42. M. Thoyon. “Renseignements sur quelques Mouillages sur la Côte d’Islande.” Paris, 1865.
43. “Travels by ‘Umbra’” (Clifford). Edmonstone & Douglas, Edinburgh, 1865. The author, by ascending the Jökull of Eyrikr, that northern Cacus, reached eternal winter’s drear domain. He justly derides the horrors and terrors of Búlandshöfði.
44. “The North-Western Peninsula of Iceland,” by C. W. Shepheard. London: Longmans, 1867. This was the author’s second excursion, and he ascended the Dránga Jökull in the north, where the mountains are lower and accessible.[280]
45. W. C. Paijkull. “Bidrag till Kännedomen om Islands Bergsbyggnad.” Stockholm, 1867. Translated by the Rev. M. R. Barnard, M.A. London: Chapman & Hall, 1868. The author, now dead, was a Swede, and professed geology at the University of Upsala; he travelled in 1865, and unfortunately neglected to supply his volume with an index and a decent map. Its merits are much debated, and, as a rule, its tone is greatly disliked by the islanders. An excellent authority, Dr Hjaltalín of Reykjavik, who has published several important studies of his native land,[281] considers it of scant value; on the other hand, Mr Jón A. Hjaltalín recommends it for its moderation to English travellers.
46. H. Mohn of the Institut Météorologique de Norvège. “Temperature de la Mer entre l’Islande et l’Ecosse.” Christiania, 1870.
47. “A Report on the Resources of Iceland and Greenland.” Compiled by Benjamin Mills Peirce, U.S. State Department, Washington Government Printing Office. The author was charged by Mr Secretary Seward to inspect the sulphur mines, 1868. He personally visited the island and produced a useful paper, collating the accounts and the figures published by his predecessors; but, like such compilations generally, it abounds in errors, and it makes scanty attempt to discriminate the various value of the information which it gleans.
48. “Six Weeks in the Saddle: a Painter’s Journal in Iceland.” By S. G. Waller. London: Macmillan, 1874. An unpretending volume which has held its ground at Mudie’s, and which carefully avoids disputed points and exaggerated statements. The illustrations are very poor compared with the charming studies of scenery and animals made by the author, and it wants index and map, without which the home-reader will hardly follow the line over the now rarely visited southern shore.
49. The Alpine Journal, No. 45 (Longmans, London, 1874), contains “Interesting Notes on Mountain Climbing in Iceland,” by Dr James Bryce, who also during the same year published his “Impressions of Iceland” in the Cornhill Magazine. He justly remarks that the difficulty is not so much to climb the peaks as to traverse the inhospitable desert separating them from the inhabited parts.
Mr S. Baring-Gould (Intr., pp. xxxiv., xxxv.) gives a catalogue of the fifteen books and manuscripts usually found amongst the priests and farmers; and in Appendix D. a list of Icelandic published Sagas (thirty-five), local histories (sixty-six), annals of bishops (twelve), annals of Norway, etc. (sixty-nine), and romances translated into Icelandic (nineteen), a total of 201; besides law-books, Bible stories, and tracts on poetry, geography, astronomy, etc. The various editions of the Bible and of the Testament, as well as the newspaper press, will be noticed in future pages.
Miscellaneous general information concerning Iceland is found in the following works: The Foreign Quarterly Review (vol. ix., Jan.-May 1832) contains an excellent paper on the “Literature and Literary Societies of Iceland.” The “Mémoires de la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord” are a mine of information to the student. Mrs Somerville’s “Physical Geography.” The “Progress of the Nation,” by G. R. Porter, Esq., F.R.S. (“Institute of Natural Science,” Paris correspondence. London, 1851). “Meddelelser fra det statistiske Bureau,” vols. i.-vi. Kjöbenhavn, 1852-1861. In the fourth volume of the “Description of the Coast of Iceland” (“Fierde Hefte af Beskrivelsen over den islandske Kyst”) by P. de Löwenörn, is a paper which was strongly recommended for translation to the author of these pages by Captain Tvede of Djúpivogr. The various numbers of the “Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes,” etc. Herschel’s “Physical Geography,” 2d edition, Edinburgh, 1862. Lippencott’s “Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer, or Geographical Dictionary of the World,” 8vo, Philadelphia, 1866. Chambers’ and other Cyclopædias. Bayard Taylor’s “Cyclopædia of Modern Travel,” New York, 1856. “Cyclopædia Britannica,” vol. xii., 1856. Knight’s “English Encyclopædia” (pp. 1333-1345) of 1873, has printed an admirably condensed paper on Icelandic language and literature, by Mr Jón A. Hjaltalín.[282]