galleries.

Iceland ranks second among the geyser regions of the world, Yellowstone
Park being first. The boiling springs and geysers are not confined to
one locality but are scattered widely over the island. The most
prominent are east of Reykjavik.

According to its area probably no other part of the world except the
island of Java has so many volcanoes. More than one hundred craters and
cinder cones have been counted, many of which have been active within
the historical period of the island. The most destructive volcanic
eruption took place in June, 1783. The spring had opened auspiciously;
the cattle, sheep, and horses were cropping the juicy young grass; and
the air was balmier than usual. In the latter part of May a bluish smoke
accompanied by earthquakes began to spread over the land. As time passed
the earthquake shocks increased in violence. The surface of the earth
heaved like the ground swell of the ocean after a storm; the atmosphere
became filled with choking vapors and blinding smoke; the sun was
darkened and the low rumbling sounds became heavy peals of thunder.
Presently two mighty streams of lava, one of which was fifteen miles
wide and one hundred feet deep, came pouring down the sides of Skaptar
Jokull. The lava floods filled up the valleys, quenched rivers, and
spread destruction over the adjacent country. The intense heat blasted
the vegetation far and wide. Nine thousand people and fifty thousand
head of live stock were the result of the death harvest.

[Illustration: North Cape, Iceland]

Iceland is well watered, having many streams, all of which are rapid,
for the greater part flowing over beds of lava and quicksand. In some of
the wider fords stakes have been set so that the traveller may not get
lost in crossing them on horseback during a dense fog. In the summer the
frequent rains make travelling very unpleasant unless one is suitably
equipped with water-proof garments. In the Hvita, or White River, is the
celebrated Gullfoss--literally, "goldfall"--a fall that rivals Niagara
in the height of its two cataracts.

A few garden vegetables excepted, little or no agriculture is
attempted; the chief dependence of the people is the rearing of sheep,
cattle, and horses, fishing, and the collecting of eider-down. The
streams are filled with excellent fish, including the salmon; off the
coast are codfishing grounds equal to, if not surpassing, those of
Newfoundland.

The most valuable mineral is