The Bessemer indicator., 1893-08-05
BETTER THAN ITS NAME.
THERE ARE SOME GOOD POINTS
ABOUT ICELAND.
washed by tho Gulf Stream. 1t Has an
Equable Climate, Extrsmes Of Heat and
Cold Being Unknown . Land
Of Learned Men.

Cold Being Unknown Land
of Learned Men.
Iceland, in fact, is not by any means
so fOrbidding IL country as its name
Implies. 1t is no more land OF ice
than Greenland is land of verdure.
it is not nearly SO cold as many
places in tho United States, not to
mention the Canadian dominion. The
fifty and sixty degrees below zero
registered every winter in the North
west territory and Assiniboia, and
even the thirGy-fivc and forty below
experienced in Montana and Northern
Dakota, are unheard of in Iceland.
Neither is the other extreme felt OF
great heat. such as these very regions
of North America endure. No Ice
lander knows what a temperature of
one hundred In the shade is There
are no sudden fluctuations or great
changes. The climate is remarkably
equable. A variation OF thirty de-
grees in n month is probably not on
record in the island. The climate is
due, OF course, to the same cause that
produces the same effect in tho
British isles. namely. the Gulf stream.
This great ocean current washes the
southern and western shores of Ice
land, and secures it mild winter
and balmy summer. There are
glaciers in the island, of course, but
they form no icebergs.
| The sea around the island is never
frozcn. nor indeed is any floating ice,
in Hoes or bcrgs, ever seen, save on
rare occasions on the northern coast
Now and then in summer, prolonged
storms will carry floating ice across
from the Greenland coast and drive
it upon the northern shore OF Iceland,
together with cold fog and rain. In
this way polar bears are landed
on the island. On tho other
hand the winters are so mild
that thunderstorms often occur in
them In fact, most of the thunder
storms in Iceland are in the winter
months.
Agriculturally, however, the eli
mate of Iceland is less favorable than
that of Manitoba. The sumner is
cooler, and vegetation, therefore.
natures less rapidly. For this reason
it is impossible to grow any grain
there except a species of oats. Corn,
wheat and rye are out of the ques-
tion. Tho contents of the vegetable
garden are also limited. Tomatoes
and pumpkins, for example. cannot
be grown; nor are fruit trees and
grape vines to be seem Tho chief
garden products are potatoes, cab
bagcs, carrots and turnips, all of
which grow with great luxuriancc
and are of excellent quality. The
only tree is the birch, which only
reaches IL height of ten or twelve
feet. But the chief crop Is grass.
The moist climate favors it's growth,
and the island is abundantly supplied
with both pasture and meadow lands,
These sustain great ilocks of horned
sheep and fards of cattle and ponies,
Of all of which great numbers arc an
nually exported to Scotland and else
where. Fish, wool, tallow, feathers,
sulphur, cider down and shark oil are
also important items of foreign trade
An important industry of tho
Islands nowadays is the entertain
nent of summer tourists, who leave
L great deal of money behind them,
and by accustoming the islanders to
intercourse with the outside world,
help to rub of their angularities,
and to moderate the Chauvinism
which, though Il most harmless char
icteristic of the natives, has done
not II little to retard the progress of
one of the kindliest and most culti-
~ he, of
he majority OF the tourists do not,
however, go much further than Reyk-
iavik, and from there to the geysers
and back again. 1t is this part of
Iceland which is most familiar to
Englishmen, who form the bulk of
the visitors, and it is from the peo-
pie in this southern district that for
signers form their opinion of the folk
at large.
In almost any part of the inhabited
districts the courteous visitor. cs pc
may find the utmost hospitality and
less eagerncss to make the most out
of him than the presence of the for
cigner has so rapidly developed in
simple minded Scandinavia. Even il
the "reiser" is ignorant of Danish or
Icelandic, which is the old form OF
Morse, he will seldom be reduced to
the language of signs. A 'kandidat."
fresh from the Roykjavils college, or,
it may be, from the university of
Copenhagen. will talk to him in
Latin, unless he may have grown too
rusty to keep up a conversation in
any dead tongue. or. thanks to the
conversation of our public schools,
he pronounces tho ancient speech so
strangely that he is forced to con-
verse for an evening in the ''praeste-
gaard" by exchanging remarks with
his host in writing.
Iceland has always been land of
learned men, and to this day erudite
lcelanders may be found in almost
every university in Europe. In no
country is Il scholar held in so high
esteem. Tho tourist is conscious
that the respect of his farmer host
rises perceptibly when he learns that
the stranger is student" and, if he
only stays long enough the .pas tor"
will be sent for to discourse with,
and possibly sample the quality of
the "Englander" who is known to be
n Cambridge doctor, or q professor
in the ancient university which has
given home to one of tho hosts
learned countrymen.
,ynHcs and rhelr Il