Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-06-17

time been decreasing. There are near.
ly 10000 people remaining, and tharo
is not on the surface Of tho gI,i
IA more intensely loyal and patriots
people. They ere really Chauylpistic
They will not for a moment concaaa
that any other land can compare Win
theirs in attractiveness.
Iceland, in fact, is not by any moan,
so forbidding a country as it's nam,
implies. 1t is no more a land of ia
than Greenland is a land of verlpro
1t is not nearly so cold as In mann
places in the United States. NOT n
mention the Canadian dominion Tho
80 and 60 degrees below zero Registered
every winter in the Northwest Tori
tory and Assiniboii, and even the 4,
and 40 below, experienced In Montana
and northern Dakota, are unheard az
in Iceland. Neither is the other av.
IRENE felt, of great heat, such as these
very regions of North America endure
No Icelander knows what a Temperature
of hundred in the shade is. There
are no sudden fluctuations or gra1t
changes. The climate is remarkably
equable. A variation of 30 degrees in
a month is probably not on record in
the island. The climate is due. NJ
course, to the same cause that produces
a similar effect in the British Isles
namely, the Gulf Stream. This great
ocean current washes the southern and
western shores of Iceland, 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 fro
zen, nor indeed IS any floating ice, in
foes and bergs, eve" 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 the cold fog and rain In this way
polar bears are also sometimes landed
on the island. On the other hand,
the winters are so mild that thunder
storms often occur in them In fact,
most Of the thunderstorms in Iceland
are in the winter months.
AgriculturaIly, however, the climate
of Iceland is less favorably than that
Of Manitoba, The summer is cooler,
aud vegetation therefore natures less
rapidly. For that reason it is impos-
sible to grow grain there, save a species
of oats. Corn, wheat and rye are out
of the question. The contents Of the
t1lI lgy, 4.
matoes and pumpkins, for example, can
not be grown; nor are fruit trees and
grape vines to be seen. The chief gar
den products are potatoes, cabbages,
carrots and turnips, all of which grow
in great luXuriance, and are Of excel
lent 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 fayors its
growth, and the island is thus abun.
dainty supplied with both pasture and
meadow lands. These sustain great
fiocks of horned sheep and herds Of
cattle and ponies. of all of which great
numbers are annually exported to Scot
land and elsewhere Fish, wool, tai
low feathers, sulphur, elder down and
shark oil are also important items Of
foreign trade.
An important industry of the island
nowadays is the entertainment Of sum
mer tourists, who have a great deal Of
money behind them, and, by accustom-
ing the islanders to intercourse with
the outer world, help to rib off their
angularities and to moderate the Chau-
vinism width, though a most harmless
characteristic of the natives, has done
not little to retard the progress Of
one of the kindliest and most cultivated
races on the face Of the earth, The
majority of the tourists, do not how
ever, 90 much further than Reykjavik,
and from there 10 the geysers and back
again, 1t is this part Of Iceland, says
a recent writer In the London STANDARD,
which is most familiar to EngliShmen,
who form the bulk of the visitors, and
it is from the people in this southern
district that foreigners form their Opin-
ion Of the folk at large. In reality
the Icelanders as a whole are better
than the samples there seen. They
may not In other parts Of the island
speak English with such audacity
or be hail-fellows well-met, as in the
main street Of the little capital But
in almost any part of the inhabited
districts the courteous visitor, especially
if he possess a little Danish, may ind
the utmost hospitality, and less eager
ness to make the most out of him than
the presence of the foreigner has 80
rapidly developed in simple-minded
Scandinavia. Even if the 'Teiser Is
ignorant of Danish or Icelandic, when
is the old form of Morse, he will SCI
dom be reduced to the language OF
signs, A ''Kandidat," fresh from Keys
javik college, or, it may be, from me
University of Copenhagen, viii ialA
to him in Latin, unless he may nave
grown too rusty to keep up a COW
sation in any dead tongue, or, thanhs
to the conversation of our pupLv
schools, he pronounces the ancient
speech so strangely that he is forced 70
converse for an evening in the ''praes'e-
gard by exchanging remarks win Lis
host in writing
The breaking Of the thunder storm
was a most dramatic incident at 'le