[51] This stone, like the diamond, threatens to lose more than half its value, if it be true that the State of Queretaro in Mexico has lately (1874) yielded “opals of the first quality, and of all varieties; the milk-opals, fire-opals, girasols or ‘harlequins,’ and the richest Hungarian or precious opals.”
[52] The word Áss, pl. Asar and Æsir, is explained by Jornandes, “Gothi proceres suos quasi qui fortunâ vincebant non pares homines sed semideos, i.e. Anses (Ans in Mæso-Gothic) vocavere.” Suetonius makes Æsar an Etruscan word which meant God (probably a plural of Kelt. Es). We find forms of it in the Mongolian dialects, and in the Aryan, Sanskrit (Asura), Keltic, Teutonic (Æsir), German (Anshelm, p. n.), and even in the English Osborn and Oswald. As appears to correspond with the Semitic Al, but the word is still involved in mystery.
[53] The Hebrew Esh and the Chaldee Esha (fire) are synonymous with the Aryan Is, whence Isti, an offering on the hearth, and Estika the place of offering. Hence the Greek Hestía, fire, hearth, stove, and, with digamma, the Latin Vesta when worshipped as Genius or Lar familiaris.
[54] Blót (or Forn), a sacrifice of men and beasts, horses and oxen, swine and sheep, must not be confounded with Blóð, blood. The Blót-steinn or sacrificial stone, which acted as our gallows, is described as of “oval form and a little pointed at the top,” which suggests the Moab-god Chemosh, it stood in every Thing-field, a place adjoining the Hof. I did not remark that the site of the temples always faced south, as Mallet says. The Öndvegi, or high-seat of the hall, was “on the side of the sun,” i.e., south.
[55] He specifies the ruined castle near Videdal (Viðidalr), some 200 perches in circumference and 20 fathoms (?) high on the north side; another castle near the parsonage Skaggestad at Laugarnaes; remains of heathen temples at Midfjörð, Godale, Viðvik, etc.; the ancient place of execution at Hegranaes; pagan burial-places, like that of Thorleif Jarlaskáld’s in the Oxerá island, which yielded old swords and helmets; two Bauta-steinn, great standing stones (Menhirs?), on the heaths of Thingman’s and Threkyllis, “which probably, according to Odin’s regulations, were monuments to the memory of deceased persons;” the grass-grown mound of Reykholt, “said to be raised from the ruins of Sturluson’s house;” the Sturlunga Reitr, or burial-place of his family, and forty small figures of brass representing animals and other objects found near Flatey: “unfortunately they fell into the hands of people who did not know their value, consequently they have all been lost” (p. 189).
[56] This popular German expression is evidently the Scandinavian Besse, for Berr or Bersi = Bär, a bear. Besse, again, has a suspicious likeness to the Yakut “Ese,” the most respectful term in the language, = grandfather or monseigneur, applied by those Siberian Mongols to the great white bear, their most formidable foe. Bruin in Gothland being the “king of the beasts,” to do a thing with Besse’s leave is equivalent to doing it without leave. The quaint quadruped is much noticed in folk-lore; “Mishka” is his pet name in Russia; “Berengarius” is derived from the French Dan Beringer; and Ephraim and Ole Cuffey are well known in the U.S. Persia abounds in tales about his wearing a turband and riding asses.
[57] It supplied the Hafnafiordite of Forchhammer, leek-green, light, porous, and friable pumice-tuff, containing the following proportions:
| Silica, | 35·89 |
| Alumina, | 27·36 |
| Protoxide of iron, | 14·41 |
| Lime, | 10·86 |
| Potash, | 9·00 |
| Sulphuric acid, | 1·55 |
| 99·07 |
Dr W. Lauder Lindsay remarks, “The sp. gr. is usually 2·729; it appears to be a lime-oligoclase, belonging, therefore, to the Felspathic family of minerals.”
[58] Passengers to Hafnafjörð paid only 2 marks (7d.). The nine days to the north and back were the cheapest known to me—$9 (=£1) each way, and for living £4, a total of 13s. per diem, including steward’s fees, and excellent Norwegian ale and Geneva ad lib. Breakfast of fish and meat at eight to ten A.M.; dinner of ditto and coffee at two to four P.M.; and supper, a repetition of the two, at eight to nine P.M. Port, sherry, and Château Yquem = $1 specie (4s. 6d.); champagne, $2; porter, $0·48; and Norwegian beer, 12sk. (3½d.) per bottle. The cooking was excellent, and plate and linen equally spotless; the table was laid à la Russe with pleasant little hors d’œuvres of sardines and smoked salmon, salt meat, ham, and sausage, in fact what Italians facetiously call “Porcheria.” We mentally re-echo Mr Thackeray’s hope that Great Britain, who is supposed to rule the waves, will some day devote a little more attention to her cuisine.