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October 16, 2025 13 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eight, The eider Down Hunter off At last. That evening,
I took a brief walk on the shore near Rekyevich,
after which I returned to an early sleep on my
bed of coarse planks, where I slept the sleep of
the just. When I awoke, I heard my uncle speaking
loudly in the next room. I rose hastily and joined him.

(00:21):
He was talking in Danish with a man of tall
stature and of perfectly herculean built. This man appeared to
be possessed of very great strength. His eyes, which started
rather prominently from a very large head, the face belonging
to which was simple and naive, appeared very quick and intelligent.
Very long hair, which even in England would have been
accounted exceedingly red, fell over his athletic shoulders. This native

(00:45):
of Iceland was active and supple in appearance, though he
scarcely moved his arms, being in fact one of those
men who despises the habit of gesticulation common to southern people.
Everything in this man's manner revealed a calm and phlegmatic temperament.
There was nothing indolent about him, but his appearance spoke
of tranquility. He was one of those who never seemed
to expect anything from anybody, who liked to work when

(01:08):
he thought proper, and whose philosophy nothing could astonish or trouble.
I began to comprehend his character simply from the way
in which he listened to the wild and impassioned verbiage
of my worthy uncle. While the excellent professor spoke sentence
after sentence, he stood with folded arms, utterly still, motionless
to all my uncle's gesticulations. When he wanted to say no,

(01:29):
he moved his head from left to right. When he acquiesced,
he nodded so slightly that you could have scarcely seen
the undulation of his head. This economy of motion was
carried to the length of avarice. Judging from his appearance,
I should have been a long time before I had
suspected him to be what he was, A mighty hunter. Certainly,
his manner was not likely to frighten the game. How then,

(01:50):
did he contrive to get at his prey. My surprise
was slightly modified when I knew that this tranquil and
solemn personage was only a hunter of the eider duck,
which is, after all the greatest source of the icelander's wealth.
In the early days of summer, the female of the eider,
a pretty sort of duck, builds its nest amid the
rocks of the Fiords, the name given to all narrow

(02:12):
gulfs in Scandinavian countries, with which every part of the
island is indented. No sooner has the eider duck made
her nest than she lines the inside of it with
the softest down from her breast. Then comes the hunter
or trader, taking away the nest. The poor bereaved female
begins her task over again, and this continues as long
as any eider down is to be found. When she

(02:33):
can find no more, the male bird sets to work
to see what he can do, As however, his down
is not so soft and therefore has no commercial value,
the hunter does not take the trouble to rob him
of his nest. Lining the nest is accordingly finished, the
eggs are laid, the little ones are born, and next
year the harvest of eiderdown is again collected. Now as

(02:53):
the eider duck never selects steep rocks or aspects to
build its nest, but rather sloping and low cliffs near
to the see the Icelandic hunter can carry on his
trade operations without much difficulty. He is like a farmer
who has neither to plow, to sew, nor to harrow,
only to collect his harvest. This grave, sententious, silent person,

(03:14):
as phlegmatic as an englishman on the French stage, was
named Hans Bielke. He had called upon us in consequence
of the recommendation of Miss Friedrichson. He was, in fact
our future guide. It struck me that had I sought
the world over, I could not have found a greater
contradiction to my impulsive uncle. They, however, readily understood one another.

(03:35):
Neither of them had any thought about money. One was
ready to take all that was offered him, the other
ready to offer anything that was asked. It may readily
be conceived, then, that an understanding was soon to come
between them. Now the understanding was that he was to
take us to the village of Stappe, situated on the
southern slope of the Peninsula Sneffels, at the very foot

(03:56):
of the volcano. Hans the guide told us the distance
was about twenty two miles, a journey which my uncle
supposed would take about two days. But when my uncle
came to understand that they were Danish miles of eight
thousand yards each. He was obliged to be more moderate
in his ideas, and, considering the horrible roads we had
to follow, to allow eight or ten days for the journey.

(04:18):
Four horses were prepared for us, two to carry the
baggage and two to bear the important weight of myself
and Uncle. Hans declared that nothing ever would make him
climb on the back of any animal. He knew every
inch of that part of the coast, and promised to
take us the very shortest way. His engagement with my
uncle was by no means to cease with our arrival
at Stoppy. He was further to remain in his service

(04:40):
during the whole time required for the completion of his
scientific investigations, at the fixed salary of three ricks dollars
a week, being exactly fourteen shillings and twopence minus one
farthing English currency. One stipulation, however, was made by the guide.
The money was to be paid to him every Saturday night,
failing which his engagement was at an end. The day

(05:00):
of our departure was fixed. My uncle wished to hand
the eider down hunter in advance but he refused in
one emphetic word efter, which, being translated from Icelandic into
plain English, means after the treaty concluded, our worthy guide
retired without another word. A splendid fellow, said, my uncle,

(05:20):
only he little suspects the marvelous part he is about
to play in the history of the world. You mean, then,
I cried in amazement, that he should accompany us to
the interior of the earth. Yes, replied my uncle, why not?
There were yet forty eight hours to elapse before we
made our final start. To my great regret, our whole

(05:41):
time was taken up in making preparations for our journey.
All our industry and ability were devoted to packing every
object in the most advantageous manner. The instruments on one side,
the arms on the other, the tools here, and the
provisions there. There were in fact four distinct groups. The
instruments were, of course, of the best manufacture. One a

(06:01):
centigrade thermometer of Eigel, counting up to one hundred and
fifty degrees, which to me did not appear half enough
or too much too hot by half if the degree
of heat was to ascend so high, in which case
we would certainly be cooked, not enough if we wanted
to ascertain the exact temperature of springs or metal in
a state of fusion. Two A monometer which worked by

(06:23):
compressed air, an instrument used to ascertain the upper atmospheric
pressure on the level of the ocean. Perhaps a common
barometer would not have done as well, the atmospheric pressure
being likely to increase in proportion as we descended below
the surface of the Earth. Three A first class chronometer
made by Bosanus of Geneva, set at the meridian of Hamburg,
from which Germans calculate as the English jew from Greenwich

(06:46):
and the French from Paris. Four Two compasses, one for
horizontal guidance, the other to ascertain the dip. Five A
night glass. Six two Ruhmkorff coils, which by means of
a current of electricity, would ensure us a very excellent,
easily carried and certain means of obtaining light. Seven A

(07:10):
voltic battery on the newest principle footnote Thermometer thermos and
metron measure an instrument for measuring the temperature of the air.
Monometer monos and metron measure an instrument to show the
density or rarity of gases, chronometer, kronos time and metros measure,

(07:34):
a time measurer or superior watch. Ruhmkorff's coil an instrument
for producing currents of induced electricity of great intensity. It
consists of a coil of copper wire, insulated by being
covered with silk, surrounded by another coil of fine wire,
also insulated, in which a momentary current is induced when
a current is passed through the inner coil from a

(07:56):
voltic battery. When the apparatus is in action, the gas
becomes lumine and produces a white and continued light. The
battery and wire are carried in a leather bag, which
the traveler fastens by a strap to his shoulders. The
lantern is in front and enables the benighted wanderer to
see in the most profound obscurity. He may venture without
fear of explosion into the midst of the most inflammable gases,

(08:18):
and the lantern will burn beneath the deepest waters. H.
D Ruhmkorff, an able and learned chemist, discovered the induction
coil in eighteen sixty four. He won the Quinquinial French
prize of two thousand pounds for this ingenious application of electricity.
A voltic battery, so called from volta its designer, is
an apparatus consisting of a series of metal plates arranged

(08:41):
in pairs and subjected to the action of saline solutions
for producing currents of electricity. End footnote. Our arms consisted
of two rifles with two revolving six shooters. Why these
arms were provided, It was impossible for me to say.
I had every reason to believe that we had neither
wild beast nor savage natives to fear. My uncle, on
the other hand, was quite devoted to his arsenal and

(09:02):
to his collection of instruments, and above all, was very
careful with his provision of fulminating or gun cotton warranted
to keep in any climate, and of which the expansive
force was known to be greater than that of ordinary gunpowder.
Our tools consisted of two pickaxes, two crowbars, a silken ladder,
three iron shod alpine poles, a hatchet, a hammer, a

(09:24):
dozen wedges, some pointed pieces of iron, and a quantity
of strong rope. You may conceive that the hole made
a tolerable parcel, especially when I mentioned that the latter
itself was three hundred feet long. Then there came the
important question of provisions. The hamper was not very large,
but tolerably satisfactory, for I knew that in concentrated essence
of meat and biscuit there was enough to last six months.

(09:47):
The only liquid provided by my uncle was shyem of water,
not a drop. We had, however, an ample supply of gourds,
and my uncle counted on finding water and enough to
fill them as soon as we commenced our downward journey.
My remarks as to the temperature, the quality, and even
the possibility of none being found, remained wholly without effect.

(10:07):
To make up the exact list of our traveling gear
for the guidance of future travelers, add that we carried
a medicine and surgical chest with all apparatus necessary for wounds,
fractures and blows, lint, scissors, lancets, in fact, a perfect
collection of horrible looking instruments, a number of vials containing ammonia, alcohol, ether, gallard, water,

(10:28):
aromatic vinegar, in fact, every possible and impossible drug. Finally,
all materials for work in the Ruhmkorff coil. My uncle
had also been careful to lay in a goodly supply
of tobacco, several flasks of very fine gunpowder, boxes of tinder,
besides a large belt crammed full of notes and gold.
Good boots rendered watertight were to be found to the

(10:49):
number of six in the tool box. My boy, with
such clothing, with such boots and such general equipment, said
my uncle, in a state of rapturous delight, we may
hope to travel far. It took a whole day to
put these matters in order. In the evening we dined
with Baron Tramp, in company with the Mayor of rekuevict
and doctor Hyaltealin, a great medical man of Iceland. Mister

(11:11):
Friederckson was not present, and I was afterwards sorry to
hear that he and the Governor did not agree on
some matters connected with the administration of the island. Unfortunately,
the consequence was that I did not understand a word
that was said at dinner, a kind of semi official reception.
One thing I can say, my uncle never left off speaking.
The next day our labor came to an end. Our

(11:32):
worthy host delighted my uncle, Professor Hardwig by giving him
a good map of Iceland, a most important and precious
document for a mineralogist. Our last evening was spent in
a long conversation with mister Friedericson, whom I liked very much,
the more that I never expected to see him or
any one else again. After this agreeable way of spending
an hour or so, I tried to sleep in vain.

(11:54):
With the exception of a few dozes, My night was miserable.
At five o'clock in the morning, I was awakened from
the only real half hour's sleep of the night by
the loud nighing of horses under my window. I hastily
dressed myself and went down into the street. Hans was
engaged in putting the finishing stroke to our baggage, which
he did in a silent, quiet way that won my admiration.

(12:15):
And yet he did it admirably well. My uncle wasted
a great deal of breath in giving him directions, but
worthy Hans took not the slightest notice of his words.
At six o'clock, all our preparations were completed, and mister
Friedrichson shook hands heartily with us. My uncle thanked him
warmly in Icelandic language for his hospitality, speaking truly from
the heart. As for myself, I put together a few

(12:38):
of my best Latin phrases, and paid him the highest
compliments I could. This fraternal and friendly duty performed, we
sallied forth and mounted our horses. As soon as we
were quite ready. Mister Friederickson advanced, and, by way of farewell,
called after me the words of Virgil, words which appeared
to have been made for us travelers starting for an
uncertain destination at kokunke vum didur it fortuna secuamar, And

(13:03):
whichsoever way thou goest, may fortune follow. End of Chapter
eight
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