Jökull - 01.12.1967, Page 48

Hekla but not into the neighbourhood o£ Fiski-
vötn.
The next record of Tungnaá is found in the
Jardabók (Land Register) by Arni Magnússon
dating from the first years of the eighteenth
century: “Skaftá and Tungnaá are one water
where they emerge from the glacier and flow here
as one river for about one and a half day’s
journey (50 km) to the west, southwest, then
Skaftá to the south, Tungnaá to the west and in-
to Thjórsá, are split against a sandy ridge and
both flow south of Fiskivötn.” Magnússon’s re-
gister is in some respects in accordance with
the ideas of the local people of the county
Skaftafellssýsla to the southeast, represented on
older maps. They seem to have considered
Tungnaá to flow somewhere through the Torfa-
jökull mountain area, joining the Hólmsá and
Kúdafljót rivers in the southeast. On the other
hand Magnússon is evidently aware of the fact
that Tungnaá is a tributary of Thjórsá.
The more restrictive meaning of the name
Fiskivötn as the lakes north and west of
Tungnaá, also appears for the first time with
Magnússon, shortly after 1700. He is also the
first to mention individual lakes by their nam-
es: “At Fiskivötn the main fishing season is in
November (quod fieri non deberet), trout is
plentiful. The lakes Skálavatn, Langavatn and
Fossvatn are the most particular of the best
fishing lakes.” The first map to show this nar-
rower meaning is a map by the civil governor
Peter Raben. It was made in the year 1721 and
a.o. shows a cluster of more than 20 lakes, —
Fiske Vande —. All these lakes are shown with-
out drainage and located at a considerable
distance east of Thjórsá. Remnants of the lakes
shown on the maps by G. Thorláksson and
Th. Thorláksson can also be seen on Raben’s
map as four broadenings of a river flowing in-
to the Kúdafljót river ancl marked by the name
Herreds Floed. This can hardly be any other
river than Hólmsá. Tungnaá is not marked on
the maps by Raben.
Raben was the originator of the first mapp-
ing of Iceland at a comparatively large scale.
At first he employed an Icelander, Magnús
Arason, in the work, but after he was drowned
in 1728 a Norwegian, Tomas Hans Henrik
Knoff, was engaged in continuing the work.
He finished it in the year 1733. Knoff’s map
includes great improvements compared with
olcler maps, a.o. Tungnaá here extends all the
way to the Skaftárjökull glacier. He shows Fiski-
vötn as 5—6 separate lakes in a cluster between
Thjórsá and Tungnaá. On Knoff’s map of the
Skaftafellssýslur counties a lake is marked near
the western margin of Skaftárjökull. Probably
this is meant to show Langisjór. He also shows
four other lakes on the outskirts of Vatnajökull
and one in the centre of the ice cap. Probably
the lake in the centre of Vatnajökull is Grims-
vötn (the lakes of Grímur) since it is designated
on Raben’s map with name and date for the
latest eruption, in 1717.
At this point we have entered “the cold
climatic period” (little ice age) with definitely
colder climate than previously and frequent
severe years. The cold climatic periocl is con-
sidered to begin sometime between 1450 and
1600, but around 1600 its severity greatly in-
creased. As one of the consequences of the
climatic deterioration the more secluded parts
of the interior highland were now much less
frequently visited by travellers than in former
times and eventually travel routes were largely
abandonned. The people’s acquaintance with
the local conditions on the interior highland
decreased and local names got lost and mixed
up. From E. Olafsson and B. Pálsson’s descript-
ion in Ferdabók (Book of Travels) from the
years 1752—57 it can be concluded that fishing
journeys to Fiskivötn have become much less
frequent than before: Now a days travels
to there from South Iceland are scarse, but in
former times a fishing place was found there
habitually frequented by people from both the
south and the east. Ruins of fishing huts and
long stone fences, which have been built to dry
the fish on are still to be seen there.” Ólafsson
and Pálsson were the first naturalists to explore
the country to any degree, yet they clid not
venture far into the central highland, although
they talk about the effeminacy of their country-
men in these matters.
The first scientist to undertake a trip to
Fiskivötn for exploration purposes was the
physician Sveinn Pálsson. On the 26th of August
in 1795 he went on a weeks trip to the interior
in company with one guide, Jón Sigurdsson at
Thorleifsstadir in the Rangárvellir district, wlio
was thoroughly acquainted in these parts. Páls-
282 JÖKULL 17. ÁR