START FROM REYKJAVIK - SNAEFELL - THE LADY OF FRODA-A
BERSERK TRAGEDY - THE CHAMPION OF BREIDAVIK - ONUNDER
FIORD - THE LAST NIGHT - CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE - FETE
ON BOARD THE "REINE HORTENSE" - LE PERE ARCTIQUE-WE FALL
IN WITH THE ICE - THE "SAXON" DISAPPEARS - MIST - A PARTING
IN A LONELY SPOT - JAN MAYEN - MOUNT BEERENBERG - AN
UNPLEASANT POSITION - SHIFT OF WIND AND EXTRICATION - "TO
NORROWAY OVER THE FAEM" - A NASTY COAST - HAMMERFEST.
Hammerfest, July.
Back in Europe again, - within reach of posts! The glad
sun shining, the soft winds blowing, and roses on the
cabin table, - as if the region of fog and ice we have
just fled forth from were indeed the dream-land these
summer sights would make it seem. I cannot tell you how
gay and joyous it all appears to us, fresh from a climate
that would not have been unworthy of Dante's Inferno.
And yet - had it been twice as bad, what we have seen
would have more than repaid us, though it has been no
child's play to get to see it.
But I must begin where I left off in my last letter, - just,
I think, as we were getting under way, to be towed by
the "Reine Hortense" out of Reykjavik Harbour. Having
been up all night, - as soon as we were well clear of the
land, and that it was evident the towing business was
doing well - I turned in for a few hours. When I came on
deck again we had crossed the Faxe Fiord on our way north,
and were sweeping round the base of Snaefell - an extinct
volcano which rises from the sea in an icy cone to the
height of 5,000 feet, and grimly looks across to Greenland.
The day was beautiful; the mountain's summit beamed down
upon us in unclouded splendour, and everything seemed to
promise an uninterrupted view of the west coast of Iceland,
along whose rugged cliffs few mariners have ever sailed.
Indeed, until within these last few years, the passage,
I believe, was altogether impracticable, in consequence
of the continuous fields of ice which used to drift down
the narrow channel between the frozen continent and the
northern extremity of the island.
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