Lögberg-Heimskringla - 23.04.1999, Side 8

8 * Lögberg-Heimskringla * Friday 23 April 1999
Memoirs of Guðmundur Jónsson from Húsey
before he became a writer.
In that way he was like his
brother Bjöm, mentioned
before, but unlike his broth-
er Bjöm, he was a sociable
mixer.
My brother, Jón, had a
greater desire to study than
most young men and
acquired an amazing
knowledge in his youth. He
received some instruction
from Páll Olafsson and
became able to write well
before he was twenty. As a
result he did most of the
writing for the district long
before he had reached the
age to handle such jobs. But
he was not a good instmctor
and I was not able to learn
from him.
Most of my compan-
ions mentioned here
became farmers; most of
them were quite intelligent,
Continued from page 6
in writing. He had a clear and clean
handwriting style, but I knew no-one
who attained his skills. The brothers,
Ólafur and Jón Runólfsson from
Þorvardsstaðir, were good writers.
Their father, Runólfur Guðmundsson,
Jónsson from Hallfreðarstaðir, was a
good writer and supposedly taught his
sons. They worked as hired hands until
adulthood, but both became district
writers later on and received consider-
able education through that; yet it was
mainly Ólafur as he was intelligent and
had acquired considerable knowledge
diligent men of good character; but
none of them received good education
or acquired the skills of writing. None
of them were influential leaders for
progress or pioneers in the practical
fields. They simply became good farm-
ers and they lacked a leader. I missed
two of them the most, Helgi Stefánsson
and Bjöm Þorkelsson. They were both
intelligent and likely to succeed. When
my brother Jón left Sleðbrjótur, farmers
at Hlíð were without a leader. The same
was true for Tunga district around 1890
or until Pastor Einar Jónsson arrived.
The farmers at Tunga were better oíf
than at Hlíð, but none of them were able
to write nor were they suitable leaders.
This improved greatly after Pastor
Einar arrived at Kirkjubær. He.was a
self-appointed leader and influenced
progress. Some young men moved into
the district and grew up there. These
men took on jobs when Einar and others
moved away. Björn Hallsson, farmer at
Rangá, was in the forefront among
these. He has continued his' father's
noble work and hospitality. To his ben-
efit, Björn received some education at a
common school. He is now a leader in
the Tunga District.
National Lif—National Traditions
Place Names at Ketilsstaðir
ICONSIDER THE PLACE NAME “Kol-
lumúli” to be wrong. I never heard
that name used in daily language and
seldom saw it in print. True enough, the
top part of the mountain is split and
slants down toward Kattárvíkur-valley,
which cuts in behind the peaks. The
northern peak was always called
Kolmúli and the gorge between them
Kolmúlagil, and some marshland in the
valley, behind the outer peak, was
called Kolmúla-marsh. The southem
peak was always called Múla-kollur. It
may well be that the name was derived
from its oval shape and the peak looks
like a mans head from a distance. The
gorge between the peaks is directly up
from the Múla-point, with Múla-harbor
to the south, and forms the only pass-
able route down to Múla-point.
Approaching from the south a person
must cross the Múlakollur.
The Kollumúli name I have only
seen in Eggert and Bjarni's Travelogue,
and it may have originated with them
from an imprecise description of those
who descriped the landscape, but I am
certain that the companions Eggert and
Bjarni never visited the area. I draw this
conclusion from the fact that the picture
of Múla-harbour in their book bears no
resemblance to the harbour and no
familiar person would recognize it.
Thus the sketch could not be made by
them. I am quite familiar with this area.
I travelled by boat out along the moun-
tain with Tryggvi Gunnarsson to look at
Múla-harbor in 1883. At that time
Tryggvi was contemplating building a
Gránufélag satellite there. We made a
sketch of the harbour and measured it
somewhat, and later I sent Tryggvi
improved depth measurements. The
harbour proved excellent for boats and
small ships, but lacked space and was
too shallow for larger transportation
ships. We had Eggert’s sketch for com-
parison and we were certain that he
never saw the Múlahöfn.
The northem peak of the mountian
is a bit longer from south to north than
the southern peak and thus it is unlikely
that it was called Kollur but the north-
em peak is oval on all sides and could
be called kolióttur (oval). The northem
peak I call Kolmúli which could be
derived from its basalt colour. The
northeast comer of Kolmúli is called
Standandanes and belongs to
Fagridalur. The east side of the peak is
mainly perpendicular rock from sea to
top. The midsection is colourful as if
various types of rocks had been stirred
together. These various colours are
most apparent from a distance and was
called “Þerrisbjarg.” A superstition was
attached to the mountain, regarding
weather forecast—if sun shone on the
mountain early in the moming it meant
that Hérað would certainly have dry
weather that day. The boundary
between Ketilsstaðir and Fagridalur
was was to the north, clear and inde-
sputable. This is the clearest boundary I
have seen with the clifif split from the
bottom to the top, a straight crack, not
wide. Molten lava had flowed up
through it and filled it. This newer lava
was harder than the old and stood like a
wall out of the mountain. This bound-
ary-line is called Bjarglöng. It is impos-
sible to cross over it down by the sea as
it extends far out into the bay, and is
visible from the mountain when the sea
is calm. Below this precipice is a grav-
el shore, called Langisandur. The area
usually had a great deal of driftwood,
which was of little use as it got broken
up by the surf which beat on the clififs
and cmshed'the logs, unless they were
picked up immediately. Next to
Langisandur lies the Múla-point, split at
the middle by a small bay called
Skálabaksvík. The point is rocky with
only a steep grassy strip at the edges.
Up from the point is a steep rock slide,
with little grass, and a row of clififs up at
the edge. Two narrow paths lead up
through it which are most often pass-
able without danger, although two men
lost their lives in an avalance there in
1870. South from the southern point
lies Múla-harbour. The point bends to
the east oífering protection from the
surf and the north and east winds—
while on the south side four tall crags
shelter from the south wind. The
Kolmúla-gorge, which divides the
peaks, lies directly above the Múli-
point with the Múlakollur towering
over the harbour itself. The Múlakollur
is one continuous perpendicular rock up
to mid-mountain with intermittent sand-
slides and clififs, more or less impassa-
ble to people and animals alike. Yet it
has a grassy strip called Ófæratorfa. It
slants to a huge overhang in the clififs
and is surrounded by clififs on all sides
except for a narrow path from above. It
is too steep to walk upright on without
wearing picks, even in summer. I came
there once and had to touch down with
my hands, as the lush grass was slippery
and as if damp with grease.
The Memoirs of Guðmundur
Jónsson from Húsey will continue in
the next issue.
ThorThortetfson
(204) 242-3284 or
(204) 825-7986
É-maíl:
thorltt @ investorsgroup.com
Investms
Group
You're worth more...
Investor's Group Financial Services Inc.
Personal Financial Píanrting
Life and Disabiitty Insurance
Children’sf jt
Corner r
lf all the seas were one sea,
What a great sea that would be!
And if all the trees were one tree,
What a great tree that would be!
And if all the axes were one axe,
What a great axe that would be!
And if all the men were one man,
What a great man that would be!
And if the great man took the
great axe
And cut down the great tree,
And let it fall into the gret sea,
What a splish-splash that would
be.
Ef öll höfin væru eitt haf,
Hversu stórt haf væri það!
Og ef öll tré væru eitt tré,
Hversu stórt tré væri það!
Og ef allar exir væru ein öx,
Hversu stór exi væri það!
Og ef allir menn væru einn maður
Hversu stór væri sá maður!
Og ef stóri maðurinn tæki stóru
exina,
Og skæri niður stóra tréð,
Og léti það detta í stóra hafið,
Hversu mikið sull og skvamp yrði
það.