Mímir. Icelandic institutions with adresses - 15.12.1903, Blaðsíða 62

52 NOTES ON ICELANDIC MATTERS
various steamers (the number of which is constantly increasing)
leave Denmark, Norway, and sometimes Great Britain, for Ice-
land, but the usual passenger route is by the Icelandic-Danish
mail steamers, which start from Copenhagen, and always touch
at Leith, Scotland. By their contract with the Icelandic gov-
ernment they are obliged to make eighteen trips a year (sail-
ing a little less often in the winter than in the summer), calling
generally, going and coming, at the Faroes. But their course
varies greatly, partly according to the season of the year. They
make, in the pleasant months, some four or five trips complete-
ly around Iceland, stopping at some 20 ports, situated either
at the mouths of the fjords, or further up, remaining, at some
of these calling-points, several hours. The beauty and even
grandeur of many of the firths they thus enter, and the won-
derful panoroma of mountains, grayish green or snowy white,
glistening glaciers, gigantic cliffs, fantastic rocks, picturesque
valleys and waterfalls, huge headlands and promontories — the
whole unfolding itself as the steamer follows the thousand miles
of coast — makes this circumnavigation one of the most interest-
ing of sea trips. There are also two domestic lines of coast
steamers, one running from Reykjavik, northerly, and then
easterly, to Akureyri, the largest port in the north, and return-
ing by the same route; the other line sails also to Akureyri
and back, but goes from Reykjavik easterly (along the southern
shore), then northwardly and westerly; taken together, there-
fore, they likewise make the complete circuit of the island.
These smaller steamers touch at some ports not reached by
the larger vessels. Complete and accurate schedules of all these
steamers, with the dates of their trips and the points called at,
are published in December of each year, good for the follow-
ing twelve months, and may be had on application to the
Icelandic steamer office (Messrs. George V. Turnbull & Co.),
Leith, Scotland, or at the office of the United Steamship
Company (Det forenede Dampskibs Selskab), Copenhagen,