The
Tourist li I a journal of general information. VOL. I.
REYKJAVIK, JANUARY 1892.
CONTENTS: The Tourist in Iceland column. 1. My first trip to lungvellir — 3. Pingvellir as a sanitary Home — 6. To the top of mount Orsefajokull — 7. The commerce of Iceland . — 8. What can be done to increase the steam communication with Iceland? — 9. The first iron suspension bridge over one of the large rivers in Iceland, Olfusil ' , — 10. Lord Duff or in on >ingvellir — 11. Welcome to the tourists (a poem) — 11. Routes in Iceland for tourists — 12. Miscellaneous informations — 13. Advertisements — 15.
THE TOURIST
IN
ICELAND.
In every country we find men who neither believe in the progress of themselves, their country nor the world at large. Their faculty of observation, if we may so express, seems to be somewhat defect, for everywhere, in every country we find progress, if we take the trouble of examining past and present history. Iceland is no exception to the rule, and we who believe in the progress of our country, Ave intend to demonstrate this fact to our intelligent and observant readers. Why Iceland is so little known amongst the other nations of the world, is principally on account of her great isolation, and the scanty means of comunication; then again a nation consisting of some 70,000 souls, living on an isolated island in the North Atlantic, cannot expect to be widely known amongst other nations, except something specially were the attraction. It is just this special attraction, which is now opening Iceland to the civilised world. In the first place we have a saga or history unique as it were. We can trace our history from the very beginning of our first settlement, now over 1000 years up to the present. We possess a literature of our own which
NO. 1.
we may say is the admiration. of the civilised world, a literature quite select which just florished in this far away island when learning in other parts of Europe scarcely existed outside of the monestary walls. We have possessed and do possess many gifted poets and scholars. In spite of every kind of adverse circumstances: volcanic eruptions; inclement seasons; the Greenland ice which at times has enclosed a large part of our coasts with its iron gripe; the most opressive trade monopoly; alien government and devastating diseases, which at periods have swept away a large proportion of our scanty population, we have maintained to hold up our distinct nationality and preserve our spiritual, vitality, so that at present we are fairly on the road of progress to national independence. In the second place we possess a very interesting and highly cultivated language, which has taken very few alterations from the very beginning of our settlement 1000 years ago, the same language, which our forefathers the Norsemen had and which they have now lost. To the educated linguist here is a wide field of learning and observation. In the third place, especially during summer we possess a most salubrious climate, envigourating pure and healthy. Our scenery is unique. Gigantic glaciers of immense extent and vastness; volcanoes with their unlimited lava field; hot springs such as the Great Geysir of world wide fame, and others; sweet valleys with winding rivers and green meadows ; large rivers with trout and salmon; innumerable islands with the eider ducks and other birds; magnificent waterfalls of varied beauty, and many other peculiarties of nature,