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island of Vidoe opposite Reikiavik, and where
bibles and psalters, and various religious books
are printed, together with selections in general
history, and various tracts of useful information.
Such a people are not difficult to govern ; and as
they have little or no intercourse ivith foreigners,
except the few Danish merchants ivho reside at the
ports, and no itinerant preachers of infidelity or
sedition to unsettle their minds, there is little
chance of any change for the worse, either in their
moral or political character.
CHAPTER VIH.
S T A P P E N A N D SN /E F E L L YOKU L.
Cross Faxe Fiord in the Yacht— a Land P ilo t— Reach the Coast
o f Stappen — Stormy Weather prevents a Landing— Beat off
the Coast—Return to Reikiavik—Rough P a s sa g e—Basaltic
Columns aud Caves o f Stappen—Extracts of Unpublished
Journals of Sir John Stanley’s Companions— Ascent o f Snwfell
y;,^;//_Measiirement o f its H e igh t— Meridional Direction of
Basaltic Pillars from the Giants’ Causeway to Jan Mayen s
Island in ihe Greenland Seas— No such formation on the two
opposite Continents.
On the morning of the 14th of August, the wind
proving favourable for a visit to Stappen, (being
then in the north-east,) and the weather beautiful,
we determined to proceed thither in the yacht,
and by so doing avoid a dreary land journey,
double the distance of that by water. Not caring
to incur the risk of running our vessel on one of the
sunken rocks, with which the great bay abounds,
we endeavoured to procure a skilful pilot at Rci-
kiavik to take chai’ge of her thither, but itn a s
not without the greatest difficulty that we vere