Year: 1879

A "Trip to the Land of Fire and Snow.


Anthony Trollope writes as follows IN
the FortnigAtIv Reoieao:


When on shore we soon made aCQuaint..
ance with mauy of the inhabitants The
ladies, for we had a bevy of ladies with
us, demanded to be takek to the jewellers
and purveyors of knicknacks. We bought
silver ornaments, dog whips and shoulder
bags-every lady her silver ornament. her
dog-whip and her shoulder bag, and every
man one of the two latter articles The
og-whips we're for the ponies we were to
ride, the bags to carry our small travell-
ing gear, and the ornaments for our gen.
eral delight The whips and bags we're
made in the island, and were good as
mementoes. The ornaments we were told
were the old decorations of Dygone Ice
landic beauties. They had probably
reached Reykjavik from BlrmiI guam,
via Copenhagen. They will now come
back to England much raised in value of
their travels. We called in body, S, xteen
of us,upon the governor,by whom we were
received not only with courtesy but cor
daily. Afterwards we made acquaintance
with his wife, dear, motherly woman,
handsome withal, who delighted to make
new friends and talk about her children.
l do love to find a human being, wom-
an by preference, who under the sanction
Of sudden and somewhat usual circum-
stances Can throw herself into sudden in
timacies. The precocities of Mary and
the ailment Of Jack become interesting
to me, and I find myself talking about
them as though my whole heart was there


Ones whole heart is not there; but there
has been little green spot which never
becomes wholly dry or desecra5ed after
ward. There was the bishop too, with a
delightful daughter Bishop Panjeturss


with his wife and his daughter Thora-
with the latter OF whom we really did
from an abiding friendship. There was
a good deal of pleasant raillery displayed


by our young men, four or five of them,
at the expense OF Miss Thora. The Ice
landic beauty was able to receive all their
shafts on her little shield, and to return
an answer to each from her own quiyer
of wit. And she had to do this in Eng
lish, as none of her opponents could
touch her in her own language. One
hAu oil "o lOSG Jul uSdl ID, W tuC DlSiiUp >
daughter. There We're four languag ges
going French, Danish and
Icelandic. Of the latter two none
among our party could speak
word, and yet there seemed to be
very little lack of the means of converse
ton. l Twas astonished to find how many
there were who could speak English. The
intercourse between Iceland and Scotland
is no doubt frequent. the regular steam.
boats which come from Copenhagen
every month during the summer stopping
first at Leith before they make their way
up to Thershaven in the Farce Islands,
and thence to Reykjavik. But such
communication between two parts does
not teach us English people foreign
language. The difference, I suppose,
has to be found in the fact that English
is necessary to their comfort, but that
Icelandic is not needed by us for our.
The Leith shopkeeper or mariner will
not trouble himself to talk to the strang-
er in other language than his own; but
the lcelander must trouble himself to
maintain the needed communication In
the old Roman days, the great Roman
held it to below his dignity to talk to
any barbarian in other than his own Ian
guage. The result, however, shows itself
in extended information on their part,
and in intellectual aspirations which can
not but be usuful.