The _Thinghús_, Parliament Building, _Reykjavik_, 72 Foot of the _Öxerá_ in _Almannagjá_, 96 _Lögberg_, Mount of Laws, between the Rifts, _Ármannsfell_ in the Distance, 96 Bridge River, _Brúará_, near _Geysir_, 114 Tube of _Geysir_ Filling, Photographed from within the Basin, 114 Favorite Ponies, _Sunlocks_ and _Greba_, 158 Mountains of Sulfur, _Solfataras_, at _Krisuvik_, 158 When the Fog Lifted,—Entrance to _Seyðisfjörðr_, 184 Washing Split Cod at _Faskrudsfjörðr_, 184 _Goðafoss_, the Icelandic Niagara, on the _Skjalfandafljöt_, 204 Island Craters in the _Mývatn_, from _Skútustaðir_, 204 Fording a Shallow Arm of the _Mývatn_, Turf Cottage in the Distance, 218 Contorted, Twisted and Crumpled Lava at _Skútustaðir_, 218 A Hot Water Fall at _Hveravellir_, (Hot Spring Valley), 226 _Slútness_, Crater Island in the _Mývatn_, Home of the Golden Eyed Duck, 226 Flag of the Arctic Club of America On the Summit of _Krafla_, 238 Obsidian Ridge, _Hrafntinnuhryggr_, near Summit of _Krafla_, 238 _Thverá_, a Highland Home in the _Öxnadalr_, 248 _Vatnsdalshólar_, Numberless Conical Hills in _Vatnsdalr_, 248 The Glacier of _Láng Jökull_ in the _Kaldidalr_, 276 Glaciers and Moraine on _Arnavatnsheiði_, 276 _Árhver_, River Hot Springs near _Reykholt_, 292 _Reykholt_, Ancient Stead of Snorri, Typical Icelandic Farm, 292 ICELAND CHAPTER I HISTORICAL _Atossa._—And who is set over them as a shepherd of the flock, and is master of the army? _Chorus._—They call themselves the slaves of no man, nor the subjects either. —_Aeschylus._ Historically, Iceland is unique. Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Mexico,—each has a prehistoric period of human habitation, when man loved and hated, and competed with the brutes for existence. He fashioned his instruments from stone and made self-preservation his first and only law. A sturdy race, little removed from the highest brutes, filled with animal vigor and endowed with brute passions, held all known lands in prehistoric time. Step by step, cycle upon cycle, brute force submitted to reason; culture and refinement, mental acquisition and spiritual attainment characterized an evolutionary race of human beings in which each developing cycle was founded upon the decadence of the prehistoric.