ICELAND

an isl. in the N. Sea (63° m. N.W. of Shetland Islands and 250 m. much indented by fiords; surface consists of ice-covered plateaus 1,500 to 6,425 ft., near S.E., coast; numerous small lakes, many being crater basins or moraine lakes. Glacier fields cover 5,000 8q. m.; in interior are large areas covered by recent lavas. Over twenty of the many volcanoes have been active in modern times; the best known are Hecla, 5,108 ft., Katla, and Askja; more than ‘seventy earthquakes occurred in last cent.; hot springs and geysers are common. Scenery is very fine. Chief industry is breeding of cattle and sheep; principal exports: salt fish, especially cod, butter, oil, mutton, and wool; go mainly to U.K. In 1906 a telegraph cable from Shetlands by Faroes to Seydisfjord and Reykjavik (cap.) was laid; there are no railways. Only c. 7,000 sq. m. of area are habitable. See Map of Europe. _ Iceland was discovered and colonized by Norsemen between 870. and 950, though Irish (Culdee) monks appear to have visited the isl. and partly settled there, from 795 onwards. ‘The earliest immigrants arrived in four main streams - the first and fourth from Norway, the second from the Norse kingdom of Dublin, the third from the Orkneys ana Western (i.e. He bride an) islands. Christlanity became established c. 1,000. At first the Ice landers constituted themselves into a sort of aristocratic republic of franklins, whose central authority was the Althing, or national a embly, which met every summer, and was at once framer, interpreter, and executor of the laws. But internal conflicts led, 1262-71: to island falling under the supremecy of Norway. From c. 1280, though de jure only from 1388, Iceland was a dependency of the Danish crown. The restoration of national self-gevernment was finally secured in 1918, when Iceland became a free and independent state under Christian X., King of Denmark. Area, 39.709 sq. miles. Pop. 92,000. Language and Literature—The language spoken and written in Iceland at the present day is almost precisely the same as that spoken and written at the date of its colonization in the 9th cent.—+.e., the anc. Norreena (Northern) or Dan. tongue, which presents close affinities to A.S. The language employed in the runic monuments was also closely akin to anc. Icelandic. Iceland po e es 2 rich literature which counts two periods of especial fruitfulne —(1) from about the middle of the 11th to the end of the 13th cent., and (2) from the beginning of the 19th cent. to the present time. ‘The literature | of the older period may be grouped in three divisions—the anc. mythical and heroic songs, the scaldic poetry, and the sagas. The most valuable of the mythic or mythological songs are the V oluspa, or sheimt, or ‘Fetching Home the Hammer’; Hymiskvida, or the ‘Song of Hymir’s Vafthrudnismdl, or the ‘Sayings of Vafthrudnir’; Grimnismal, or ‘Sayings of Grimnir’; Havamdl, or ‘Sayings of the High One’; and the fragmentary Rigsmaz —in which the doings of the gods Odin, Thor, ete., are sung. The most famous writers of scaldic poems were Egil Skallagrim on, 904-90, whose lament for his son contain remarkably fine poetry; Halfred the Troublesome, c. 968-1014; and Sighvat Thordarson, the friend of St. Olaf and Magnus, kings of Norway. But prose saga is the peculiar and crowning product of Icelandic genius. Of a mythical-heroic cast are the Gylfaginning. Kraka, and Orvar Odd; while the following have a historical foundation: Yngmak, Gisli, Njal and Gunnlaug. The chief sources for this anc. Icelandic literature are two collections known as the Elder Edda and the Younger Edda. Theo latter was put together by Snorri Sturluson, 1178-1241, and embraces the myth which preserves the anc. mythical songs, was attributed (though upon the slenderest grounds) to Semund, who flourished about 1100. Ari, a contemporary of and a wonderful Domesday Book of Ice also compiled the chronicle known as Heimskringla, or ‘Story of the Kings so Norway,’ and as a chronicler had a worthy succe or in his nephew, Sturla Thordarson, 1214-84. The relatively barren stretch between the earlier and the later literary periods can furnish the names of only three poets—Stefan Olafthe eccles, historian, Finnur Jon on, 4704-89, who wrote in Latin; and the eneral translator (e.g., of Paradise Lost), on Thorlak on, 1744-1819. The pioneers of the later reawakening were the Jast named, who also wrote original nus Stephen sen, 1762-1838. The real awakening took place between 1830 and 1880, the most potent organ being the magazine Fjolnir, 1835, etc., to which poems, new both in form and in subject were contributed by Bjarni Thorarensen, 1786-1841, and Jonas Halgrim on, 180745. ‘They had a very useful ally in the grimur ‘Thorstein on and Matthias so chums son have been succeeded by a younger school with more modern and realistic tendencies, represented by Pall the younger Benedikt Gréndal, ThorsThe two most distinguished novelists of the 19th cent. were Jon Thoroddsen, Outside the bounds of pure literature the most distinguished names are those of Jon Sigurd on, 1811-79, historian and political writer; the folklorist Jon Arnason, 1819-88; and Thorvaldur Thoroddsen, who has explored Iceland, and written about her geography.