I have already mentioned, in a previous chapter, that before the discovery of the banks of Newfoundland, the English cod-fishers used to resort in great numbers to the coasts of Iceland, where some of them--now and then--appeared also in the more questionable character of corsairs. One of these worthies, who, like Paul Clifford, or Captain Macheath, so effectually united the _suaviter in modo_ with the _fortiter in re_, as to have merited the name of “Gentleman John,” came to the Westmans in 1614 and set the church on fire, after having previously removed the little that was worth taking. After this exploit he returned to Great Britain, but King James I. had him hung, and ordered the church ornaments which he had robbed to be restored to the poor islanders. It was, however, written in the book of fate that they were not to enjoy them long, for in 1627, a vessel of Algerine pirates, after plundering several places on the eastern and southern coasts of Iceland, fell like a thunderbolt on Heimaey. These miscreants, compared with whom John was a “gentleman” indeed, cut down every man who ventured to oppose them, plundered and burnt the new-built church, and every hovel of the place, and carried away about 400 prisoners--men, women, and children. One of the two clergymen of the island, Jon Torsteinson, was murdered at the time. This learned and pious man had translated the Psalms of David and the Book of Genesis into Icelandic verse, and is spoken of as the “martyr” in the history of the land. The other clergyman, Olaf Egilson, with his wife and children, and the rest of the prisoners, was sold into slavery in Algiers. The account of his sufferings and privations, which he wrote in the Icelandic language, was afterwards translated and published in Danish. It was not until 1636, nine years after their capture, that the unfortunate Heimaeyers were released, and then only by being ransomed by the King of Denmark. Such was the misery they had endured from their barbarous taskmasters, that only thirty-seven of the whole number survived, and of these but thirteen lived to return to their native island. [Illustration: 65. FISHING IN NORWAY.] CHAPTER IX. FROM DRONTHEIM TO THE NORTH CAPE. Mild Climate of the Norwegian Coast.--Its Causes.--The Norwegian Peasant.--Norwegian Constitution.--Romantic coast Scenery.-- Drontheim.--Greiffenfeld Holme and Väre.--The Sea-eagle.--The Herring-fisheries.--The Lofoten Islands.--The Cod-fisheries.-- Wretched Condition of the Fishermen.--Tromsö--Altenfiord.--The Copper Mines.--Hammerfest the most northern Town in the World.-- The North Cape.