ICELAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19275, 13 March 1926, Page 1 (Supplement)

ICELAND.

SISTER OF NEW ZEALAND

BY VERA r RIDN'F.R

It will do doubt surprise my readers , that Iceland, an island in the northern j hemisphere, situated in latitude 1.65£-66j, j north, washed by the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, can have anything in common j with New Zealand. Yet these two coun- j tries have so many likenesses that they ; can be called sisterlands. " Just like Iceland," was my first j thought when 1 beheld the mountainous j ranges of New Zealand rising out of the j ocean, "only that was mostly higher with glimmering snowpeaks and streaks , of snow along the slopes." Now I know j that hau 1 lust seen the south-west coast j of New Zealand the likeness would have j been perfect. When travelling inland in the north is- j land, the idea " just like Iceland" struck | me again and again. There were the j same br.nen hills, the same vast wilder- j ncss, undulating prairies over which the j glance travelled unhindered by forests for | miles and miles. But in New Zealand j vji go by train, and iu Iceland no trt.n has yet seen the day. There the most common vehicle is the horse, and next to that comes the motor-car. Volcanic Activity. I went to Rotorua, I am glad t" say. and here 1 felt very much at home. It reminded me so much of Iceland, and yet it was different. Smoking mountains, j spouting geysers, mudpools and solfataras as in Iceland, but more concentrated here than there, where the whole country is dotted with these phenomenal wonders. What looks weird hero is still weirder there, unhidden by any vegetation. Also it gives a wilder impression. Iceland is the savage sister, New Zealand the civil ised one. The wonders there are not Slate-monopolised, and are found far awav from human dwellings. As in many places a guide is not necessary, you can go by yourself and find them in " beata solitudo." You can get quite another impression of the thermal wonders if you go on horseback with, say, two or three silent comrades.' Leaving your night quarters at early morning, riding on paths trodden deep through centuries, seeing not a house, not even a thatched cottage, the whole day, you may suddenly discover some huge columns of smoke, arising at the foot of the mountain whose crest you are just surmounting, while your ears catch the sound of enormous steam hammers in -some .ghastly underground workshop. You may ride over turf and moorland, come on a river-bottom, dried out through the volcanic upheaval of land, ride there between steep cliffs of basalt. Farther on, you may emerge into an unlimited desert of black lava sand, with no other vegetation than here and there a pink turf of Silene alpina. You may have to ride over high hills of loose gravel and sharp stones where it would be a great difficulty for any horse but an Iceland pony to mount with a burden on his back, and then you may hear the mighty roar of Dettifoss, the hugest waterfall in Europe, and see it dashing down into a deep canyon between giant walls of black basalt pillars in dreary, majestic solitude, surrounded by vast deserts of stone and sand. You may ride along the edge of a lake, full of crater-islands, bordered with volcanoes of all sizes, enter a narrow passage in an old lava stream where the lava has hardened into the most weird and bizarre shapes, often towering several feet, and where the ground is full of holes and caves. • Weird and Wonderful. It may not be a clear day, but in the remote distance is a mountain looking as if the sun always shone on it. You reach it at last, and find that the whole mountain has dazzling colour —yellow, red, white, light grey, but also purple, violet, and unimaginable hues. The whole surface of the mountain consists of sulphate and different salts formed by combination of sulphuric acid and different volcanic minerals. At the foot of the mountain there is a vast field with the same colours. Smoke rises everywhere, from solfataras and boiling giant, mudkettles, and the scent of sulphuretted hydrogen fills the air. The volcanic activity is in Iceland, as in New Zealand, chiefly in the solfatara stage, which is the dying stage of all volcanic " and related activity. l T ou may ride to Great Geyser, partlv through lava-desert, partly through the most fertile land in Iceland, where the grass is of the finest quality, making it possible for fine cattle to thrive. The Great Geyser, from which the name geyser originates, has gone to rest many years since, and is just as disapt-Aiting as the biggest geysers in New l!/«3and; but there are lots of small ones »"ound about it still in action, though not at ali so often and exact as those of Wairakei valley in Rotorua district. Lands of Contrasts. The deepest contrasts are seen in Iceland as in New Zealand, though they are there nearer each other. Huge and vast inland glaciers, or " JokuT" as the Icelandic name is, cover the country in different parts. Not, only with regard to nature can parallels be drawn between Iceland and New Zealand. The large flocks of grazing, long-wooled sheep are a remarkable sight in both countries.' Even in Iceland the sheep go out the whole year round, feeding on the extremely fine, thickly-growing grass that is a natural product of the country. In the south part, also, cattle and horses are out the whole year feeding themselves, and are kept in only occasionally at cold spells. Sheep-breeding is the chief revenue-pro-ducing occupation of the Icelandic people. Next to that comes fishing. When I arrived in New Zealand at the end of November, 1 had constantly in the first weeks reason to think, just as cold as in Iceland." Though a Scandinavian, I found the Icelandic summer and autumn so cold that I mostly went about in winter clothes. The same happened in New Zealand in months which should be spring and summer months. I found the epithet "subtropical" in a paper referring to the climate of New Zealand, and the term seemed ludicrous to me. According to the latitude it should be subtropical, but my impression after the experience of. three summer months here is that it does not come up to the warmth of the north-temperate continental region in its summer, and is not far from the chilliness of the Icelandic summer. My experience, I should say, was gained mostly in Rotorua. Thanks to the Gulf Stream sweeping the south coast of Iceland, the winters are quite mild, the bays do not freeze, and snow melts quickly, therefore the cattle can generally be kept outdoors. There is thus a great deal of likeness to New Zealand in climatic respect, however astounding that sounds. Alike in Hospitality. A very pleasing trait of both these countries is the good old-fashioned hospitality. But, while people in New Zealand can offer the most modern comfort, the people out in the country in Iceland can only offer the simplicity of a home fifty years back in time. With the lack of comfort comes there the advantage of a perfectly quiet atmosphere. Time stands still. The Icelandic farmer is generally well educated and has not only knowledge of the golden literature of the Icelandicsagas. but also of the classics of the Scandinavian literature, and often of that of other countries too. He is a king in his domain, but his palace is mostly built of turf. On my travels in New Zealand I came one day to Auckland's zoo and there the likeness culminated, for here were icebears just as in Iceland, where in wintertime they frequently are found along the northern coast on floating ice-floes.