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THE CAMPING-OUT SERIES.
VOLUME III.
OFF TO THE GEYSERS:
OR,
THE YOUNG YACHTERS IN ICELAND. AS RECORDED BY "WADE."

BY C. A. STEPHENS.
ILLUSTRATED.
THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.,
PHILADELPHIA,
CHICAGO, TORONTO.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873,
By JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.,
ln the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

INTRODUCTION.

BAHIA, Brazil, Dec. 29,187-. THE EDITOR OF "OUR YOUNG YACHTERS' SERIES."

Dear Sir,— We would earnestly wish to avoid giving the impression that our "method of self- education," as you have been pleased to term it, consists merely of a series of yacht-cruises off and on. This would be an error. Both myself and the young gentlemen associated with me recognize, as rigidly as the most rigid of our university-professors, the necessity of a thorough drill and discipline of the mental powers. In proof of this, allow me to acquaint you somewhat with our last season's studies. Fully a third of the time from November till April was occupied in making calculations connected with an actual survey which we made of Massachusetts and Cape-Cod Bays. We even went so far as to get "regular lessons" from Greenleaf's "Intellectual Arithmetic," and add up triple and quadruple columns of figures according to the "accountant's method:" this for mental drill.

I remember, too, that we used to multiply, mentally, long arrays of figures by 13, 17, and 19; as, for example, 978321635478396 X 17.

During this time we read "Heat, a Mode of Motion," and "Fragments of Science," by Tyndall; "The Descent of Man," and "Origin of Species," by Darwin; Prof. Huxley's "Lay Sermons;" and also the first four volumes of Bancroft's "History of the United States." These, besides papers, magazines, &c.

I call your attention to these studies, only to illustrate to you our "mode of self-education." In it the yacht figures but as a single feature. We have become "yachters" to avoid the tedious, vegetable life of a college.

We have thought your Introduction to the second volume * liable to mislead. Set us right before your readers in this particular, if possible.

Very truly and respectfully yours,

J. W. RAEDWAY.

[We know of no better way to make the correction than by printing this letter as an introduction to our third volume — ED.]

* "Left on Labrador."


CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Off to the "Geysers." — Wash's Letter.—The Sailing of "Curlew." — The Cold Storms of the North Atlantic—The Atlantic Cable.—Over the "Telegraphic Plateau." —The Bottom of the Ocean.—Honor to Mr. Field. — An Icebergs. — A Whale.

Iceland, ho! — First Glimpse of the Snćfel. — The Faxa Fiord. —The "Smoking Cape." — The "Meal-sack." —Reykjavik. — " Excuses moi. Monsieur"— The Early Discovery of America. —A Long Day. —A Stroll about Town. — The Governor, the Windmill, and the University. —Squalor.—Hiring a Guide.—Some Queer Nags.

We start for the Geysers. — An Amazing Cavalcade. — Desolate Scenery. —"Vaer-thu-sael!"—A Kissing Incident. — More Snuff.— "Hurr-r-r-r, Hurr-r-r-r!"—A Bog.— Kit comes to Grief. —An Icelandic Tremendal —Wash on the Subject of Geology.—Lava Cliffs.— The Almannajau — A Black Chasm. — The Oxeara Cataract. — We encamp in the Chasm.—Small Fuel.—Coffee.—A Sleep-Walker.

The Pastor of Thing-valla; his House and Church. —The Lögberg and its Olden Story.—A Lava Tract.—The Hrafnajau.—The Tintron —Icelandic Rivers. — The Bruara. — A singular Bridge. — First Glimpse of the Geyser Steam.—Anticipations.—The Little Geyser.—Strange Emotions. — Strokhr, or the Churn. — The Geyser Plateau.—Great Geyser and Basin.—Measurements.

Our Camp at the Geysers.—The "Big Tea-kettle."—Hvers.—Icelandic Hay. —Skyer.—Cutting Sods for Strokhr.—A Big Dose. —"Ah-r-r-r, Ah-r-r-r!" — A Jump for Dear Life. — The Grand Heave up. — Strokhr very Sick all Night.— We watch with him. —A Storm.—Waiting for "G.G."—"Bumm-m-m, Bumm-m-m"—A Hot Shower.—The Great Geyser in all his Grandeur.

An Undesirable Result of the Eruption. — Weymouth hints at Certain Pacts hitherto quite Unsuspected.—More Bode for Strokhr.— Dull. —Strokhr gets an Accidental Dose.—"Sneezing-Matches"—Try him again.—A Grand Display.—Bunsen and Tyndants Theory of the Geysers.

Adieu to the Geysers. —A Horse-Auction.—Ruinous Sales.—Coasting Iceland.— The Eyja Fiord.— Sick. —Our Danish Friend. —Akureyri. — Or to the Fire-Region. —The Fnjoska.— A Blue Fox. — The Great Skjafandi-fljot.—Godafoss.—Myvatn.—The Farm of Reykjalith.—Dogs; Ravens; Good People; Soft Beds; and a Bit of Scandal.

A Wet Day. — The Church of Reykjalith; its Curiosities. — "A Hot Old Relic"—An Impromptu Priest.—The Farmer and his Sagas.—The Beloved "Gretla"—A Roundabout Mode of Translation.—The Old Icelander reads, and the Young Dane interprets, "Grettir the Strong."

The Sulphur-Jokuls.— Volcanic Slag and Clinkers.—Lava Bubbles.—The "Brimstone-Badness."—A Natural Steam-Whistle.—Fumeroles. —A Block of Sulphur.—A Red Soil.—Another Saga-Reading, "Grettir in Norway."

The Namarskarth.—Volcanic Steam-Clouds.—An Appalling Scene.—A Hint to Poets.—Odors of Brimstone.—The Mud Plain.—A Strange Bright Landscape. — Mud-Caldrons. — Slime-Pools. —A Steaming Labyrinth.—Another Whistle.—More of the Gretla,-"Grettir and the Vampire."

"Fourth of July" in Iceland. — Political Qualms. — We astonish the Icelanders—Off to the Dettifoss.—The Jokulsa.—A Barren Tract. — Grandeur of the "Second" Fall. — Our Last Saga-Reading. —"Grettir at Drángey."—Back to Akureyri.—Good-by to Jan.—Homeward Bound. — Farewell to the Land of Ice and Fire. — Wash and his Little Song.


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