Fálkinn - 21.06.1930, Síða 96

96
F A L K I N N
The Zoéga Tourist Bureau, Reykjavík.
(Helgi Zoéga and Sons).
Touring
off the Beaten Track
in
lceland.
»Far from the madding crowd's
ignoble strife«.
Those desirous of spendinfí their
vacitions in peace and quietude,
amidst unusual and strikingly beauti-
ful surroundings, will find that the
most ideal place is Iceland — the
Sun Isle. During the summer months
of June, July and August, the visitor
is rlmost certain of being favoured
with that mild, delighlful climate,
which cannot be found at lower
latitudes. At Midsummer the sun
never sets in Iceland or, at least, tlie
night, if night it can be called, is so
short that it is almost imperceptible.
An Arctic sunset in summer is a
sight that casts a magic spell ovcr all
who behold it, and nowhere is the
King of the Heavens seen to more
gorgeous advantage than in Iceland,
amidst a setting of blue fiords and
„sunset-flushed“ glaciers.
NORTHERN NIAGARAS. Many of
Iceland’s numerous waterfalls are
jusily famous for grandeur and heauty
of formation, and, if for nothing else,
it would be well worth while paying
a visit to Iceland, just to view either
the stately Gullfoss, „Golden Falls“,
in the South, or the magnificent
Dettifoss. „Falling Torrent", the giant
of the Nortli.
THE ANGLER’S PARADISE. Many
of Iceland’s fast-flowing rivers and
streams afford some of the best sal-
mon and trout angling to he found
in the world, and there are also a
myriad of lakes .all over the country
abounding with char and trout. But
the angler should not fail to give
himself leisure to see the country it-
self, which contains some of tlie
most beautiful panoramic landscapes
to be found in Europe. Icelandic
scenery is wonderfully rich and
colourful and its varyety isi nexhaust-
ible; it is for ever changing in na-
ture, for ever granting the eye fresh
wonders to feast upon.
FEW HISTORICAL FACTS. Ice-
land was colonized by Norwedan
vikings during tlie latter part of the
9th century. The actual occasion for
the colonization cannot be attributed
to a more important fact than that
Harald, one of he petty kings in
Norway, who was subsequently
known as the „Fairhaired," fell in
love with the beautiful Gyda,
daughter of Eric the King of Horda-
land. his lady disdainfully scorned
Harald’s wooing and told him so in
no uncertain manner: —
„I will not waste my maidenhood,“
said s!ie, „for the taking to husband
of a king who has no more realm to
rule over than a few folk. Marvelous
it secms to me that there be no king
minded to make Norway his own
and he sole lord thercof in such wise
as Gorm of Dcnmark or Eric of Up-
sala have done.“
Harald, however, remained un-
daunted and swore thc strange oath,
,That he wmuld never clip or comb
his locks till he could w’oo her as
sole king of Norway.1 Harald botli
lcept his oath and won the liand of
the fair Gyda, for in 872 he had made
himself supreme master over all
Norw’ay.
„And who are tliey who navigate
this strange barbaric vessel — why
leave they the sheltering fiord of
their beloved Norw’ay? They are tlie
noblest hearts of that noble land —
freemen, who value freedom — w’ho
have abandoned all rather than call
Harald master — and now seek a
new home even among the desolate
crags of Iceland, rather than submit
to the tyrrany of a usurper." Writes
the distinguished English statesman
and author, Lord Dufferin.
The golden age in the history of
Iceland is the period covering ap-
proximately the fhree ccnturies sub-
sequent to the discovery and coloni-
zation by the Norwegians in 872.
During this period Icelandic qctivi-
ties stretch over many phases. Mr.
Coolidge, the President of the Uni-
ted Sfates of América, in a recent
speach paid the following tribute to
tlie country: —
„But even before William of Nor-
mandy had conquered at Hastings,
Leif, the son of Erik, near 500 years
before Columbus, appears to have
found the New’ World. Indéed, tliere
seems little doubt that several cen-
turies befor Columbus saw the light
of day there was born upon Ameri-
can soil, of Norse parents, a boy
W’ho afterw’ards became so great a
mathcmatician and astronomer that
his studies may have contributed
much to the fund of knowledge
which helped Columbus formulate his
vision of the world as we know it.
Among the fascinating chapters in
thc history of the Dark Ages is the
story of Iceland. As a little Norse
Republic it maintaincd itself for se-
veral centuries as one of the rcal
repositories of ancient culture in a
world wdiose lamp of learning seemed
near to flickering out. We have long
known of the noble Icelandic litera-
ture W’hich was produced during
those generations of the intellectual
twilight; but we know too little of the
part w’liicli Iceland performed as an
outpost of tlie sturdy northern cul-
lure in bridging over the gulf of dark-
ness betw’een the ancient and modern
eras of history.
„Thesc sons of Thor and Odin and
the great free north shape themselves
in the mind’s eye as very princes of
high and hardy adventure. From
Norway to Iceland, from Iceland to
Greenland, from Greenland to the
mainland — step by step they worked
their way across tlie North Allantic.“
The colonizer of Iceland had fled
from tlie „madding crowd’s ignoble
strife,“ from the tumultous cliaos of
their own country, to work out their
own salvation in peace and solitude;
but these Norsemen soon discovered
that living in a lawless land was
even worse than to „submit to the
tyrrany of a usurper.“ Most of them
had been rulers of tlieir own earl-
doms in Norway — who tlien was
to be king? The answer was, .tliere
shall be o king,‘ and the problem
wras solved by tlie establishment of
a Gcneral Legislative Assembly for
tlie whole country — the Altliing.
Thus a new form of government was
invented — a state wdthout a king
— where every individual, free born,
liad a say in the governing of tlie
country.
The eminent American scliolar and
liistorian, the Hon. James Bryce,
who visited Iceland and has lectured
and written much about the country,
w’rites: —
„Iceland is known to most men as
a land of volcanoes, geysirs, and
glaciers. But it ouglit to be no less
interesting to tlie student of history
as tlie birthplace of a brilliant litera-
ture in poetry and prose, and as the
liome of a people W’ho have maintain-
ed for many centuries a high level
of intellectual cultivation. It is an
ahnost unique instance of a commun-
ity wliose culture and creative
pow’er flourished independently of
any favouring material conditions,
and, indeed under conditions in tlie
higliest degree unfavorable. Nor
ought it be less interesting to the
student of politics and law’s as having
produced a constitution unlike any
other wliereof records remain, and
a body of law so eleborate and com-
plex that it is hard to believe tliat it
existed among men whose chief oc-
cupation was to kill one another.“
After giving a description of tlie
famous Thingvellir, where the Al-
thing sat for a longer span of cen-
turies than any legislative body
know’n to history, Mr. Bryce con-
tinues: —
„Here, accordingly, Ulfljot having
in the meantime returned from Nor-
way with his materials for legislation,
tlie first Althing, or General As-
sembly, of all Iceland met in A.D.
930, and here it continued to meet
year after year for a fortniglit in
the latter lialf of June until the year
1800, one of the oldcst national
assemlies in tlie civilizcd world and
one of the very few which dit not,
THE ZOfiGA TOURIST BUREAU, REYKJAVÍK.
(Helgi Zoega and Sons.)
Represent in Iceland the following Firms:—
Messrs. Tlios. Cook & Son, Ltd., London.
“ The Cunard Steam Ship Company, Ltd., Liverpool.
“ United States Lines, New A’ork.
“ American Express Co., London.
“ Compania Italiano Turismo, Rome.
“ Peninsular & Oriental Steam NavigationCo., Ltd., London.
“ Anchor Line, Glasgow.
“ Nordisk Voyages, New York.
“ Student Travel Club, London.
like the English Parliament and the
Diet of the Romano-Germanic Em-
pire, grow’ up imperceptibly and, so
to speak, naturally, from small be-
ginnings, but w’as formally and of
set purpose established by what
w’ould have been called, had paper
existed, a paper constitution; that is
to say, by the deliberate agreement
of independent groups of men seeking
to attain the common ends of order
and justice."
TOURISTS IN ICELAND. Right
up to tlie end of last century the
tourists tliat came to Iceland were
few and far betw’een. In Europe an
expedition to Iceland was regarded
as a hazardous undertaking, only to
be dared by tlie most adventurous
spirits who where undaunted by
hardships and even the risking of
íheir lives. Little by little, however,
this mistaken notion has vanished
and now’ the irresistible attractions
of the country are annually drawing
more and more tourists to her beauti-
ful strands.
The growth of the Icelandic tourist
traffic is inextricably woven with
the name of Zoega, stretching over a
period of over half a century and
the present Manager is of tlie third
generation of Zoegas who have been
associated with this branch.
INLAND TRAVELLING. Until
quite recently roads w’ere almost un-
known in Iceland, and the only
means of communication over the
tracldess country w’as by means
of the native ponies. Of late years,
how’ever, roads liave been laid over
many of the most important districts
and it is now1 possible to travel to
a large extent by motor car. For more
important inland expeditions, liow-
ever, the ponies still have to be
utilized, but although more primitive,
this mode of traversing the country
is none tlie less enjoyable, and will
especially appeal to lovers of an out-
of-door life.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS. Ice-
land has at last emerged with one
leap, as it w’ere, from darkness into
broad daylight; from poverty, com-
paritive obscurity, and tlie almost
total isolation of many ages, she is
now basking in the sunshine of pre-
sent prosperity; an independent liltle
Sovreign State little by Iittle coming
into her own.
Lying off he beaten track, far away
from the great set routes of com-
merce, forming a cul-de-sac with
endless icetracts of the polar regions
behind her, Iceland escaped the com-
mercial strife of the 19th century.
It is only just during quite recent
years tliat Iceland has begun to de-
velop her nalural resources and the
improvements that have been made
liave heen gigantic. But „the greatest
is behind,,, for Iceland has millions
of horsepowers of unharnessed water
power: mineral wealth as yet even
uninvestigated; endless tracts of fer-
tile land, ideal for the purpose of
agricultural exploitation; and her
lieart beats at a tropical tempo for
she liides in her bossom thousands
of springs and pools of boiling water,
the utilization of which invesigations
of recent years shew can be of tre-
mendous value.