The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1914, Page 86

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THORODDSEN
Norlh Iceland. So long as the ice drifts backwards and forwards
along the coast, the weather continues to be very changeable and
stormy; but once the ice has been grounded on the land, the
weather becomes more settled, although colder. The parts of the
coast which are most subject to be blockaded by the drift-ice are
the north and east sides of the north-western peninsula, especially
Strandasysla, and Langanes and Melrakkasljetta. In these districts
the effect of the presence of the drift-ice is shown both in the wider
extension of the snow-wreaths and in the character of the vegetation.
On the east coast of the north-western peninsula, south of Cape
Nord (also called Cape Horn) there is no vestige of coppice-wood,
whiie this occurs luxuriantly on the western and south-western side
of the peninsula, and at the heads of the fjords. Cabbage and potato
plots are also absent along this coast, north of 65° 40'N. lat.; while
small plots of cabbages occur frequently in Aðalvík on the north-
western coast of the peninsula at 660 251 N. lat. Even at the head
of Hunaflói the influence of the drift-ice is evident: Chamœnerium
latifolium which flowers every year on the plateau, 600—700 metres
above sea-level, flowered onfy twice during eleven years (1878—88)
at 'Midfjörður. In the districts which are most exposed to the effects
of the Polar ice, the herbage is extremely poor owing to the con-
stant coldness of the springs and the rawness of the summers; the
frequent snow-falls even at midsummer, make hajr-making precarious,
so that the sheep and cattle — and thereby the inhabitants — are
liable to suffer want.
During the nineteenth century the coast of Iceland has been
free from ice on an average about one year in every four or five;
but no rule can be formulated for the arrival of the Polar ice on
the coast of Iceland; sometimes it remains absent for many years;
sometimes it visits the coast several years in succession. The ice
arrives at different times — as a rule from January to April; if it
arrives early, it usually dril'ts away soon without doing any great
damage, but if it arrives near the time of spring, it often remains
till far into summer, and causes much inconvenience, hindering
navigation and fishing, spoiling the hay-harvest, etc. But it almost
invariably drifts away at the end of August, and for the last four
months of the year the coast is almost always free from ice. As a
rule, the Polar current first carries the drift-ice to the north-western
peninsula of Iceland, off Cape Nord, and the main mass is carried
out through Denmark Strait; but that part of the ice which besets