n years prior
to his voyage of discovery to the shores of America. It is now
generally conceded that the Icelanders were the original discoverers
of the American continent. Recent antiquarian researches tend to
establish the fact that they had advanced as far to the southward as
Massachusetts in the tenth century. They held colonies on the coasts
of Greenland and Labrador, and must have had frequent intercourse with
the Indians farther south. Columbus in all probability obtained some
valuable data from these hardy adventurers. The date of his visit to
Iceland is well authenticated by Beamish, Rafn, and other eminent
writers on the early discoveries of the Northmen.

[Illustration: COAST OF ICELAND.]

Nothing could surpass the desolate grandeur of the coast as we
approached the point of Reykjaness. It was of an almost infernal
blackness. The whole country seemed uptorn, rifted, shattered, and
scattered about in a vast chaos of ruin. Huge cliffs of lava split
down to their bases toppled over the surf. Rocks of every
conceivable shape, scorched and blasted with fire, wrested from the
main and hurled into the sea, battled with the waves, their black
scraggy points piercing the mist like giant hands upthrown to smite or
sink in a fierce death-struggle. The wild havoc wrought in the
conflict of elements was appalling. Birds screamed over the fearful
wreck of matter. The surf from the inrolling waves broke against the
charred and shattered desert of ruin with a terrific roar. Columns of
spray shot up over the blackened fragments of lava, while in every
opening the lashed waters, discolored by the collision, seethed and
surged as in a huge caldron. Verily there is One whose "fury is poured
out like fire; the rocks are thrown down by him; the mountains quake,
and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence."

[Illustration: THE MEAL-SACK.]

Passing a singular rock standing alone some twenty miles off the land,
called the _Meal-sack_, we soon changed our course and bore up for the
harbor of Reykjavik. By the time we reached the anchorage our voyage
from Thorshavn had occupied exactly three days and six hours.

Trusting that the reader will pardon me for the frequent delays to
which I have subjected him since we joined our fortunes at Copenhagen,
I shall now proceed to the important labors of the enterprise with
this solemn understanding--that the journey before us is pretty rough,
and the prospect is strong