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In the evening I took a short walk on the beach and returned at night to
my plank-bed, where I slept soundly all night.
When I awoke I heard my uncle talking at a great rate in the next room. I
immediately dressed and joined him.
He was conversing in the Danish language with a tall man, of robust
build. This fine fellow must have been possessed of great strength. His eyes,
set in a large and ingenuous face, seemed to me very intelligent; they were of
a dreamy sea-blue. Long hair, which would have been called red even in England,
fell in long meshes upon his broad shoulders. The movements of this native were
lithe and supple; but he made little use of his arms in speaking, like a man
who knew nothing or cared nothing about the language of gestures. His whole
appearance bespoke perfect calmness and self-possession, not indolence but
tranquillity. It was felt at once that he would be beholden to nobody, that he
worked for his own convenience, and that nothing in this world could astonish
or disturb his philosophic calmness.
I caught the shades of this Icelander’s character by the way in
which he listened to the impassioned flow of words which fell from the
Professor. He stood with arms crossed, perfectly unmoved by my uncle’s
incessant gesticulations. A negative was expressed by a slow movement of the
head from left to right, an affirmative by a slight bend, so slight that his
long hair scarcely moved. He carried economy of motion even to parsimony.
Certainly I should never have dreamt in looking at this man that he was
a hunter; he did not look likely to frighten his game, nor did he seem as if he
would even get near it. But the mystery was explained when M. Fridrikssen
informed me that this tranquil personage was only a hunter of the eider duck,
whose under plumage constitutes the chief wealth of the island. This is the
celebrated eider down, and it requires no great rapidity of movement to get it.
Early in summer the female, a very pretty bird, goes to build her nest
among the rocks of the fiords with which the coast is fringed. After building
the nest she feathers it with down plucked from her own breast. Immediately the
hunter, or rather the trader, comes and robs the nest, and the female
recommences her work. This goes on as long as she has any down left. When she
has stripped herself bare the male takes his turn to pluck himself. But as the
coarse and hard plumage of the male has no commercial value, the hunter does
not take the trouble to rob the nest of this; the female therefore lays her
eggs in the spoils of her mate, the young are hatched, and next year the
harvest begins again.
Now, as the eider duck does not select steep cliffs for her nest, but
rather the smooth terraced rocks which slope to the sea, the Icelandic hunter
might exercise his calling without any inconvenient exertion. He was a farmer
who was not obliged either to sow or reap his harvest, but merely to gather it
in.
This grave, phlegmatic, and silent individual was called Hans Bjelke;
and he came recommended by M. Fridrikssen. He was our future guide. His manners
were a singular contrast with my uncle’s.
Nevertheless, they soon came to understand each other. Neither looked at
the amount of the payment: the one was ready to accept whatever was offered; the
other was ready to give whatever was demanded. Never was bargain more readily
concluded.
The result of the treaty was, that Hans engaged on his part to conduct
us to the village of Stapi, on the south shore of the Snæfell peninsula, at the
very foot of the volcano. By land this would be about twenty-two miles, to be
done, said my uncle, in two days.
But when he learnt that the Danish mile was 24,000 feet long, he was
obliged to modify his calculations and allow seven or eight days for the march.
Four horses were to be placed at our disposal — two to carry him
and me, two for the baggage. Hams, as was his custom, would go on foot. He knew
all that part of the coast perfectly, and promised to take us the shortest way.
His engagement was not to terminate with our arrival at Stapi; he was to
continue in my uncle’s service for the whole period of his scientific
researches, for the remuneration of three rixdales a week (about twelve
shillings), but it was an express article of the covenant that his wages should
be counted out to him every Saturday at six o’clock in the evening,
which, according to him, was one indispensable part of the engagement.
The start was fixed for the 16th of June. My uncle wanted to pay the
hunter a portion in advance, but he refused with one word:
“Efter,“ said he.
“After,” said the Professor for my edification.
The treaty concluded, Hans silently withdrew.
“A famous fellow,” cried my uncle; “but he little
thinks of the marvellous part he has to play in the future.”
“So he is to go with us as far as —”
“As far as the centre of the earth, Axel.”
Forty-eight hours were left before our departure; to my great regret I
had to employ them in preparations; for all our ingenuity was required to pack
every article to the best advantage; instruments here, arms there, tools in
this package, provisions in that: four sets of packages in all.
The instruments were:
1. An Eigel’s centigrade thermometer, graduated up to 150 degrees
(302 degrees Fahr.), which seemed to me too much or too little. Too much if the
internal heat was to rise so high, for in this case we should be baked, not
enough to measure the temperature of springs or any matter in a state of
fusion.
2. An aneroid barometer, to indicate extreme pressures of the
atmosphere. An ordinary barometer would not have answered the purpose, as the
pressure would increase during our descent to a point which the mercurial
barometer [1] would not register.
3. A chronometer, made by Boissonnas, jun., of Geneva, accurately set to
the meridian of Hamburg.
4. Two compasses, viz., a common compass and a dipping needle.
5. A night glass.
6. Two of Ruhmkorff’s apparatus, which, by means of an electric
current, supplied a safe and handy portable light [2]
The arms consisted of two of Purdy’s rifles and two brace of
pistols. But what did we want arms for? We had neither savages nor wild beasts
to fear, I supposed. But my uncle seemed to believe in his arsenal as in his
instruments, and more especially in a considerable quantity of gun cotton,
which is unaffected by moisture, and the explosive force of which exceeds that
of gunpowder.
[1] In M. Verne’s book a ‘manometer’ is the instrument
used, of which very little is known. In a complete list of philosophical
instruments the translator cannot find the name. As he is assured by a
first-rate instrument maker, Chadburn, of Liverpool, that an aneroid can be
constructed to measure any depth, he has thought it best to furnish the
adventurous professor with this more familiar instrument. The ‘manometer’
is generally known as a pressure gauge. — TRANS.
[2] Ruhmkorff’s apparatus consists of a Bunsen pile worked with
bichromate of potash, which makes no smell; an induction coil carries the
electricity generated by the pile into communication with a lantern of peculiar
construction; in this lantern there is a spiral glass tube from which the air
has been excluded, and in which remains only a residuum of carbonic acid gas or
of nitrogen. When the apparatus is put in action this gas becomes luminous,
producing a white steady light. The pile and coil are placed in a leathern bag
which the traveller carries over his shoulders; the lantern outside of the bag
throws sufficient light into deep darkness; it enables one to venture without
fear of explosions into the midst of the most inflammable gases, and is not
extinguished even in the deepest waters. M. Ruhmkorff is a learned and most
ingenious man of science; his great discovery is his induction coil, which
produces a powerful stream of electricity. He obtained in 1864 the quinquennial
prize of 50,000 franc reserved by the French government for the most ingenious
application of electricity.
The tools comprised two pickaxes, two spades, a silk ropeladder, three
iron-tipped sticks, a hatchet, a hammer, a dozen wedges and iron spikes, and a
long knotted rope. Now this was a large load, for the ladder was 300 feet long.
And there were provisions too: this was not a large parcel, but it was
comforting to know that of essence of beef and biscuits there were six
months’ consumption. Spirits were the only liquid, and of water we took
none; but we had flasks, and my uncle depended on springs from which to fill
them. Whatever objections I hazarded as to their quality, temperature, and even
absence, remained ineffectual.
To complete the exact inventory of all our travelling accompaniments, I
must not forget a pocket medicine chest, containing blunt scissors, splints for
broken limbs, a piece of tape of unbleached linen, bandages and compresses,
lint, a lancet for bleeding, all dreadful articles to take with one. Then there
was a row of phials containing dextrine, alcoholic ether, liquid acetate of
lead, vinegar, and ammonia drugs which afforded me no comfort. Finally, all the
articles needful to supply Ruhmkorff’s apparatus.
My uncle did not forget— a supply of tobacco, coarse grained
powder, and amadou, nor a leathern belt in which he carried a sufficient
quantity of gold, silver, and paper money. Six pairs of boots and shoes, made
waterproof with a composition of indiarubber and naphtha, were packed amongst
the tools.
“Clothed, shod, and equipped like this,” said my uncle,
“there is no telling how far we may go.”
The 14th was wholly spent in arranging all our different articles. In
the evening we dined with Baron Tramps; the mayor of Rejkiavik, and Dr.
Hyaltalin, the first medical man of the place, being of the party. M.
Fridrikssen was not there. I learned afterwards that he and the Governor
disagreed upon some question of administration, and did not speak to each
other. I therefore knew not a single word of all that was said at this
semi-official dinner; but I could not help noticing that my uncle talked the
whole time.
On the 15th our preparations were all made. Our host gave the Professor
very great pleasure by presenting him with a map of Iceland far more complete
than that of Hendersen. It was the map of M. Olaf Nikolas Olsen, in the
proportion of 1 to 480,000 of the actual size of the island, and published by
the Icelandic Literary Society. It was a precious document for a mineralogist.
Our last evening was spent in intimate conversation with M. Fridrikssen,
with whom I felt the liveliest sympathy; then, after the talk, succeeded, for
me, at any rate, a disturbed and restless night.
At five in the morning I was awoke by the neighing and pawing of four
horses under my window. I dressed hastily and came down into the street. Hans
was finishing our packing, almost as it were without moving a limb; and yet he
did his work cleverly. My uncle made more noise than execution, and the guide
seemed to pay very little attention to his energetic directions.
At six o’clock our preparations were over. M. Fridrikssen shook
hands with us. My uncle thanked him heartily for his extreme kindness. I
constructed a few fine Latin sentences to express my cordial farewell. Then we
bestrode our steeds and with his last adieu M. Fridrikssen treated me to a line
of Virgil eminently applicable to such uncertain wanderers as we were likely to
be:
“Et quacumque viam dedent fortuna sequamur.”
“Therever fortune clears a way,
Thither our ready footsteps stray.”
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