Iceland Hath Almost No Other Wood Nor Fuel But Such As
They Take Up Upon Their Coasts.
It seemeth that these trees are
driven from some part of the Newfoundland, with the current that
setteth from the west to the east.
The 4th of July we came within the making of Friesland. From this
shore, ten or twelve leagues, we met great islands of ice of half a
mile, some more, some less in compass, showing above the sea thirty
or forty fathoms, and as we supposed fast on ground, where, with our
lead, we could scarce sound the bottom for depth.
Here, in place of odoriferous and fragrant smells of sweet gums and
pleasant notes of musical birds, which other countries in more
temperate zones do yield, we tasted the most boisterous Boreal
blasts, mixed with snow and hail, in the months of June and July,
nothing inferior to our untemperate winter: a sudden alteration,
and especially in a place of parallel, where the pole is not
elevated above 61 degrees, at which height other countries more to
the north, yea unto 70 degrees, show themselves more temperate than
this doth. All along this coast ice lieth as a continual bulwark,
and so defendeth the country, that those which would land there
incur great danger. Our general, three days together, attempted
with the ship boat to have gone on shore, which, for that without
great danger he could not accomplish, he deferred it until a more
convenient time. All along the coast lie very high mountains,
covered with snow, except in such places where, through the
steepness of the mountains, of force it must needs fall.
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