An Historical and Descriptive Account of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands: With Illustrations of Their Natural History

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Oliver & Boyd, 1840 - 416 páginas
 

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Página 403 - Or where the Northern ocean, in vast whirls, Boils round the naked melancholy isles Of farthest Thule, and the Atlantic surge Pours in among the stormy Hebrides...
Página 98 - And sends the fowls to us in care On daily visits through the air. He hangs in shades the orange bright Like golden lamps in a green night, And does in the...
Página 259 - I now advise you to prepare for your departure as soon as possible ; but me ye shall bring to the promontory where I thought it good to dwell. It may be that it was a prophetic word which fell from my mouth, about abiding there for a season.
Página 309 - Next are the skua gulls, regarded with an anxious eye by the kittiwakes above. Nest follows nest in crowded rows along the whole breadth of the rock, and nothing is visible but the heads of the mothers and the white rocks between. A little higher on the narrow shelves sit the guillemots and auks, arranged as on parade, with their white breasts to the sea, and so close that a hailstone could not pass between them. The puffins take the highest station, and, though scarcely visible, betray themselves...
Página 184 - Thus in a future age, power may become the .staple commodity of the Icelanders, and of the inhabitants of other volcanic districts ; and possibly the very process by which they will procure this article of exchange for the luxuries of happier climates, may, in some measure, tame the tremendous element which occasionally devastates their provinces.
Página 183 - In Iceland, the sources of heat are still more plentiful ; and their proximity to large masses of ice, seems almost to point out the future destiny of that island. The ice of its glaciers may enable its inhabitants to liquefy the gases with the least expenditure of mechanical force ; and the heat of its volcanoes may supply the power necessary for their condensation. Thus in a future age, power may become the .staple commodity of the Icelanders...
Página 188 - is that of unsuspecting frankness, pious contentment, and a steady liveliness of temperament, combined with a strength of intellect and acuteness of mind, seldom to be met with in other parts of the world.
Página 135 - Son of the wealthy and powerful Chief Sturle Thordson, and Lagman or governor of Iceland in 1213. " His countrymen," says an eloquent writer, " love to compare him with the most celebrated of the Roman orators, to whom both in character and fortune he bore a striking resemblance. Both were called to the highest offices in their native land by the voice of their admiring countrymen — both amidst the cares and distractions of political life, soothed...
Página 187 - ... scorched rocks of rugged lava, or enclosed between the raging sea and the black cliffs, they become serious, quiet, humble, and little disposed to exert themselves, unless impelled by necessity.
Página 41 - With an average depth of fifteen yards, the combined mass would contain 420x3097600x15=19,514,880,000 cubic yards, or nearly twenty thousand millions. But this comprises only that portion which flowed into the inhabited district, whilst it is likely that an equal or greater quantity remained heaped up around the crater, or flowed off into the unknown regions of the interior. To this must also be added the pumice, sand, and ashes, scattered not only over the whole island, but to a distance of 300...

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