The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1914, Page 87

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
271
Hornstrandir (the coast down either side of Cape Nord), is carried by
the coastal current (the Irminger Current) along Strandasysla into
Hunaflói, from thence outwards along the east coast of this fjord,
then further eastwai'ds along the entire north coast, past Langanes
and on, down to the east and south coasts, where it either melts
or else drifts away into the open sea. The ice which comes to South
Iceland always comes froin the east, never from the north-west. In
severe ice-years the drift-ice may blockade the whole of the soulh
coast as far as to Cape Reykjanes; on the other hand, it very rarely
happens that any drift-ice enters Faxaflói and more rarely still that
any icebergs drift past the north-western fjords into Breiðifjörður;
the ice is not known to have been grounded on the land, down past
Patriksíjörður, for the last 200 years. The most severe ice-year known
was the year 1695; in that year drift-ice surrounded the whole island
with the exception of Snæfellsnes — a fact unparalled in the history
of the country. In most of the places the ice occurred in such quantities
in that year that open waler was not visible from the highest moun-
tains. As usual the ice drifted from North Iceland to South Iceland
and then southw'ards and reached Thorlakshöfn as early as April:
from thence it drifted into Faxaílói as far as Hítárós, and from the
north-west the ice drifted past Látrabjarg into Breiðifjörður. In the
beginning of May it was possible to walk and ride everyw'here out-
side all the Ijords of North Iceland. It sometimes happens that tlie
drift-ice drifts to Langanes and then down to the east coast without
touching the north coast.1 The Polar current bears great quantities
of drift-wood to the northern coast of Iceland, most frequently to
the neighbourhood ol' Cape Nord and Langanes. The greater part
of this drift-wood starls probably from Siberia; that of most common
occurrence is Larix sibirica, Picea obovata, Abies sibirica, Pinus
cembra, Pinus silvestris, Populus tremula, Salix vitellina, and others.2
1 Th. Thoroddsen: Den grðnlándska drifisen vid Island (Ymer. Stockholm,
1884, pp. 145—160). C. Ryder: Isforhoidene i Nordhavet, 1877—1892 (Tidsskrift
for Sovæsen, 1896). V. Garde: Isforholdene i de arktiske Have in Nautisk Mete-
orologisk Aarbog of 1898 and subsequent years (in Danish and English). W.
Meinardus: Periodische Schwankungen der Eisdrift bei Island (Annalen der
Hydrographie und Maritimen Meteorologie, 1906).
2 J. G. Agardh: Om den Spetsbergska Drifvedens ursprung (Övers. af Kgl.
Vet. Ak. Förh., 1869, No. 2, pp. 97—119). A. G. Nathorst: Tvá somrar i norra Is-
hafvet. Stockholm, 1900, I, p. 345. Th. Thoroddsen: Ferðasaga af Vestfjörðum
(Andvari, XIII, 1887, pp. 164—168) and Ferðabók, II, 1914, pp. 63—70. Compare
Geografisk Tidsskrift, IX, p. 45. E. Olafsson: Rejse gennem Island (1772), I, pp.
508—513. O. Olavius: Oekonomisk Rejse gennem Island (1780), pp. 126—146.