and one hundred feet deep, came pouring down the sides of Skaptar Jokull. The lava floods filled up the valleys, quenched rivers, and spread destruction over the adjacent country. The intense heat blasted the vegetation far and wide. Nine thousand people and fifty thousand head of live stock were the result of the death harvest.