[Page 215],—Skútustaðir:—This should be derived, not from the Icelandic skúti, cave, but from an old Viking who settled here by the name of Skúti. I am indebted for this correction to Thorður Floventsson of Svatákot.

[Page 216],—Kraká:—This word is more correctly derived from the Icelandic Kraká, the name of a witch. In Chapter XIII I derived it from kraki, crow or raven. The following story was related to me in 1913, while struggling along its boggy margin by my guide, Ólafur Eyvindsson.

“There was a witch by the name of Kraká who lived in the mountains up the valley. She became angry with a farmer over a piece of fine meadow land which he refused to convey to her under any condition. Thereupon she threatened to destroy it if he did not yield at once. He remained obstinate. Soon a river poured out from the mountains, laid waste the farm and flooded the great meadow, as may be seen to this day, especially if the traveller goes from Skútustaðir to Svatákot, Black-River-Farm, as we are now doing. In this instance his route will be across Graenavatn, Green-Lake.”

Graenavatn is a mighty meadow with water over all of it, but so shallow that the grass stands in most places out of the water. It is only along the edge of the river, Kraká, where the water has thrown up the black sand, that it is possible for ponies to proceed.

Railway:—I have seen several paragraphs going the rounds of the American press relative to a railroad in Iceland. I had a chance to ride on this railroad in 1913. It is less than two miles in length. It is merely an improvised affair to transport rocks from the quarry to the two great breakwaters that are being built to protect the harbor of Reykjavik.

There is some discussion in the Althing, (winter of 1914,) about the construction of a railway from Reykjavik into the rich grazing land near Eyrarbakki. At the present writing nothing definite has been done. It seems that it would be unwise to employ steam and ship the coal from Scotland, when an electric road can be made much more cheaply and there is such an abundance of water power for electricity.

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