Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-27
hours that the exhibition /. lost

reasonable hours that the exhibition is lost
after all.
Thus a friend of mine invested in twelve
pounas OF good Marseilles soap. which the
thrifty owner Of the farm near by sells for
all 1t is worth, and little more. This he
threw INTO the geyser. piece by piece and
waited for results. but no results came.
Ten times In the course of the day ne
rushed from the farm house to the geyser
a few hundred yards distant when the low
rumbfings seemed to foretoken an expo
sion. only to be disappointed. for. though
the geyser spouted a few feet. Il did not. by
any means, pay for the soap with a grand
outbreak. All day long my friend endured
these disappontments, and, when night
crowns about 10 cents) to sit up all night
and watch the geyser. and to summon him
in case OF an outburst.
In the middle of the night a tremendous
rap came on my friends window. He had
lain down IN most of his clothes and did
not need to stop long to dress, but, accou-
tered as he was. rushed out to the geyser.
only to find that the old fellow had spouted
and subsidized again in the few minutes be-
tween the farmers rap and my friends ap-
pearance upon the scene.
Another Famous Spouter.
Thus does the geyser sometimes get even
with the people who insult him and try to
turn his stomach. forsooth. with soap and
butter. Another famous spouter Is called
the Strokke, but, OF late years, this has be-
come almost wholly inactive. Until very re-
Gently, however. Ii could be excited to ac-
tivity by such plebeian substances as sod
and stones, and, for a couple OF crowns tho
farmer gave permission to dig sods with
which to gorge the throat of Strokke.
But now he has ceased to exhibit himself
and no amount of sods and stones have any
effect upon him. Near by are many hot
springs, few little geyserettes. and some
old worn out fellows that have long since
ceased to below or even to breathe Every
where. however. are evidences Of :he
mighty convulsfve forces Of nature and the
many springs, the curious colored mud and
the delicate coating of silicate, which the
great geyser has thrown out forming at
length a mound forty feet high around its
mouth. are all interesting, especially to
the geologist and the student of unusual
natural phenomena.
AS whole, however, the geySer region II
Iceland hardly compare with the gcy-
sers of the Yellowstone Park. though the
latter has perhaps no one attraction equal
to the great geyser of Iceland when ne does
his best, and throws his spray a hundred
and sixty feet in the air as he sometimes
deignS to do.
Our interview with the geyser was inter-
fered with by our desire to try the famous
Iceland trout. and we were beguiled to a
stream a few hours by pony from the eey-
ser. where were assured We could wet
a line" to advantage.
We found indeed that the glories of trout
ated. and that no proverbial isaermans
stories could more than do Justice ID the
size and number of the trout.
The Settling "Sog."
The Sog is a turbulent. rushing stream.
which boils and seethes for half a mile be-
tween the great Thingvellie lake and
smaller lake near by, and it Is literally
swarming with great Char, species of
trout very much like our largest brook
trout of America.
AS one approaches the best pools Of the
Sog, he sees the great trout, weighing from
two to ten pounds, lying so close together.
with all their heads urstreams that their
fins fan each other in their ceaseless mo-
ton.
Every few casts of the hook resulted in
a rise and strike and the big fellow after
some persuasion was usually brought near
enough for the guide, with his net, TO land
him safely.
We were not very persistent fishermen
and preferred to spend part of the tine
with a book on the grassy, flower-besprin-
killed. bank, or in gazing at the myriadS II
ducks and gulls and other water birds div
ing for the little fish in which the SIG
abounds but even in one intermittent fish
ing, we caught over a hundred pounds Of
splendid spotted trout the largest OF which
tipped the scales at six pounds. Other
keener fishermen would have had much
larger story to tell, as indeed did one who
cast his fly by side and landed nearly
five hundred pounds in as many days.
But every earthly paradise has its demon.
and the evil genius of the Sog is a pestifer-
Gus black fly which infests eyes and ears
and nose and mouth. and makes fishing /
torment unless one wears a veil of mos
quito netting. But such a veil, kept off
the face by two hoops one above the hat
and the other resting on the shoulders with
the edges well tucked in under the shirt
collar. is too much for the fly, and he huns
and buZzes and dashes at the net in impo-
tent rage and then settles on his would-bs
victims backs to wait for a more conven-
lent season OF attack.
But, even in spite of the black fly, the Sas
Is a glorious place for a summer outing, for
any disciple of Izaak Walton. The pure air.
the distant lava mountains, the blue lake,
the rushing, tumbling, impetuous river, the
innumerable light-winged. skfmming wa
terfowl, and the magnificent trout COM
bined to make our day Of fishing at the Sos
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