American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-09-19

its mark like n kloud at MONDAY.
Sloth IL a syren, and he who listens to
her songs will wake up to dispair.
Iceland and Its Recent Celebration.
THE Icelanders are a singular people
brave, merciful, Christian and intelli-
gent in surprising degree. The island
is not more than two-thirds the size of
than that of Newark, N J. 1t
lies amid the ice of the Northern
Ocean, 600 miles from Norway, and
200 miles from Greenland There
is no town except Rejkiavik, the capital,
with a''popuIation of 1000. The Ice
: landers have never liked the Danes, their
language, nor their laws. The Icelandic
language is pure Scandinavian, and no
Dane thinks of speaking it. But the
new constitution presented to the people
by the King of Denmark pleases them,
and when it went in force on the LIST of
August there was great rejoicing through
out the little island. The real celebra-
ton began on Sunday, the following day
Flags were displayed on every heuse-top,
and all the ships in the harbor were
gayly decorated. The sun shone in a
clear sky, and away to the northwest the
horizon was pierced with Illuminated
mountain-peaks-
At Rejkiavik the King of Denmark, his
courtiers, the correspondents and scien-
tific men from America assembled with
the winter-clad peasants of the North to
celebrate the millennial of a thousand
years. Songs were sung, addresses de-
ivered, and prayers of gratitude and
thanksgiving offered up to the God of
universal freedom.
Bayard Taylor, in his description of
fha Ifal of Il.
1T was very evident that all Rejkiavik
was in a state of unusual excitement and
expectation The people greeted us re-
spectfully on all sides, but, in spite of
? their apparent curiosity, asked no ques-
tions.
Smooth, tolerably broad streets of
volcanic sand and gravel, with tagged
Sidewalks; square wooden houses which
seemed stately in comparison With those
of Thorshavn; merchants store-houses,
without signs, yet generally thronged
with people; little gardens of cauli-
flower, radishes and turnips; white cur
tains, pots of geranium, mignonette and
roses in the windows, and ruddy, sun
Drowned faces looking out upon us-such
were the features of the place which
first caught the eye. Flags floated from
all the larger buildings, and a new jetty,
with a crimson canopy, was in prepare
AS for Rejkiavik, it is far from
being the dark, dirty, malodorous town
2 which certain English and German trav-
elers describe. The streets are broad
and clean, the houses exceedingly coy
and pleasant, the turf of the greenest,
the circle of the ford and mountains
truly grand, and only the absence of any
tree suggests the high latitude"
DIR. Hayes, speaking of the Icelanders'
hIIfG In, h. ri
timber can be landed from ships, as at
Rejkiavik, you may see many neat, little,
nicely-painted frame cottages, warmed
In winter as any cottage would be
warmed elsewhere; but those not so stu
ated, and those in Rejkiavik not rich
enough to afford timber, build great
walls of turf and stones / measured
one that was eight feet in thickness
Usually the gables are of wood, painted,
or, rather, pitched, black, and the in
terror is lined with planned boards, and
the floor is laid with boards Even
this found to be the case ninety miles
inland; and one can readily understand
the labor and bother of getting sufli-
Gent supply from the capital over such
villainous roads upon the backs of those
little Icelandic ponies. Yet they have
an eye to comfort even here, and do the
best they can to make life enjoyable"
After the celebration ceremonies
closed Bayard Taylor, DIR. Hayes and
others of the American party made a
journey inland to the Geysers and to the
Valley of Thinevalla, where "A festival
was held Mr. Taylor says:
~ mile up the valley, passing a farm
called Skyrcot, we struck eastward into
IA braun, or lava-field torn and convulsed
beyond anything we had previously
seen. In the holes and gaps where soil
had gradually accumulated, there grew
stunted willows and birches, rarely more
than three or four feet in height This
is called the Thingvalla Forest! 1t APP
parently covers eight or ten square miles
and, miserable as il seems, is able to sup
ply the few farms in the neighborhood
with sufficient fuel.
1t is doubtful whether Iceland was
ever wooded, as some of the sagas indi
cate. No large tree-trunks have been
found in the peatbeds, and there are no
local traditions of woodland. ! am con
WINGED that the harder trees, such as
birch, Scotch fir, mountain ash and alder
might be raised in sheltered places, with
a little care Yet almost the only tree
in Iceland is mountain ash, about
twenty-five feet high, at Akureyri, on the
north coast.
THE exercises at the Mound of the
Judges were to commence at ten; so,
after taking coffee. ! set out with our
German guests to visit the famous Log
berg, or Hill of the Law, where the
Mummy, or Popular Assembly, of Iceland
was held for nearly 800 years
g." History states that when the indie
pendent chiefs who first took up the
habitable part of Iceland found it nee
essary to unite and form a superior gov
eminent for all they had some difficulty
in selecting Il suitable spot for its DELHI
erations. In the year $50 Thingvalla was
finally chosen, and no other spot, Ger
tainly, could have invested the 1uhing
with such an air of awe and solemnity.
The great lava plain of ThingvalIa (or
lcelandic, 1htngcetlerl is rent by deep,
tremendous assures in general dircc-
ton from north to south. One of these,
on the eastern edge of the valley, forms
almost an island, attached to the main