Mímir. Icelandic institutions with adresses - 15.12.1903, Blaðsíða 70

6o
NOTES ON ICELANDIC MATTERS
of colour; the very notable trio of falls, gay in summer with
verdure and flowers — one of them adorned with a charming
islet on its very verge — situated in the Sog, the outlet of the
Thingvallavatn; and, beside these, a host of other floods, in other
parts, pouring over steep cliffs. These are the Niagaras of the
island, but there are, besides, not a few falls which delight the
eye by their loftiness and grace, recalling those of the Califor-
nian Yosemite. Such are the Hengifoss (“hanging cataract”)
in the Fljotsdalur, the Dynjandi (“thundering”) cascade on the
ArnarfjorSur, and the unforgettable Seljalandsfoss, leaping from
high up the Eyjafjallajokull, near the southern shore — a slender
thread of water, which, glittering in the sunlight, is visible from
beyond the sea that separates the Westman islands from the
mainland, and tells the islanders, before setting out, by the
way it is blown hither and thither, whether they may hope to
make a landing on the neighbouring harbourless coast; and the
Drffandifoss, also driven, as its name indicates, to and fro —
the plaything of the breeze; but, as in other worlds of snow-clad
heights, these rivulets, descending, like fair and shining ribbons,
from great elevations, occur, in vernal and summer days, every-
where all over the land.— No quarter of the earth excels Ice-
land in the unending diversity of its mountain shapes, which
present every possible outline of slope and summit, as well as
every possible order of grouping. They are conical, domed,
pyramidal, truncated, horned, pointed, turtle-backed, grotesque,
single-pinnacled and many-pinnacled, massive and slender,
terraced and columnar, turreted and crested, solitary and
clustered, and so on ad infinitum. Of course they divide
themselves into two markedly differing classes, the volcanic
and non-volcanic; and into two other classes, the jokulls (glacial
mountains), and those without glaciers — jokull signifying,
in a general way, either a glacier or a glacier-producing moun-
tain. As volcanoes, jokulls rarely emit lava, but only showers
of ash. Merely a small number of the multitudinous and mul-