Jökull - 01.12.1967, Qupperneq 61

cross-country route. In the year 1575 the sea-
sonal migration of fishermen from northern
Iceland to the Suclursveit district was aban-
donned. There are other indications of com-
munication between the Öræfi district ancl the
Sudursveit district on one hand and the north-
ern part of the country on the other in pre-
vious centuries, which illustrates that the Vatna-
jökull ice cap was much smaller before and in
the beginning of the cold climatic period than
at present. In that connection it suffices to
mention accounts in the book “Vatnajökull”
by f. Eythórsson (Eythórsson 1960).
We have recurrently mentioned the cold
climatic period and some of its effects. This
period also occurs simultaneously with the so-
called “times of misery” of the nation, the
printe causes of which are thought to have been
foreign oppression and trade monopoly. To us
it seems that the climatic deterioration should
be given much more account as a reason for
the times of misery of the nation than hitherto
lias been done. The success of correlating years
of famine with temperature as l’. Bergthórsson
has done really proves that the Icelanders are
so-cal!ed stress population, a population yield-
ing to climatic changes so clearly that the
condition of the nation can be used as a thermo-
meter.
A CKNO WLEDGEMENT
The anihors wish to thank Mr. Páll Ingólfs-
son, Ii.A.,for translating the paper into English.
REFERENCES
Arnason, G. 1925: Er Stórisjór fundinn? Tím-
inn, 9.
Bergthórsson, P. 1957: Kuldaskeid urn 1300?
Vedrid, 12, 2: 55-58.
Bókaútgáfa Menningarsjóds og Thjódvinafélags-
ins, 1966: Njála. Reykjavík.
Eylhórsson, J. 1952: Landid undir Vatnajökli.
Jökull, 2: 1—3.
— 1952: Thættir úr sögu Breidár. Jökull, 2:
17-20.
— 1960: Vatnajökull. Almenna bókafélagid,
Reykjavík.
Fontenay, Fr. le Sage de. 1925: Hvar er Stóri-
sjór? Tíminn, 9.
Gestsson, G. 1957: Tóttir í Snjóöldufjallgardi.
Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags 1955—
1956: 66-86.
— 1959: Tóttir í Snjóöldufjallgardi. In: J.
Briem, Utilegumenn og audar tóttir. Bóka-
útgáfa Menningarsjóds, Reykjavík, 109—
129.
Jónsson, B. and Thomsen, G. 1878: (Fréttir).
ísafold, 5: 96.
Kjartansson, G. 1957: Langisjór og nágrenni.
Náttúrufrædingurinn, 27, 4: 145—173.
Lamb, H. H. 1966: The Changing Climate.
Methuen & Co. Ltd., London.
Mathews, W. H. 1967: Profiles of late pleisto-
cene glaciers in New Zealand. N. Z. Geol.
and Geophys. 10: 146—163.
Nordal, S., and Thórdarson, Th. 1931: Ferd ad
fjallabaki. Gráskinna III: 44—58.
Nörlund, N. E. 1944: Islands Kortlægning. Geo-
dætisk Instituts Publikationer VII. Ejnar
Munksgaard, Köbenhavn.
Ólafsson, E., and Pálsson, B. 1943: Eerdabók.
H. Sigurdsson and H. Hálfdanarson,
Reykjavík.
Pálsson, Ó. 1884: Könnud fjöll sumarid 1884.
Sudri, 2: 127.
Pálssoti, S. 1945: Ferdabók. Snælandsútgáfan,
Reykjavík.
Sveinsson, E. Ó. 1940: Svar vid adfinnslum. Ár-
bók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags 1940: 53—
87.
Thorarinsson, S. and Ahlmann, H. W. 1943:
Vatnajökull, Scientific Results of the Swed-
ish-Icelandic Investigations 1936—37—38,
Chapters III, IV and IX. Reprinted from
Geografiska Annaler 1937—1940, 1943.
Thorarinsson, S. 1956: The Thousand Years
Struggle Against Ice and Fire. Bókaútgáfa
Menningarsjóds, Reykjavík.
— 1956: On the variations of Svínafellsjökull,
Skaftafellsjökull and Kvíárjökull in Öræfi.
Jökull, 6: 1-15.
Thoroddsen, Th. 1895: Fercl um Austur-Skafta-
fellssýslu og Múlasýslur sumarid 1894. And-
vari, 20: 1-84.
— 1959: Ferdabók. Snæbjörn Jónsson & Co.
li.f., Reykjavík.
Tómasson, J. 1967: Mineralogical ancl petro-
graphical Characteristics of Icelandic
tephra. In: The Eruption of Hekla 1947—
1948 I: 171—183. Vísindafélag íslendinga,
Reykjavík.
JÖKULL 17. ÁR 295