A land of wonder is thy birthright, marvellously wrought by fire and ice. It appeals to him who four times has visited thy shore and has explored the inmost recesses of thy deserts, it appealed to thy ancestors ten centuries since as a haven of liberty; mightily it appeals to thee to-day. Thy sons upon Dakota’s plains, thy daughters by the Winnipeg,—truants from thy hallowed dales and sloping greens,—oft feel the wrenching of the heartstrings and oft turn back to fatherland and home. Thy thousand years and more of warfare with the elements and thine own internal strife, thy centuries of thraldom to priestly power and greed of foreign merchant, thy years of famine and devastation by shaking earth and burning mountain have left their mark deep graven in thy forehead. But,—Thou art FREE. Before thee the future opens with promise her ever widening portals, a promise radiant as the bow of _Baldar_ which oft spans thy misty vales. Let not internal strife, the copying of foreign fashions and the jealousy of prospering neighbor be thy undoing. Out of the terrible past hast thou come with many a reprimand and many a sign to point the way which thou shouldst go, as plainly as thy _varðr_ guide the fog-bound traveller upon thy mountain moors. If a foreigner, who has long studied the factors of thy problem and knows something from experience of thy living struggle, may offer advice and not offend,—it would be the quoted wisdom of Solomon:— “_Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks_,” and then the words of the poet will be thy experience:— “Still, even here, content can spread a charm, Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm,”— and thine own saying will be full of truth:— “ICELAND IS THE BEST PLACE ON WHICH THE SUN SHINES.” FOOTNOTES [1] See The Story of Harald Hairfair, Saga Library, Vol. III. [2] _Fell_ is an isolated mountain while _fjall_ is the termination applied to a mountain showing that it is a portion of a group or a range. [3] _Fljót_ and _á_ each mean _river_ but there is the same distinction between them as between _river_ and _brook_. _Fljót_ is a large river with broad lake-like expansions and _á_ is an ordinary stream. [4] Swinestye is ironical for _Swinefell_, Swine Hill, the home of _Flosi_, the man who did the burning. [5] With the exception of the last records, 1854 and 1913, this data is compiled from the letters of _Von Troll_, Upsala, Sweden, 1777. [6] Through fires placed under deceitful ashes. [7] This was Baron Axel Klinckowström, of Stockholm, a member of our scientific corps. [8] About seventy-five per cent. of the molluscs that lived at this period of the world’s history are represented by living species to-day. [9] _Heimskringla_, Vol. I, Chap. LXXX. [10] _Ibid._ APPENDIX ICELANDIC PRONUNCIATION Accent:—The _stress_ is always on the first syllable.