Accent:—The stress is always on the first syllable.

Vowels:—The vowel sounds vary considerably from the modern English and much resemble the old Anglo-Saxon. Some changes have taken place in these sounds since the classical period of the Icelandic literature which was in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

The following key will assist the reader to pronounce the Icelandic terms in this volume.

Consonants:—The alphabet was taken from the Latin with the addition of two characters Þ thorn and Ð ith. The two have the sound of TH in thin; the first is initial and the second may be in any syllable if it is not initial, as Ð in SeyÐisfjÖrÐr, pronounced say-this-fur-thur.

The consonants have practically the same values as in English except the following, which should be noted:—

f before L or N has the sound of B, thus,—

Krafla is pronounced as if spelled Krabla.

Hrafn, (raven,) is pronounced as if spelled Hrabn.

h is given its breathing sound.

h before VI has the sound of Q, thus,—

HvitÁ is pronounced as if spelled Quee-tow, O like O in cow.

ll when L is doubled the first L has the sound of T, thus, fell is pronounced fetl.

Ð is sounded like TH in thin.

There is a tendency among the uneducated people to lisp or to smother their words behind closed lips. When spoken by an educated person the language is musical and pleasing.

Page 82,—Family Names:—The system of nomenclature given in Chapter VII is the prevailing one, still there are a few family names in Iceland. This is due to settlers from foreign lands, who have kept their family names and bequeathed them to their children. As an illustration I mention the ZoËga family, which, if my informant is correct, came from Italy many years ago.

Page 84,—KÁrastaÐir:—Possibly a more probable derivation of this name lies in the fact that in the early days of the settlement of this portion of the country one of the settlers bore this name, KÁra. Thus it should be translated, the stead or the farm of KÁra.

Page 89,—ÖxerÁ:—It was not till the summer of 1913, a year after Chapter VII was written, that I learned a most interesting thing about this river so famous in Icelandic history. It seems that in ancient days the river followed a natural channel near the ridge that rises above the heath near KÁrastaÐir. It did not enter the lake, Thingvallavatn, by the way of AlmannagjÁ as it does to-day.

The Vikings dispatched Geitskour in 965 throughout the country to choose a suitable place for the meeting of the Althing. After a summer of travel he chose this sunken valley and named it Thingvallir. The Vikings then turned the river from its ancient bed and caused it to tumble into this rift. What joy there must have been in the hearts of those sturdy old fellows as they stood on the opposite wall and watched the torrent make its first plunge into the abyss! Hence Axe River, the river whose channel was fashioned by their axes.

Page 92,—Measuring Stone:—Various authors have perpetuated the story of this peculiar stone, as given in Chapter VII, that stands in the church yard at Thingvellir. They tell us, and so do the guides, that it was the standard of measurement adopted by an ancient Althing, from which all linear measures in the country were taken.

Since writing Chapter VII, I have had another opportunity, in 1913, to examine this stone with more care. I emphatically state that it was not made by the hand of man and that the so-called “measuring marks” on it are nothing but steam holes blown through it by the great pressure when the stone was molten and cooling. The stone has been split open and the marks have the appearance of having been placed there by man. To further substantiate this I would refer to the fact that in 1913 Mr. J. C. Angus of York, England, and myself saw numerous blocks of lava in various places at MÝvatn with identical markings. Mr. Angus fully agrees with me in the above statement about the “measuring stone.”

Further, if the people who examine this stone in the future will go around it, examine it on all sides and near the ground they will find actual holes that penetrate deeply into the stone in several places. These have evidently escaped the eyes of those who like to point to this as the “first standard of linear measurement ever prepared by the people of northern Europe.” It is a pretty story and affords the guides a lot of amusement,—but facts are facts.

Page 104,—BrÚarÁ:—There is another story differing from the one I gave in Chapter VIII, though that one is correct, relative to the way in which this river received its name of Bridge River. In the old days there was a natural lava arch spanning the stream just below the site of the present bridge. The story relates that a woman on the side of the river nearest to Geysir was widely known for her hospitality. In those days it was the custom of the people to go “guesting” in the autumn and stay until spring. The Sagas are replete with such incidents.

At length this good lady became weary because of the large number of her uninvited guests from across the river. She dispatched two of her thralls in the autumn to break down the lava arch. This they did but they both lost their lives in the flood when the arch fell. The natural arch gave this stream the name of Bridge River. The illustration facing page 114 was taken from the present bridge.

Page 134,—Galtalaekur:—During the severe earthquake that preceded the eruption of Hekla in the latter part of April 1913 these ancient buildings were entirely demolished. It was one of the oldest of Icelandic turf houses. It has sheltered nearly all the people who have ascended Hekla for many generations.

Page 215,—SkÚtustaÐir:—This should be derived, not from the Icelandic skÚti, cave, but from an old Viking who settled here by the name of SkÚti. I am indebted for this correction to ThorÐur Floventsson of SvatÁkot.

Page 216,—KrakÁ:—This word is more correctly derived from the Icelandic KrakÁ, the name of a witch. In Chapter XIII I derived it from kraki, crow or raven. The following story was related to me in 1913, while struggling along its boggy margin by my guide, Ólafur Eyvindsson.

“There was a witch by the name of KrakÁ who lived in the mountains up the valley. She became angry with a farmer over a piece of fine meadow land which he refused to convey to her under any condition. Thereupon she threatened to destroy it if he did not yield at once. He remained obstinate. Soon a river poured out from the mountains, laid waste the farm and flooded the great meadow, as may be seen to this day, especially if the traveller goes from SkÚtustaÐir to SvatÁkot, Black-River-Farm, as we are now doing. In this instance his route will be across Graenavatn, Green-Lake.”

Graenavatn is a mighty meadow with water over all of it, but so shallow that the grass stands in most places out of the water. It is only along the edge of the river, KrakÁ, where the water has thrown up the black sand, that it is possible for ponies to proceed.

Railway:—I have seen several paragraphs going the rounds of the American press relative to a railroad in Iceland. I had a chance to ride on this railroad in 1913. It is less than two miles in length. It is merely an improvised affair to transport rocks from the quarry to the two great breakwaters that are being built to protect the harbor of Reykjavik.

There is some discussion in the Althing, (winter of 1914,) about the construction of a railway from Reykjavik into the rich grazing land near Eyrarbakki. At the present writing nothing definite has been done. It seems that it would be unwise to employ steam and ship the coal from Scotland, when an electric road can be made much more cheaply and there is such an abundance of water power for electricity.