The Icelandic Canadian - 01.11.2007, Page 31

Vol. 61 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
73
Fiction
Journal of Porstein Gunnlaugsson
by Kristian Vigfusson
September 18th, 1893
Today, I have decided to begin writing
a journal. I will be writing in it every now
and then to record our story. We are mov-
ing to Canada, Torey and I, because we
want to get married and have a better life.
Neither one of us owns any land, nor do
our parents have any land to spare. In order
to sustain a home and family, a person has
to own property. Recently we heard of this
new country, where you could have many
acres of land for a small price. We will now
have to leave our homeland in search of a
better life in a new and distant land.
September 19th, 1893
Today, we met with an immigration
agent, who gave us directions on where to
go. He also gave me a wordbook, which
will help me learn the English language.
Torey and I will board a boat at
SauSarkrokur with our meager belongings.
We will travel to the new land, Canada,
where we hope to have a better life and
more opportunity for our children. We
have only told our closest family we are
leaving. We will journey to Leith, Scotland,
on a small, yet seaworthy vessel. We are
very saddened to leave our family and our
beautiful country behind, but if it means
having a better lifestyle, it seems the right
thing to do.
September 27th, 1893
Yesterday, we packed up our few
belongings into a wooden trunk. We will
need our heavy woolen clothes for the voy-
age across the ocean. As we have never
owned our own home, we do not have
many household belongings. My mother
gave me a Bible and five of my favourite
books to take with us. Torey's mother gave
her a beautiful woolen blanket to help keep
us warm on the voyage. We will use it, as
well, in our new home and it will remind us
of all the loved ones we are leaving behind.
It was more difficult than I could ever
have imagined, saying goodbye to our par-
ents and our sisters and brothers. I am
hopeful that maybe, someday, they will
join us in New Iceland and we can all be
together again.
We left the farm very early this morn-
ing and arrived at the dock in Saudarkrokur
with plenty of time to spare. It has been a
very cool and cloudy day with a brisk
north wind blowing. After the boat left the
dock, it wasn’t long before we were unable
to see the shores of our homeland through
the mist.
October 2nd, 1893
We arrived in Leith, Scotland, on
schedule, where we spent the night. Then,
the next day, we travelled on to Liverpool,
England by train.
Liverpool is an amazing place. It is so
huge, that it is hard to find our way around.
We were glad to find a place to stay for
these two nights, at a small inn, close to the
docks. I have never seen so many people in
one place, at one time. Many of these peo-
ple look very different from us; some of
them even have different coloured skin. I
can't help wondering where they all come
from. Lorey and I went for a walk along the
docks to watch the boats being loaded. We
heard many different languages being spo-
ken, none of which was Icelandic. It seems
very strange not to be able to understand
the language that people are speaking,
around you.