ard the south the valley slopes gently to Thingvalla Vatn, a
beautiful sheet of water of crystal clearness ten miles long and five
miles wide, having in some places a depth of a thousand feet. The
scenery here is one of rugged beauty and surpassing grandeur. Hard by,
a river comes tumbling over its rocky bed, then calmly pours its icy
water into the placid lake. No spot is better suited to inspire freedom
of thought and lofty imagination than this primitive meeting-place of a
legislative assembly.

Eventually, Iceland became subject to Norway and afterward a colony of
Denmark, which it remains to-day. Self-government and the
re-establishment of the old Parliament at Reykjavik was granted by
Denmark in 1874.

Iceland is not only out of debt but has the snug sum of one million
crowns in its exchequer. It is an ideal place for the woman's rights
advocates, since women here have the right to vote and do not change
their names when they marry.

Although the island contains forty thousand square miles, five-sixths of
it is uninhabitable. The present population is eight thousand.

It may with truth be called naked because it is only partly clothed with
vegetation; moreover, such vegetation as exists is scanty and confined
chiefly to the river valleys and their slopes. In the interior are large
desert areas covered with lava and shifting sand. This desolate expanse
is frequently diversified by extensive jokulls, or elevated ice-fields,
one of which occupies four thousand square miles.

Strange as it may seem, the winters in the inhabited sections are not so
severe as those of New England, owing to the modifying influence of the
warm southwesterly wind and the mild temperature of the surrounding
waters. The summers are cool, owing to the nearness of the arctic
ice-fields. In the interior on the table-land one is apt to encounter
snowstorms even in August.

The only wild animal is the fox, of which there are two varieties, the
white and the blue. These animals probably drifted on the ice from
Greenland. They are hunted not only for their skins but also because
they attack the sheep.

The domestic animals are horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, and cats. The
horses and cattle are small. The ewes, instead of the cows, are milked.
Iceland ponies are famous for their hardiness and are sure-footed. Large
numbers of them are exported to England for service in the coal-mines.
There they are condemned to hard labor for life in the dark