October 18, 2025 • 10 mins
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter ten. Traveling in Iceland, it ought one would have
thought to have been night, even in the sixty fifth
parallel of latitude. But still the nocturnal illumination did not
surprise me, for in Iceland, during the months of June
and July, the sun never sets. The temperature, however, was
(00:21):
very much lower than I expected. I was cold, but
even that did not affect me so much as ravenous hunger. Welcome, indeed,
therefore was the hut which hospitably opened its doors to us.
It was merely the house of a peasant, but in
the matter of hospitality, it was worthy of being the
palace of a king. As we alighted at the door,
(00:41):
the master of the house came forward, held out his hand,
and without any further ceremony, signaled us to follow him.
We followed him, for to accompany him was impossible. A long, narrow,
gloomy passage led to the interior of this habitation, Made
from beams roughly squared by the axe. This passage gave
ingress to every room. The chambers were four in number,
(01:03):
the kitchen, the workshop where the weaving was carried on,
the general sleeping chamber of the family, and the best
room to which strangers were especially invited. My uncle, whose
lofty stature had not been taken into consideration when the
house was built, contrived to knock his head against the
beams of the roof. We were introduced into our chamber,
(01:23):
a kind of large room with a hard earthen floor
and lighted by a window, the panes of which were
made of a sort of parchment from the intestines of sheep,
very far from transparent. The bedding was composed of dry
hay thrown into two long red wooden boxes ornamented with
sentences painted in icelandic I really had no idea that
(01:44):
we should be made so comfortable. There was one objection
to the house, and that was the very powerful odor
of dried fish, of macerated meat, and of sour milk,
which three fragrances combined did not at all suit my
olfactory nerves. As soon as we had freed ourselves from
our heavy traveling costume, the voice of our host was
heard calling to us to come into the kitchen, the
(02:05):
only room in which the Icelanders ever make any fire,
no matter how cold it may be. My uncle, nothing
loath hastened to obey this hospitable and friendly invitation. I followed.
The kitchen chimney was made on an antique model. A
large stone standing in the middle of the room was
the fireplace above, and the roof was a hole for
(02:26):
the smoke to pass through. This apartment was kitchen, parlor
and dining room all in one. On our entrance, our
worthy host, as if he had not seen us before, advanced,
ceremoniously uttered a word which means be happy, and then
kissed both of us on the cheek. His wife followed
pronounced the same word with the same ceremonial. Then the
(02:47):
husband and wife, placing their right hands upon their hearts,
bowed profoundly. This excellent Icelandic woman was the mother of
nineteen children, who little and big, rolled, crawled, and walked
about in the midst of volumes of smoke arising from
the angular fireplace in the middle of the room. Every
now and then I could see a fresh white head
and a slightly melancholy expression of countenance peering at me
(03:10):
through the vapor. Both my uncle and myself, however, were
very friendly with the whole party, and before we were
aware of it, there were three or four of the
little ones on our shoulders, as many on our boxes,
and the rest hanging about our legs. Those who could
speak kept crying out seal verto in every possible and
impossible key. Those who did not speak only made all
(03:31):
the more noise. This concert was interrupted by the announcement
of supper. At this moment our worthy guide, the eider
duck hunter, came in. After seeing to the feeding and
stabling of the horses, which consisted in letting them loose
to browse on the stunted green of the Icelandic prairies.
There was little for them to eat but moss and
some very dry and innutrious grass. Next day they were
(03:53):
ready before the door some time before. We were welcome,
said Hans. Then, tranquility, with the air of an automaton,
without any more expression in one kiss than another, he
embraced the host and hostess and their nineteen children. This
ceremony concluded to the satisfaction of all parties. We all
sat down to table, that is, twenty four of us,
(04:14):
somewhat crowded. Those who were best off had only two
juveniles on their knees. As soon, however, as the inevitable
soup was placed on the table, the natural taciturnity, common
even to Icelandic babies, prevailed over all else. Our hosts
filled our plates with a portion of lichened soup of
Iceland moss, and, by no means of disagreeable flavor, an
(04:36):
enormous lump of fish floating in sour butter. After that
there came some skare, a kind of curds and whey,
served with biscuits and juniper berry juice. To drink, we
had blond dust skimmed milk with water. I was hungry,
so hungry that by way of dessert, I finished up
with a basin of thick oatn porridge. As soon as
the meal was over, the children disappeared, whilst the grown
(04:57):
up people sat around the fireplace, on which was placed turf, heather,
cow dung and dried fishbones. As soon as everybody was
sufficiently warm, a general dispersion took place, all retiring to
their respective couches. Our hostess offered to pull off our
stockings and trousers, according to the custom of the country,
but as we graciously declined to be so honoured, she
(05:18):
left us to our bed of dry fodder. Next day,
at five in the morning, we took our leave of
these hospitable peasants. My uncle had great difficulty in making
them accept a sufficient and proper remuneration. Hans then gave
the signal to start. We had scarcely got one hundred
yards from Gardar when the character of the country changed.
The soil began to be marshy and boggy, and less
(05:40):
favorable to progress to the right. The range of mountains
was prolonged indefinitely, like a great system of natural fortifications
of which we skirted. The glasses we met with numerous
streams and rivulets, which it was necessary to ford, and
that without wetting our baggage. As we advanced, the deserted
appearance increased, and yet now and then we could see
(06:01):
human shadows flitting in the distance. When a turn of
the track brought us with an easy reach of one
of these specters, I felt a sudden impulse of disgust
at the sight of a swollen head with shining skin,
utterly without hair, and whose repulsive and revolting wounds could
be seen through his rags. The unhappy wretches never came
forward to beg On the contrary, they ran away not
(06:22):
so quick, however, but that Hans was able to salute
them with the universal salver. Too spedusk, he said a leper, explained,
my uncle. The very sound of such a word caused
a feeling of repulsion. The horrible affliction known as leprosy,
which has almost vanished before the effects of modern science,
is common in Iceland. It is not contagious, but hereditary,
(06:45):
so that marriage is strictly prohibited to these unfortunate creatures.
These poor lepers did not tend to enliven our journey,
the scene of which was inexpressibly sad and lonely. The
very last tufts of grassy vegetation appeared to die at
our feet. Not a tree was to be seen, except
a few stunted willows about as big as BlackBerry bushes.
Now and then we watched a falcon soaring in the
(07:06):
gray and misty air, taking his flight toward warmer and
sunnier regions. I could not help feeling a sense of
melancholy come over me. I sighed for my own native
land and wished to be back with Gretchen. We were
compelled to cross several little fiords, and at last came
to a real gulf. The tide was at its height
and we were able to get over at once and
reach the hamlet of Ofteness, about a mile farther. That evening,
(07:30):
after fording the Alpha and the Hetta, two rivers rich
in trout and pike, we were compelled to pass the
night in a deserted house worthy of being haunted by
all the phase of Scandinavian mythology. The king of Cold
had taken up his residence there and made us feel
his presence all night. The following day was remarkable by
its lack of any particular incidents. Always the same damp
(07:53):
and swampy soil, the same dreary uniformity, the same sad,
monotonous aspect of scenery. In the evening, having accomplished the
half of our projected journey, we slept at the annexia
of the Crossol. For a whole mile we had under
our feet nothing but lava. This disposition of the soil
is called hron. The crumbled lava on the surface was,
(08:13):
in some instances like ship cables, stretched out horizontally, in
others coiled up in heaps. An immense field of lava
came from the neighboring mountains, all extinct volcanoes, but whose
remains showed what they had once been here, and there
could be made out the steam from hot water springs.
There was no time, however, for us to take more
than a cursory view of these phenomena. We had to
(08:34):
go forward with what speed we might. Soon the soft
and swampy soil again appeared under the feet of our horses,
while at every hundred yards we came upon one or
more small lakes. Our journey was now in a westerly direction,
and we had in fact swept round the great Bay
of Foxa, and the twin white summits of Sneffels rose
to the clouds at a distance of less than five miles.
(08:55):
The horses now advanced rapidly, the accidents and difficulties of
the soil no longer checked them. I confess that fatigue
began to tell severely upon me, but my uncle was
as firm and as hard as he had been on
the first day. I could not help admiring both the
excellent professor and the worthy guide, for they both appeared
to regard this rugged expedition as a mere walk. On Saturday,
(09:16):
the twentieth June, at six o'clock in the evening, we
reached bootier, a small town, picturesquely situated on the shore
of the ocean, and here the guide asked for his money.
My uncle settled with him immediately. It was now the
family of Hans himself, that is to say, his uncle's
his cousins German, who offered us hospitality. We were exceedingly
well received, and without taking too much advantage of the
(09:39):
goodness of these worthy people, I should have liked very
much to have rested with them after the fatigues of
the journey. But my uncle, who did not require rest,
had no idea of anything of the kind. And despite
the fact that the next day was Sunday, I was
compelled once more to mount my steed. The soil was
again effected by the neighborhood of the mountains, whose granite
peered out of the ground like tops of an old oa. Ok.
(10:01):
We were skirting the enormous bass of the mighty volcano.
My uncle never took his eyes from off it. He
could not keep from gesticulating and looking at it with
a kind of sullen defiance, as much to say, that
is the giant I have made up my mind to conquer.
After four hours steady traveling, the horses stopped at themselves
before the door of the Presbytery of Stoppe. End of
(10:23):
Chapter ten,
Chapter ten. Traveling in Iceland, it ought one would have
thought to have been night, even in the sixty fifth
parallel of latitude. But still the nocturnal illumination did not
surprise me, for in Iceland, during the months of June
and July, the sun never sets. The temperature, however, was
(00:21):
very much lower than I expected. I was cold, but
even that did not affect me so much as ravenous hunger. Welcome, indeed,
therefore was the hut which hospitably opened its doors to us.
It was merely the house of a peasant, but in
the matter of hospitality, it was worthy of being the
palace of a king. As we alighted at the door,
(00:41):
the master of the house came forward, held out his hand,
and without any further ceremony, signaled us to follow him.
We followed him, for to accompany him was impossible. A long, narrow,
gloomy passage led to the interior of this habitation, Made
from beams roughly squared by the axe. This passage gave
ingress to every room. The chambers were four in number,
(01:03):
the kitchen, the workshop where the weaving was carried on,
the general sleeping chamber of the family, and the best
room to which strangers were especially invited. My uncle, whose
lofty stature had not been taken into consideration when the
house was built, contrived to knock his head against the
beams of the roof. We were introduced into our chamber,
(01:23):
a kind of large room with a hard earthen floor
and lighted by a window, the panes of which were
made of a sort of parchment from the intestines of sheep,
very far from transparent. The bedding was composed of dry
hay thrown into two long red wooden boxes ornamented with
sentences painted in icelandic I really had no idea that
(01:44):
we should be made so comfortable. There was one objection
to the house, and that was the very powerful odor
of dried fish, of macerated meat, and of sour milk,
which three fragrances combined did not at all suit my
olfactory nerves. As soon as we had freed ourselves from
our heavy traveling costume, the voice of our host was
heard calling to us to come into the kitchen, the
(02:05):
only room in which the Icelanders ever make any fire,
no matter how cold it may be. My uncle, nothing
loath hastened to obey this hospitable and friendly invitation. I followed.
The kitchen chimney was made on an antique model. A
large stone standing in the middle of the room was
the fireplace above, and the roof was a hole for
(02:26):
the smoke to pass through. This apartment was kitchen, parlor
and dining room all in one. On our entrance, our
worthy host, as if he had not seen us before, advanced,
ceremoniously uttered a word which means be happy, and then
kissed both of us on the cheek. His wife followed
pronounced the same word with the same ceremonial. Then the
(02:47):
husband and wife, placing their right hands upon their hearts,
bowed profoundly. This excellent Icelandic woman was the mother of
nineteen children, who little and big, rolled, crawled, and walked
about in the midst of volumes of smoke arising from
the angular fireplace in the middle of the room. Every
now and then I could see a fresh white head
and a slightly melancholy expression of countenance peering at me
(03:10):
through the vapor. Both my uncle and myself, however, were
very friendly with the whole party, and before we were
aware of it, there were three or four of the
little ones on our shoulders, as many on our boxes,
and the rest hanging about our legs. Those who could
speak kept crying out seal verto in every possible and
impossible key. Those who did not speak only made all
(03:31):
the more noise. This concert was interrupted by the announcement
of supper. At this moment our worthy guide, the eider
duck hunter, came in. After seeing to the feeding and
stabling of the horses, which consisted in letting them loose
to browse on the stunted green of the Icelandic prairies.
There was little for them to eat but moss and
some very dry and innutrious grass. Next day they were
(03:53):
ready before the door some time before. We were welcome,
said Hans. Then, tranquility, with the air of an automaton,
without any more expression in one kiss than another, he
embraced the host and hostess and their nineteen children. This
ceremony concluded to the satisfaction of all parties. We all
sat down to table, that is, twenty four of us,
(04:14):
somewhat crowded. Those who were best off had only two
juveniles on their knees. As soon, however, as the inevitable
soup was placed on the table, the natural taciturnity, common
even to Icelandic babies, prevailed over all else. Our hosts
filled our plates with a portion of lichened soup of
Iceland moss, and, by no means of disagreeable flavor, an
(04:36):
enormous lump of fish floating in sour butter. After that
there came some skare, a kind of curds and whey,
served with biscuits and juniper berry juice. To drink, we
had blond dust skimmed milk with water. I was hungry,
so hungry that by way of dessert, I finished up
with a basin of thick oatn porridge. As soon as
the meal was over, the children disappeared, whilst the grown
(04:57):
up people sat around the fireplace, on which was placed turf, heather,
cow dung and dried fishbones. As soon as everybody was
sufficiently warm, a general dispersion took place, all retiring to
their respective couches. Our hostess offered to pull off our
stockings and trousers, according to the custom of the country,
but as we graciously declined to be so honoured, she
(05:18):
left us to our bed of dry fodder. Next day,
at five in the morning, we took our leave of
these hospitable peasants. My uncle had great difficulty in making
them accept a sufficient and proper remuneration. Hans then gave
the signal to start. We had scarcely got one hundred
yards from Gardar when the character of the country changed.
The soil began to be marshy and boggy, and less
(05:40):
favorable to progress to the right. The range of mountains
was prolonged indefinitely, like a great system of natural fortifications
of which we skirted. The glasses we met with numerous
streams and rivulets, which it was necessary to ford, and
that without wetting our baggage. As we advanced, the deserted
appearance increased, and yet now and then we could see
(06:01):
human shadows flitting in the distance. When a turn of
the track brought us with an easy reach of one
of these specters, I felt a sudden impulse of disgust
at the sight of a swollen head with shining skin,
utterly without hair, and whose repulsive and revolting wounds could
be seen through his rags. The unhappy wretches never came
forward to beg On the contrary, they ran away not
(06:22):
so quick, however, but that Hans was able to salute
them with the universal salver. Too spedusk, he said a leper, explained,
my uncle. The very sound of such a word caused
a feeling of repulsion. The horrible affliction known as leprosy,
which has almost vanished before the effects of modern science,
is common in Iceland. It is not contagious, but hereditary,
(06:45):
so that marriage is strictly prohibited to these unfortunate creatures.
These poor lepers did not tend to enliven our journey,
the scene of which was inexpressibly sad and lonely. The
very last tufts of grassy vegetation appeared to die at
our feet. Not a tree was to be seen, except
a few stunted willows about as big as BlackBerry bushes.
Now and then we watched a falcon soaring in the
(07:06):
gray and misty air, taking his flight toward warmer and
sunnier regions. I could not help feeling a sense of
melancholy come over me. I sighed for my own native
land and wished to be back with Gretchen. We were
compelled to cross several little fiords, and at last came
to a real gulf. The tide was at its height
and we were able to get over at once and
reach the hamlet of Ofteness, about a mile farther. That evening,
(07:30):
after fording the Alpha and the Hetta, two rivers rich
in trout and pike, we were compelled to pass the
night in a deserted house worthy of being haunted by
all the phase of Scandinavian mythology. The king of Cold
had taken up his residence there and made us feel
his presence all night. The following day was remarkable by
its lack of any particular incidents. Always the same damp
(07:53):
and swampy soil, the same dreary uniformity, the same sad,
monotonous aspect of scenery. In the evening, having accomplished the
half of our projected journey, we slept at the annexia
of the Crossol. For a whole mile we had under
our feet nothing but lava. This disposition of the soil
is called hron. The crumbled lava on the surface was,
(08:13):
in some instances like ship cables, stretched out horizontally, in
others coiled up in heaps. An immense field of lava
came from the neighboring mountains, all extinct volcanoes, but whose
remains showed what they had once been here, and there
could be made out the steam from hot water springs.
There was no time, however, for us to take more
than a cursory view of these phenomena. We had to
(08:34):
go forward with what speed we might. Soon the soft
and swampy soil again appeared under the feet of our horses,
while at every hundred yards we came upon one or
more small lakes. Our journey was now in a westerly direction,
and we had in fact swept round the great Bay
of Foxa, and the twin white summits of Sneffels rose
to the clouds at a distance of less than five miles.
(08:55):
The horses now advanced rapidly, the accidents and difficulties of
the soil no longer checked them. I confess that fatigue
began to tell severely upon me, but my uncle was
as firm and as hard as he had been on
the first day. I could not help admiring both the
excellent professor and the worthy guide, for they both appeared
to regard this rugged expedition as a mere walk. On Saturday,
(09:16):
the twentieth June, at six o'clock in the evening, we
reached bootier, a small town, picturesquely situated on the shore
of the ocean, and here the guide asked for his money.
My uncle settled with him immediately. It was now the
family of Hans himself, that is to say, his uncle's
his cousins German, who offered us hospitality. We were exceedingly
well received, and without taking too much advantage of the
(09:39):
goodness of these worthy people, I should have liked very
much to have rested with them after the fatigues of
the journey. But my uncle, who did not require rest,
had no idea of anything of the kind. And despite
the fact that the next day was Sunday, I was
compelled once more to mount my steed. The soil was
again effected by the neighborhood of the mountains, whose granite
peered out of the ground like tops of an old oa. Ok.
(10:01):
We were skirting the enormous bass of the mighty volcano.
My uncle never took his eyes from off it. He
could not keep from gesticulating and looking at it with
a kind of sullen defiance, as much to say, that
is the giant I have made up my mind to conquer.
After four hours steady traveling, the horses stopped at themselves
before the door of the Presbytery of Stoppe. End of
(10:23):
Chapter ten,
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