Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-10-24
A VISIT TO ICELAND.

II is not often that tourists set their
faces to'explore the retreats OF the high
ATTITUDES of the arctic zone, but occas-
ionaliy one bolder than the rest, and
determined to find really untrodden
route, turned his course towards the
const citation OF the Great Besr.-. One Of
these landed recently in Iceland, and
writes 10 the New York Times alb inter
esting account of his visit to this ancient
haunt of the Vikings
Describing the country he observes
that farms anil villages eall contained
island, and are situated IL -ibs-val!eys
between the n,Quntaip chains that radi-
ate from the high land of the interior
and extend far into the sea. Within
this inbabitsble ring the island is one
vast desert, a huge tableland that has
for ages been the TRUSTING place Of natures
most violent forces. Riven and torn and
tossed-thc earthquake, glacier, and
volcano have united to produce a scene
that cannot be equaled. For an extent
of 20 600 miles there is utter desolatioD,
inhabited by no human being.
From this tableland again rise noun
tains and volcanoes, sipgly or in groups,
while the snowy domes OF the Jokulls
| pronounced Yea'kuli, and meaning a
mountain eternally covered with-snow),
tower high shove them all. Every GEN.
fury sees changes. in this;interior. Hills
/ rise where before; there were valleys;
1 boiling springs disappear or burst forth
where they had not previously been
known, and in the mountain sides or on
the leye plain huge ehasms open with
reverberating reports and belch forth
seas of molten lava.
In the southwestern part of the island,
\ about sixty miles from Reykjavik, stands
Hecla, a comparatively small, Though
very active, volcano. -,.
+ Further TO thetastward IS the terrible
Vatna JekIll stretching its glacier arms
and riven cliffs over the, surrounding
country-4001 miles of ice resting upon
nest of volcanoes that. perhaps, are
only waitiag'fhc time when they shall
as before open their huge threats and
teashed sides anu spread destruction over
sea and land, sutf3cating many Lirds
animals, and men with their lmoxious
. gases. destroying the fishes in the sea
and sending the waters of the, rivers
Kissing and screaming into The. air before
the approach of the fiery food The
two; NEST violent ie,uptions on RECORD
have occurred from this group, and sew
eral times have they spread ashes ant
sand over the farms that lay within the
course of the wind and over the seas fol
, hundreds of miles.
Ell Perhaps nc country has been more &C
81 euTately mapped than Iceland. TIL,
Danish government, under whose rul,
, the islantfhas been since.tlie fourteenth
century, seems to have paid rariicula
/ attention TO surveying its coasts anC
Z interior. and the result is one oftbc mos
faithfully executed maps in existence
Every rock and ford about the coast
{ each village. farm, and bride path, an,
even the glanciers and chasms, to tn,
smallest line in the mountain sides, an
z put down with an almost microscopi
minuteness and a regard for accurac
and detail that would do credit to ia
n more Important countries than this.
: The VatDa Jokull alone remains
e blank TO mar the beauty of the whole
. Defyirg all attempts at ascent or exploi
ation, it always has been. and ever vii
be, represented by only the vagues
outlines, unless Il again breaks forth wit
:. more terrible violence, changing tn
y whole character of its formation. an
S perhaps killing many persons whom
r is patiently Turing into sense Of secur
!. ty by years of silence. 2..- 50
q From the name and situation. on
2, might expect to find Iceland cold, de:
n olate country, shrouded much of tn
/ time in snow and bordered, like the ca:
- coast Of its neighbor, Greenland, Wit
Il almost impenetrable fields of ice. TIL
10 Gull Stream, however, plays an impor
d ant part in modifying and equaliziny tn
q climate, and though the summers al
= somewhat cooler and shorter, the winter
& are far milder than in some parts of OF
is own country. iQqite difference exis
between the climates oftbe southern an
u northern parts of the island; but IF W
20 20 trace the isothermal or line of mea
IS temperature, equal 10 that of Akurey'
ie on the north coast I'VE will find it lea,
n, ing US far south in other countries tn
=, boast OF more salubrious ,cliuIate. II
70 present season here, as in other place
Ie was very backward. So cold and late
IL spring has not been known for yeal
p Until the first OF June snow lay upon II
~ mountains TO their very base. and fe
r signs of vegetation had appeared in IL
in grass lots ofsheykjavik or on the far
4. around the coast.
vi T PIT later ON things assumed a differf
:. aspect. On the PARASITIC ponies, cattl
Of AM sheep cropped fhe short grass aft
NC q ,eSew4ntef on eife usnaf scantv fos