THE
CAMPING-OUT SERIES.
VOLUME
III.
OFF
TO THE GEYSERS:
OR,
THE
YOUNG YACHTERS IN ICELAND. AS RECORDED BY "WADE."
BY
C. A. STEPHENS.
ILLUSTRATED.
THE
JOHN C. WINSTON CO.,
PHILADELPHIA,
CHICAGO, TORONTO.
Entered
according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873,
By
JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.,
ln
the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
INTRODUCTION.
BAHIA,
Brazil, Dec. 29,187-. THE EDITOR OF "OUR YOUNG YACHTERS'
SERIES."
Dear
Sir,— We would earnestly wish to avoid giving the impression that
our "method of self- education," as you have been pleased
to term it, consists merely of a series of yacht-cruises off and on.
This would be an error. Both myself and the young gentlemen
associated with me recognize, as rigidly as the most rigid of our
university-professors, the necessity of a thorough drill and
discipline of the mental powers. In proof of this, allow me to
acquaint you somewhat with our last season's studies. Fully a third
of the time from November till April was occupied in making
calculations connected with an actual survey which we made of
Massachusetts and Cape-Cod Bays. We even went so far as to get
"regular lessons" from Greenleaf's "Intellectual
Arithmetic," and add up triple and quadruple columns of figures
according to the "accountant's method:" this for mental
drill.
I
remember, too, that we used to multiply, mentally, long arrays
of figures by 13, 17, and 19; as, for example, 978321635478396 X 17.
During
this time we read "Heat, a Mode of Motion," and "Fragments
of Science," by Tyndall; "The Descent of Man," and
"Origin of Species," by Darwin; Prof. Huxley's "Lay
Sermons;" and also the first four volumes of Bancroft's "History
of the United States." These, besides papers, magazines,
&c.
I
call your attention to these studies, only to illustrate to you our
"mode of self-education." In it the yacht figures
but as a single feature. We have become "yachters" to avoid
the tedious, vegetable life of a college.
We
have thought your Introduction to the second volume * liable to
mislead. Set us right before your readers in this particular, if
possible.
Very
truly and respectfully yours,
J.
W. RAEDWAY.
[We
know of no better way to make the correction than by printing this
letter as an introduction to our third volume — ED.]
*
"Left on Labrador."
Off
to the "Geysers." — Wash's Letter.—The Sailing of
"Curlew." — The Cold Storms of the North Atlantic—The
Atlantic Cable.—Over the "Telegraphic Plateau." —The
Bottom of the Ocean.—Honor to Mr. Field. — An Icebergs. — A
Whale.
Iceland,
ho! — First Glimpse of the Snćfel. — The Faxa Fiord. —The
"Smoking Cape." — The "Meal-sack." —Reykjavik.
— " Excuses moi. Monsieur"— The Early Discovery of
America. —A Long Day. —A Stroll about Town. — The Governor, the
Windmill, and the University. —Squalor.—Hiring a Guide.—Some
Queer Nags.
We
start for the Geysers. — An Amazing Cavalcade. — Desolate
Scenery. —"Vaer-thu-sael!"—A Kissing Incident. — More
Snuff.— "Hurr-r-r-r, Hurr-r-r-r!"—A Bog.— Kit comes
to Grief. —An Icelandic Tremendal —Wash on the Subject of
Geology.—Lava Cliffs.— The Almannajau — A Black Chasm. — The
Oxeara Cataract. — We encamp in the Chasm.—Small Fuel.—Coffee.—A
Sleep-Walker.
The
Pastor of Thing-valla; his House and Church. —The Lögberg and its
Olden Story.—A Lava Tract.—The Hrafnajau.—The Tintron
—Icelandic Rivers. — The Bruara. — A singular Bridge. — First
Glimpse of the Geyser Steam.—Anticipations.—The Little
Geyser.—Strange Emotions. — Strokhr, or the Churn. — The Geyser
Plateau.—Great Geyser and Basin.—Measurements.
Our
Camp at the Geysers.—The "Big Tea-kettle."—Hvers.—Icelandic
Hay. —Skyer.—Cutting Sods for Strokhr.—A Big Dose. —"Ah-r-r-r,
Ah-r-r-r!" — A Jump for Dear Life. — The Grand Heave up. —
Strokhr very Sick all Night.— We watch with him. —A
Storm.—Waiting for "G.G."—"Bumm-m-m, Bumm-m-m"—A
Hot Shower.—The Great Geyser in all his Grandeur.
An
Undesirable Result of the Eruption. — Weymouth hints at Certain
Pacts hitherto quite Unsuspected.—More Bode for Strokhr.— Dull.
—Strokhr gets an Accidental Dose.—"Sneezing-Matches"—Try
him again.—A Grand Display.—Bunsen and Tyndants Theory of the
Geysers.
Adieu
to the Geysers. —A Horse-Auction.—Ruinous Sales.—Coasting
Iceland.— The Eyja Fiord.— Sick. —Our Danish Friend. —Akureyri.
— Or to the Fire-Region. —The Fnjoska.— A Blue Fox. — The
Great Skjafandi-fljot.—Godafoss.—Myvatn.—The Farm of
Reykjalith.—Dogs; Ravens; Good People; Soft Beds; and a Bit of
Scandal.
A
Wet Day. — The Church of Reykjalith; its Curiosities. — "A
Hot Old Relic"—An Impromptu Priest.—The Farmer and his
Sagas.—The Beloved "Gretla"—A Roundabout Mode of
Translation.—The Old Icelander reads, and the Young Dane
interprets, "Grettir the Strong."
The
Sulphur-Jokuls.— Volcanic Slag and Clinkers.—Lava Bubbles.—The
"Brimstone-Badness."—A Natural Steam-Whistle.—Fumeroles.
—A Block of Sulphur.—A Red Soil.—Another Saga-Reading, "Grettir
in Norway."
The
Namarskarth.—Volcanic Steam-Clouds.—An Appalling Scene.—A Hint
to Poets.—Odors of Brimstone.—The Mud Plain.—A Strange Bright
Landscape. — Mud-Caldrons. — Slime-Pools. —A Steaming
Labyrinth.—Another Whistle.—More of the Gretla,-"Grettir and
the Vampire."
"Fourth
of July" in Iceland. — Political Qualms. — We astonish the
Icelanders—Off to the Dettifoss.—The Jokulsa.—A Barren Tract. —
Grandeur of the "Second" Fall. — Our Last Saga-Reading.
—"Grettir at Drángey."—Back to Akureyri.—Good-by to
Jan.—Homeward Bound. — Farewell to the Land of Ice and Fire. —
Wash and his Little Song.
|
