In the valleys on the northern coast, near as they approach to the Arctic Circle, the soil is wonderfully good, and there is more vegetation than in any other part of Iceland, with the exception of the eastern shore, which is the most favoured portion of this desolate land. Rivers abounding in fish are much more frequent there than elsewhere; willows and juniper adorn the valleys, and birch-trees, 20 feet high, grow in the vale of Lagerflest, the only place which produces them large enough for house-building, and the verdure is fine on the banks of those streams which are heated by volcanic fires. The climate of Iceland is much less rigorous than that of Greenland, and it would be still milder were not the air chilled by the immense fields of ice from the Polar Sea which beset its shores. The inhabitants are supplied with fuel by the Gulf Stream, which brings drift-wood in great quantities from Mexico, the Carolinas, Virginia, the river St. Lawrence, and some even from the Pacific Ocean is drifted by currents round by the northern shores of Siberia. The mean temperature in the south of the island is about 39° of Fahrenheit, that of the central districts 36°, and in the north it is rarely above the freezing point. The cold is most intense when the sky is clear, but that is a rare occurrence, as the wind from the sea covers mountain and valley with thick fog. Hurricanes are frequent and furious; and although thunder is seldom heard in high latitudes, Iceland is an exception, for tremendous thunder-storms are not uncommon there—a circumstance no doubt owing to the volcanic nature of that island, as lightning accompanies volcanic eruptions everywhere. At the northern end of the island the sun is always above the horizon in the middle of summer, and under it in mid-winter, yet there is no absolute darkness. The island of Jan Mayen lies midway between Iceland and Spitzbergen; it is the most northern volcanic country known. Its principal feature is the volcano of Beerenberg, 6870 feet high, whose lofty snow-capped cone, apparently inaccessible, has been seen to emit fire and smoke. It is flanked by enormous glaciers, like frozen cataracts, which occupy three hollows in an almost perpendicular cliff, which descends from the base of the mountain to the sea. The group of New Siberian Islands, which lie north of the province of Yakutsk, and in about 78° of N. lat., have so rude a climate that they have no permanent inhabitants; they are remarkable for the vast quantity of fossil bones they contain: the elephant’s tusks found there have for years been an article of commerce.