The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1914, Page 7

I. GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY. GEOLOGY.
Iceland is a large island in the North Atlantic. It stretches from
63V20 to 661/-*0 N. lat. and from 13° 27' to 24° 30' W. long. fr.
Gr.; consequently, tlie Arctic Circle touches its northernmost points,
and as a result, along the northern coast, the midnight sun turns
night into day for a short time during summer. In the most
northerly districts the sun is above the liorizon for a week; at
Reykjavík the longest day is 20 hours 56 minutes, the shortest 3
hours 58 minutes. The distances from Iceland to the neighbouring
countries are as follows:— to Norway 950 km., to Scotland 900 km.,
to the Færöes 450 km., to the east coast of Greenland 330 km., and
to Denmark 1500 km. The length of the island from east to west
is 490 km., and the breadth from north to south is 312 km. Its
area is about 104,000 sq. km.
Iceland is a very mountainous country althougli it has not any
true mountain-chains; il is most properly descrihed as a continuous
tahle-Iand with an average height of 700—1000 metres above sea-
level; besides, there are only narrow horders of coastal Iand, valleys
which cut into the table-land from all sides, and a few small areas
of level land towards the south and west. Scarcely one-fifteenth of
the country can be reckoned as lowland. Owing to its northern
situation, its height above sea-level, and the resulting severe climate,
only a relatively small part of the country is inhabitable. More
than two-thirds of the entire area of the country is situated at so
great a height above sea-level tliat almost no vegetation can thrive
there. The sandy and stony deserts of the interior plateau, the lava
tracts, and the glaciers are not fit dwelling places for human beings;
therefore it is almost exclusively the coasts and the valleys which
are inhabited.