known everything, tliongh we know little or nothing of
what concerns liim personally, Iceland was not wholly
a terra incogiiiia. “ Pish! ” exclaims Nym (in
Henry V j, on whom Pistol retorts—“ Pish for thee,
Iceland dog! thou prick-eared cur of Iceland! ”
Shakspeare never missed the proper epithet:—the
common dog of Iceland has short erect ears.
The first account I have seen of this country hy an eyewitness,
and it is the result only of a short and incidental
visit, is hy a French doctor, who went on an expedition
partly of trade and partly of discovery, set forth hy a
“ Company of traders to the north” in the year 1670,
sanctioned hy the King of Denmark. The name of the
writer is not stated, nor the name of the English translator,
hut it is addressed to Sir Charles Thorold, Knt.,
Alderman, and SheriiF of London. It purports to be a
full account of Norway, Lapland, Borandia, Siberia,
Samojedda, Zembla, and Iceland. In returning from
this voyage, the ship was caught in a storm near Greenland,
and not knowing where they were, but seeing a
great fire, the master said it must be Mount Hecla.
They got into a harbour near Cape Heri, and proceeded
to a village called Kirkebase*, where they were cordiallv
entertained by some Danish merchants, who told them
that the day before the w’hole island shook so violently,
that they thought they should all be swallowed up. The
writer and a party went to see Mount Hecla, which
* This place is on a fiord opposite to the Mestmann's Islands.
they reached in two days, having travelled the last five
miles strewed over with ashes and pumice-stones.
Most of the company stayed below, but the author and
a Danish merchant, with the guides, “ footed it over
ashes and pumice-stones, sometimes up to the calves of
our legs in ashes; we ascended half a league, and then
felt the ground shako under u s; we also heard such a
terrible noise in the bowels of the earth, that it seemed
as if it would burst open ; at the same time, there
appeared on all sides chinks, out of w'hich issued bluish
flames, which stunk like stench of burning brimstone.
This sight made us turn back for fear of being consumed
by them. We had scarce got down thirty yards before
a black smoky cloud ascended out of the mountain, and
so thick that it darkened the light of the sun, and
covered us so that we could not see one another: our
fears grew upon us every step we took, for behind us
rose blasts of fire, showers of ashes, and pumice-stones,
which fell upon us as thick as hail; and this dreadful
storm was attended with horrible noises which made
us cry out in a frightful manner, fancying that the infernal
furies were coming out of the mountain to devour
us.
“ Fear made us so nimble, that in a quarter of an
hour we descended so much of the mountain as we were
a full hour in ascending. When our companions perceived
we came down so fast upon them, they fell out a
laughing at us, and their, laughter grew louder when
they saw us in such a pickle, as black as if we had been
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