>ix de ' ' i ¦¦inville.

;f - _ ... . "I give tie/e Books ,
for the founding of a. College in -this.. Colony'

•YALE-^MVIEISSirinf- - iLniBiaaiSF •

VOYAGE

TO THE

NORTH POLE,

IN THE FRIGATE THE SYRENE;

INCLUDING

A PHYSICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL NOTICE

RELATIVE TO

THE ISLAND OF ICELAND.

CHEVALIER DE LA POIX DE FREMINPILLE,
LIEUTENANT, CHIEF OF TKE BRIGADE OF THE MARINE CADETS, AND A
MEMBER OF SEVERAL LEARNED SOCIETIES.

£onOon :
PRINTED FOR SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS and Co,
BRIDE-COURT, BRIDGE-STREET.
1819.

THE CHEVALIER DE FREMINVILLE
TO THE EDITOR.

Brest, June 19, 1819.
AT a time when the Literati of Europe are waiting with anxiety, the
result of the. new expedition which the English government have sent to
explore the passage to the North Pole, and to resdlve the prollem whe
ther Greenland be an island; it may be presumed that a brief relation of
a Voyage to the North Sea, in 1806, performed by some officers of the
French marine, of whom, I was one, will prove acceptable and interest
ing. This expedition, after encountering a number of difficulties, penetrated
to latitude 80° ,• and it will be observed, that the attempt made by the
English last year, could only penetrate those seas to the latitude of 80°
32". In the, course, of our voyage, the various interesting incidents that
occurred, particularly at the Island of Iceland, will render this brief
narrative, I venture to affirm, not only worthy of observation,, but highly
interesting.

VOYAGE TO THE
NORTH POLE.

Since the time of Duguay Trouin, the French government
had not turned its attention to the North Seas. In the course
of the last war, an expedition to these seas was projected for
the purpose of annoying the whale- fishery carried on there by
the English, and to take and destroy the vast fleets that are
annually employed by thern in this trade, Such a scheme
was pregnant with much danger; nevertheless, the advan
tages likely to result from it were great in more relations than
one. Government, therefore, now resolved to put the plan in
practice ; and, in consequence, three frigates were armed.
The command of the squadron was confided to Captain le
Due, an experienced seaman, who had already made several
voyages in the Hyperborean Ocean.
A resolution was taken to collect every possible advantage
from an expedition that should advance as near as possible to
the pole, to penetrate into seas almost hitherto unexplored ;
military operations were not to be the only object; the sciences
were to come in for a share of the probable benefits. Captain
le Due, in his instructions, was directed to let slip no oppor
tunity' to avail himself of any astronomical and geographical
observations and facts that might conduce to the improve
ment of our hydrography, to this day very imperfect, with re
spect to the North Seas.
The minister of marine determined that an officer should
embark, as supplementary, in the frigate the Syrene, wherein
the commodore sailed, to superintend, in an especial manner,
the hydrographic labours. I was selected for this undertak
ing ; a better choice might doubtless have been made : but
well knowing how to value a distinction of this honourable
kind, I can with truth affirm, that our scientific operations,
during the voyage, are entitled to a measure of public confi
dence. On our return, our papers were submitted to the in
spection of the illustrious Bouganville; and this prince of
French navigators was pleased to sanction them with his ap
probation .
Voyages and Travels, No, 2. Vol. II. L

82 Freminviile's Voyage to the North Pole.
The division, or squadron, consisting of the frigates the
Syrene, the Gueriere, and the Revanche, put to sea on the
28th of March, 1806. After frequent calms for a number ot
days- together, in the gulf of Gascony, a very violent gale
dispersed them, and obliged the Syrene to make for the Azore
Islands, which had been fixed upon as the first point of ren
dezvous in case of separation.
After cruising two days within view of the isles of Corvo
and Flores, the squadron again got together, and immediately
bore away in a northerly direction.
We were not long before we felt the effects of a piercing
cold, which gave us reason to regret the mild temperature of
the Azores. Continual foul weather, which did not allow us
for fifteen days to sail, except with lowered topsails, led the
captain to conceive, that as the rigorous season was likely to
be of longer continuance than usual, it was too soon to at
tempt a passage into the frigid zone ; in consequence of this,
he determined to cruise about ten or twelve days in the lati
tude of Cape Farewell, on the coast of Greenland.
Our course, in coming from the Azores to these latitudes,
had passed over the points wherein a number of doubtful spots
are marked on the great chart of the Atlantic Ocean, pub
lished in 1786; and which, perhaps, have no existence, or only
form the little island of Jaquet, inaccurately fixed by the
voyagers to Newfoundland ; their reports, it is certain, have
often obtained more credit than they were entitled to.
We steered for ten days on the parallel of 59 deg. 30min.
but having to encounter very rough gales of a northerly wind,
all our endeavours to keep longer in that bearing were fruit
less. Being obliged to keep close to the Cape, we were driven
back to the south, as far as the 58th parallel. To make some
advantage of a circumstance so contrary, we beat about for
the Isle of Bas, or Wrisland, placed in the chart of M. de
Verdun in 58 deg- 11 min. lat. N. and in 28 deg. 13 min. long.
W. This islet, which was nothing but an extinguished vol
cano, had become a rendezvous for the Greenland fishermen
who first discovered it ; the Dutch had formed some establish
ments on it, for the preparation of whale-oil, but it disap
peared a.bout sixty years ago, and has never since been
noticed. It is conceived, that like many other volcanic islets it
has been swallowed up by some submarine convulsion, examples
of the like having frequently occurred.
Reaching the point assigned to the Isle of Bas, in the chart
above cited, we could trace no vestige of it; but as we had a
rough sea, with short and rippling waves, we judged we might be
over the spot it once occupied. We sounded for better assu

Freminville's Voyage to the North Pole. 83
ranee, butalineof 200 fathoms could find no bottom. Such
submarine phenomena, doubtless the most extraordinary of any
that volcanic eruptions produce, are frequent in the Northern
Ocean, at least in the tracks occupied by the long volcanic chain
that stretches from the 58th to the 72d degree of latitude. This
chain commences to the north of Scotland ; and the basaltic
archipelagos of the Hebrides, of the Orkneys, and Shetland Isles,
form the first rings of it. Stretching afterwards to the N. W.
across the oceanic whirlpools, it appears again at the Ferro Islands,
then at Iceland, the most extensive theatre of ignivoraous erup
tions to be found on the surface of our globe. From Iceland,
the chain goes on to join the Isle of Jean Mayen, or Trinity,
where it appears to end, after traversing under water a space of
more than 260 marine leagues. In advancing more to the north,
we find nothing in the character of the lands that pl-esents features
of a volcanic soil ; Bear's Island, and Spitzberg, are wholly cal
careous. The weather now becoming milder, we bore away for the
north ; and in a few days we had sight of the coasts of Ice
land. Their dark profile delineated a rough sketch of its steep,
rocky, indented shores, or a misty horizon ; in the N. W. at a
very considerable distance, appeared an enormous mountain,
which we judged might be mount Hecla ; but the bad weather,
for three day successively, not admitting of any astronomical ob
servations, I will not affirm that it was actually that famous vol
cano, which had now been in a tranquil state the twelve preceding
years. We made sail for the north-east, coasting land, but at a consi
derable distance ; the weather cleared up, during the short night
which succeeded to the day of our seeing land, and a pure serene
sky on the day ensuing brought to view, on another point of the
coast, ajocul, or mountain, of a prodigious height, entirely co
vered with snow; its summit, which reached far above the
clouds, reflected the rays of the rising sun, which tinging it
with a beautiful rose-colour, blended insensibly with the white
ness of its flanks, and produced an admirable effect. Our obser
vations enabled us to ascertain this mountain for the jocul
of Knapafells, on the point of Wester, to the S. E. of the is
land. Being thus assured of our position, we bore away at large, keep
ing always to the E. N. E. We were in the track wherein the
maps generally place the Isle of Enckuysen, the existence of
which was, nevertheless, considered as very doubtful. In our
course we must have passed directly over the point wherein the
chart of Bellin places it. As the problem of its existence was a

84 FreminviUe's Voyage Ur the North Pole.
matter of some interesrto resolve, and we could effect it without
going out of the course, we stationed some of our company on the
look-out. At night-fall some of the men gave notice of a shoal, or ridge,
ahead ; in fact, the sea, at a little distance in front, seemed to us
covered with thousands of birds, of the kind of petrels and sea;-
gulls, the vast number of which, from their white plumage, re
sembled at a distance the froth of waves rippling over breakers ;
we went about a mile to windward of the pretended shoal, and
discovered it to be the floating and half putrid carcase of a dead
whale, thus serving for food to an. immense multitude of sea-fowl.
Next day, May 12, we discovered land; it was, in reality,
the Isle of Enckuysen, to the N. N. W. of us, at the distance
of about two leagues and # half. We fixed the position of its
southerly point at 64 deg. 54 min. lat. and 12 deg. 48 min.
long. W.
The Isle of Enckuysen, generally placed in the charts much too
westerly of its real situation, and too near the coast of Iceland,
appeared to us to be about four leagues in extent, in the direction
of N. N. E. to S. S. W. ; it has just elevation enough not to ren
der the approach dangerous.
, May the 14th, we crossed the Arctic polar circle at 10 deg. 14
min. long. W.
May 17th. In the latitude of 7- deg. we noticed, with surprize,
the first floating ice; it was unusual for the season to meet with
ice so early ; it is usually to be found about the middle of May,
but only in from 76 to 80 degrees of latitude. Captain Phipps
sent, in 17735 from England, to explore the passage of the Pole,
could see no ice till he had reached the N. W. part of the coast of
Spitzberg. Next day we came abreast of a very large island of floating
ice, with fleaks of prodigious dimensions ; these masses, doubt
less detached from the immense banks that surround the
Spitzberg, from the diversity of their shapes, and their curious
infractions and indentations, presented a spectacle altogether
unique for the most of our company. Their friction produced a
stunning kind of noise, like that which the sea-water makes over a
strand of pebbles and gravel.
We cleared those mountains of ice-flakes, many of which rose
to the height of our main -top-mast; they were transparent, and
of a most beautiful azure blue.
Still bearing on to the N. E. we endeavoured to near Beering
Island (Beereh Eylandt) situated in 74 deg. 33 min. lat. Its extent
is not above four or_ five leagues. It is reported that the Russians
have discovered in it a very rich silver mine.

FreminviUe's Voyage to the North Pole. 85
May 19th, at midnight (there was no darkness then during the
night) a bluish lustre, visible in the horizon, warned us of the
approach of the ice. This phenomenon produced by the refrac
tion of the rays of light on the water, is a sure sign of the
proximity of considerable bergs ; in fact, we observed one soon
after, but consisting of blocks so large and so close together,
that there appeared no interval through which we could pene
trate. We coasted along it for several hours; it was covered
with thousands of phocce, that is seals, or sea-calves (phoca vitu-
lina, L.) that were rolling about, and seemed to be sporting in the
snow. We were so near that we could salute them with dis
charges of our musquetry, but were unable to kill any, as the
balls merely slid over their hard smooth skin without piercing
it. Knowing that they were dispatched at once with a blow on
the nose, we prepared a boat and descended, to the number of
seven or eight, among immense heaps, the smallest of which
were five feet in length. Our presence did not terrify them,
and they viewed us with a stupid kind of stare. We knocked
some of them on the head with our oars, when they tried to
make their escape, uttering a noise like the shrill barking of a
young dog.
It is generally thought that seals derive the faculty which
they possess of staying long under water, to the botal aperture,
which they preserve during life.* I wished to inform myself
on this important point of comparative anatomy, and took care
to open the heart of one of those we had taken ; 1 found the
notion to be erroneous, that the botal aperture was entirely
closed, and that, of course, the blood could not pass from the
veins into the arterial system without previously crossing the
lungs ; then to disengage itself by the contact of the external
air from the carbone which it contains. It is evident, there
fore, that although seals may plunge under water for a consi
derable time, respiration is as necessary to promote the cir
culation of their blood as it is in other mammiferous animals;
neither can they dispense with the necessity of coming up to
the surface of the water, from time to time, to take breath.
I found the stomach of my seal filled with intestinal worms
alive, that appeared to me to belong to the genus of echynor-
hyncs. In proceeding along the borders of the ice, we found it
stretching along to the east, after having obliged us to mount
up to 75 deg. 28 min. and having, in course, passed by the

* In hot-blooded animals, the botal aperture is only to be found in the footiis,
and becomes extinct instantly after the birth.

8f> FreminviUe's Voyage to the North Pole.
latitude of Beering Island, the pursuit of which we now dis
continued. May 22d, a profound calm surprized us, in sight of an island
of ice of considerable length and extent. As long as the calm
lasted we were hemmed round with a group of cetaceous ani
mals, from twenty-five to thirty feet in length, marked as the
genus Delphinus, by Linnaeus, but which, I conceive, ought
to constitute a new species. I have already published a de
scription of them, with cuts, in the Bulletin of Sciences of
the Philomathic Society, under the name of Delphinus Corona-
tus, or the Crowned Dolphin ; this epithet comes from two
concentric circles, of a yellow colour, that these animals have
on the crown of the head.
A breeze springing up in the night, we were drawing nearer
to the islet of ice that stood to the north of us ; we tried to
find an opening or passage, but none appeared ; and after
coasting it a long time, keeping to the east, we perceived it
ready to join another considerable mass, and that the interval
between them was so narrow and so perplexed with floating
flakes and heaps of ice, that a passage was impracticable. We
tacked about with an intention to double its western extremity,
which we could not accomplish till next day.
After clearing it we bore to the north-east, falling straight
in with the south Cape of Spitzberg, which we were in hopes
of soon reaching ; but in this we were disappointed, as another
island of ice came to present new obstacles. On the eastern
side of it we could perceive an opening or avenue : we plunged
into it, but scarcely had we entered, when a thick fog came
over us and obliged us to exert particular care to avoid strik
ing against some of the large floating fragments of ice that
surrounded us.
The fog lasted two hours ; when, clearing up, we could see
the ice behind us closing up so as to intercept our return. We
were now ingulphed on every side, immured as in a kind
of basin that might be about two leagues in extent. This, to
us, was a situation truly alarming; we tacked about in every
direction in quest of an outlet; one only was visible; but the
floating fragments that blocked it up made the attempt to be,
at first, considered as impracticable. At length our comman
dant, finding the icy-basin that shut us in was condensing and
accumulating, decided that we had no time to lose, or hesitate
between the certainty of being quickly locked in the ice and
a solitary chance of escape. We made all sail then to get
through this perilous streight ; and, after running the risk a
hundred times of being dashed against the floating shoals that

^FremimUle's Voyage to the North Pole. 8?
were thickening around us, we were fortunate enough to clear
the passage with the loss only of some sheets of our copper,
that were carried away by icy morsels we had to bear up
against. May 31st, we discovered the land of Spitzberg ; at a very
great distance we could trace the South Cape, which stood N.
N. E. as also Hope Island, which lies a little more to the east,
at a short distance. A solid plain of impenetrable ice prevent-,
ed our getting near it, and, being obliged to stretch along
it in a run to the north-west, we soon lost sight of that dreary
shore. June 3d, a deep inlet was visible in the middle of the im
mense islets of ice that we were coasting along ; we entered
into it, and had a toilsome passage of about twelve hours; but
it was so blocked up, that we were obliged at last to return. A
heavy gale from the S. W. bringing vast masses of icy frag
ments into contact, threatened to close in upon us, and it was
not without prodigious exertions that we got at length into the
open sea.
We now began to lose all hopes of reaching Spitzberg, which
was one part of our destination. Some days before we had cap
tured some whale-ships, the captains of which assured us that
they had been engaged in the same fruitless attempt, and that the
ice had rendered all approach impracticable.
Our ships' companies were very much worn down with inces
sant fatigue, in a painful navigation, that called for constant ¦
watching and active exertion. The scurvy was preying upon us,
and some of our best seamen had fallen victims to it ; our water
and wood grew scanty; the want of wood prevented us from get
ting at water with the melted ice. We tried, but in vain, to
procure heat enough for this purpose, by resorting to different
methods in all the warmest parts of the ship.
The perplexities of such a situation called for a speedy
change of measures ; our chief, however to shelter himself
from every imputation of neglect, would make one more ef
fort to find a passage through the solid ice, advancing as far
north as possible ; in this hope we kept continually bearing
up along the chain of immoveable ice that stretched to the
N. W.
In fact, we reached the 80th degree of latitude, without gain
ing any inlet or opening. The whole vast plain, or rather con
tinent of ice, lies in a direction to the west. We coasted it
for several days without finding any break or interruption, and
I am convinced that it joins all along to the ice that borders
the coast' of Greenland.

88 FreminviUe's Voyage to the North Pole.
I shall not attempt to describe the impressions that the soli
tary and dreary aspect of this icy continent produced on our
minds. Its situation on the limits of our globe, the profound
silence pervading its vast domain, the total absence of animal
life — every thing seemed to exhibit an image of death, and of
all nature in mourning. The gloomy spectacle was not, how
ever, without a sort of peculiar attraction ; masses of ice,
illumined in different modes, reflecting the light in a thousand
different ways, from the odd assemblage of their needle points
or ends ; their fractures, their varied shapes, presented views
as uncommon as they were astonishing. We used frequently to
compare them to the ruins of some most extensive capital dis
cerned at a distance; the imagination taking wing, would de
pict colonnades, towers, steeples, castles, fortresses, &c. In
the remote back-ground appeared a chain of lofty mountains
of ice that terminated the horizon.
There being no prospect of penetrating further north, and
it being impossible to touch at Spitzberg, we resolved on steer
ing southward, having taken and burnt, in the North seas,
fifteen whale fishery ships.
Here we may remark, that Captain Phipps did not encoun
ter the chain of ice till he was north of Spitzberg, whereas it
blocked up our passage at the 77th degree.
In the course of our navigation in these parts, we never had
a heavy sea, though the wind was frequently very high; the
waves were in some measure fettered under the mass of ice.
We could observe, however, after Captain Phipps, on nearing
the great banks, even in calm weather, big surges coming gent
ly from the south.
In those high latitudes the sky is seldom so clear as to be
able to make astronomical observations. We availed ourselves
of every favourable circumstance that occurred, but it was only
three times that we could take the meridian altitude of the
sun at midnight.
Scarcity and scorbutic diseases called for prompt relief;
our commandant at first was making for the Bay of Strunsa, in
Danish Lapland ; but contrary winds forced us to relinquish this
intention, and to bear away for Iceland.
July 3d, we were off Langeness, the N. E. point of that large
island ; as we meant to bring up in the Bay of Patrix Fiord, at
the opposite extremity, our course made us nearly go the cir
cuit of it, and we seized the opportunity of adding to our geogra
phical information, with respect to the coasts of a country so little
known. Langeness, or Long Point, is easily to be distinguished j it is

FreminviUe's Voyage to the Notth Pole. 89 '
a low land, stretching a great way into the sea. I take it to be
the only part of the Island that has so very little of elevation; all
the coasts are lofty, abrupt, and perpendicularly steep. Scarcely ,
had we doubled this point, when we found high lands overhang
ing us like walls; their rough and craggy indentations, the basal
tic columns of their brown sides, feasted the eye with a spectacle '.
truly picturesque ; but not a glimpse of verdure, no signs of vege
tation were discernible on a soil of which Vulcan alone seems to
have possessed the property. At a very great distance we could
distinguish the smoking summit of Mount Krafte, a considerable
volcano, that makes part of the mountainous chain in the N. E. of
the island.
On the 5th, we discovered the small island of Walsback, dis
tant about five leagues from the Terra Firma ; it stands so low,
that it scarcely appears above the level of the sea. Kerguelen,
who was in these seas in the years 1767 and 1768, reports, from
the evidence of the whale-fishers, that no passage existed between
Walsback and Iceland, from a chain of breakers stretching through
it. We determined to ascertain this point, and bore up into* the
passage, finding a considerable depth of water everywhere, as it
is all along on the coast. We were continually sounding, and the
lead always brought up a portion of heavy volcanic sand, or a kind
of black puzzolane.
July 6th, we reached the Isles of Portland, at the most south
ern extremity of the' island ; it was at this point that the Marquis '
Verdun de la Crenue terminated his voyage of discovery, when
lie came to visit Iceland, in 1771> i" the frigate La Flore, having
with him Borda and Pingr£, for scientific purposes. The labours
of those valuable men well deserve the praise of rigid accuracy ;
we have observed that the chart published by them in 1776, with
respect to all the parts of the coast of Iceland which they visited,
that is to say, the part from the Isles of Portland to Patrix Fiord,
is traced with a precision that leaves nothing to be wished for,
either in point of positions or of configurations.
We owe also a just tribute of eulogium to the engravings of the
views of the coasts annexed to the relation of the voyage of La
Flore, and designed by Ozanne, employed on board our frigate ;
nothing can be more correct even to the very smallest details.
As to the views of the same portions of coast, engraved in the re
lation of Kerguelen, they are rather to be censured than com
mended. After exploring the whole southern coast of Iceland, we passed
between Cape Reikia-ness and the Rocks of the Birds, in Ice-
landish, Ryke-yse. It was here that a very singular submarine
phenomenon occurred, in 1783 ; the sea appeared covered with a
Voyages and Travels, No. 2, Vol H. M

90 FreminviUe's Voyage to the North Pole.
light-bluish flame, through an extent of more than a mile 5 it'
lasted several hours, and occasioned a very great consternation
among the inhabitants of the neighbouring coast. When the
flame ceased, a small island appeared on the site, the surface of
which was covered with pumice-stones and volcanic ashes. This
islet has since disappeared, probably by another convulsion of the
same kind.
In proceeding northwards, we crossed the great gulph of Faxa
Fiordur,* having a view of Mount Jengel, or the Jocul of the
west ; its top covered with snow, though at more than twenty
leagues distance. This is taken to be the highest mountain in
Iceland. It was in the gulph of Faxa Fiordur that we saw the sea covered
with a sort of mollusca, or rather of radiaire, that seemed to con
stitute a new genus affiliated with the medusas and the heroes. I
gave it the name of idya ; a description, with a plate of it, was
published in the Bulletin of Sciences, under the name of idya
Islandica. After doubling the Cape and Mount Jengel, we crossed the
gulph of Breyde Fiordur; and, on the 13th of July, we entered
the Bay of Patrix Fiord, where we anchored in eleven fathoms
water, near the Danish factory.
The Bay of Patrix Fiord lies in 65 deg. 35 min. 45 sec. N. lat.
and 26 deg. 29 min. 53 sec. W. long. ; like all the other bays of
the island, it is very deep, and encompassed with lofty, abrupt
mountains. The entrance to it is very easy, and there is no dan
ger to be apprehended.
The Danish factory stands on a low point, consisting of an
cient lavas ; the anchorage is within the point. The Danish
establishment is divided into three wooden houses, one of
which serves as a dwelling for the director, and the others are
warehouses. Round about lie scattered the wretched huts of
the poor Icelanders, half buried in earth ; the roofing only, made
of whales ribs, rises above the surface. Behind these is a
pool of fresh water, which bas given to Patrix Fiord the Ice-
landish name of Vatneyre, the Water Town.
The bay may be about three leagues in length, from W. to
E. ; its greatest breadth is abont a league and a half. Very
near the middle is a large sand-bank, which gets dry at low-
water, and over which large vessels cannot pass. Besides the
town and village of Vatneyre, there are others dispersed about

• In Icelandic the word fiord, or. fiordur, signifies a Culpl,, or bay ; jocul or
jnckel, is appropriated to the high mountains. '

FreminviUe's V/ygage to the North Pole. 91
^he bay at certain distances ; the most considerable is that of
Sadlangsdaler, where there is a Lutheran church ; it lies on
the side opposite to the Danish factory, on the banks of a sheet
of water well stocked with Salmon.
A chart of all the parts of the island that we visited, with a
number of our own new discoveries and original remarks, were
transmitted, on our return, to the minister of marine, together
with a collection of seventeen designs, representing views of dif
ferent coasts^ some tracts or situations in Iceland, and various
objects of natural history, either new or but little known.
The country round the bay presents a gloomy sort of prospect,
but dignified and imposing ; every thing bears the impression of
volcanic convulsions and of the ravages of earthquakes. All
the mountains seem, as it were, calcinated; you cannot walk
except over lavacand basalt, the fragments of which, disjoined,
roll under your steps with a rattling and stunning noise ; only
two colours, red and black, diversify the lugubrious landscape
within the circle of your view. A good scene-painter for a
theatre, who would make a drawing of the infernal regions,
could copy no better model than one of the situaions of Iceland.
One of the oddest spectacles that I ever beheld, was a very
extensive platform, serving as a cimex, or crown, to the mountain
that overlooks the anchorage of Vatneyre. It is composed of
large tables of basalt^ from eight to ten feet of surface, but on a
level, and arranged regularly, one beside another, like so many
leaves in a book ; the edge, not above four inches in thickness,
every where meeting your view. In some parts, these basaltic
tables, overset by earthquakes, yield such an image of disorder
and confusion, that you would be led to think the spot (whereon
no sign of vegetation or life appears) to be made up of the ruins
of the globe.
Iu low places, at the entrance of the valleys, there is some
little appearance of verdure ; a thick turf, with a few flowers
scattered on it, may be seen on the banks of the running
waters. I collected a number of plants, but little known ih
Europe, large enough to form nearly the whole of the Islandic
Flora. Not a single tree is to be seen in the whole district of Patrix
Fiord; and even in the other parts of the island it is with diffi
culty you can light on a few dwarfish willows, and some stunted'
birch-trees. Many fruitless attempts have been made to sow or.
plant the pine and fir, fr6m Europe; but though they have suc
ceeded in the fine season, the young shoots were never able to
stand the long and rigorous winter of a climate so frozen. No
credit must he given to what M. Horrebow reports, in his descrip-

92 FreminviUe's P'oyage to the North Fole.
tion of Iceland, wherein he makes mention of fruitful plains,
and immense pastures: his work, drawn up from the false accounts
of the Dutch fishermen, is replete with the grossest errors. That
of Anderson, built on the same authorities, is but little better;
and the fact is, that we have in Europe but very lame and imper
fect accounts of this country, so very extraordinary and interesting
in many respects.
Iceland extends from N. to S. between 66 deg. 44 min. and
62 deg. 22 min. 30 sec. lat. and from W. to E. between 27 deg.
5 min. and 18 deg. 26 min. long. W. of the meridian of Paris.
Its greatest length may be about 133 leagues, and its breadth
about fifty-six : the island contains a superficies of about 5500
square leagues.
Exclusive of a number of towns and hamlets, there are four
principal cities ; but in Europe, these cities would only pass for
villages; they are built of wood, with planks brought from
Denmark. The first is Holum, in the north ; the second, named
Ska] holt, is in the south ; both are the sees of a bishop. The
third lies to the S. W., and is called Bessested ; this is the resi
dence of the governor, and the only place in the island where
there is a small fort armed with six eight-pounders', mounted on
carriages that are falling to pieces with age; to the N. E. is the
fourth city, called Skrida.
The interior of Iceland is but little known ;- the whole island
however, may be pronounced a mass of volcanic rocks, whose
sides, black and burnt, whose summits, sharp and craggy, present
a prospect of the most singular kind. There is not a single point
in this sad country which does not seem to have undergone the
action of fire ; one consequence is, that there is not a country on
the globe more fertile in volcanic phenomena.
The mountains, which are all very lofty, are formed of lava
and basalt ; you cannot find there the slightest vestige of vege
table soil. In winter, the extreme cold splits these calcined
mountains, and causes enormous fragments of them to fly off,
which, in their fall, divide into a number of others, which roll
precipitously into the roads and ways, like so many torrents, to
overwhelm and obliterate the traces of them.
I was witness to several of these sorts of avalanches, which
sometimes also take place in the fine season, but ever with a
frightful noise, and a smell resembling that which arises from the
calcination of bricks or lime-stone.
Not only the cold, but frequent earthquakes shake and over
throw the mountains of Iceland to their foundations ; cleaving

FreminviUe's Voyage to ihe North Pole. 93
disarranging, changing the direction of their constituent materials,
which lose their consistence.
A number of mountains present extinguished craters; others
are still ignivomous. In the interior of the island, some terrible
eruptions took place in 1734, 1752, and 1755. The principal
smoke at present, is the mountain Krafte, which is ever emitting
volcano and lava. Hekla, at the time of our stay there, was in a
state of repose, but it has had new eruptions since.
Hot-springs and fountains are very numerous in the island ;
they excel all others known, in the abundance and degree of heat
of their waters. The principal are, the springs of Geysen, situated
at about two days' walking journey from Hekla, and near Skalholt ;
they issue alternately from three successive jetteaux of a con
siderable height. We saw one between Patrix Fiord and Lusbay,
hot enough for the Icelanders to dress their victuals in.
The exterior geography of Iceland, that is to say, of the
coasts, is as yet a desideratum for nearly the whole; the northern
part is the least frequented, and the least known. The charts
we had of them before the voyage of La Flore, had been copied
from documents grounded on accounts of the Flemish and Dutch
fishermen, and do not merit confidence. The chart published in
1767) in the French Neptune, is taken from M. Horrebow's ;
though better than the rest, with respect to the general configu
ration of the lands, it is full of errors as' to the longitudes of
places. All the ancient Dutch charts place in the entrance, and about
three leagues from the bay of Patrix Fiord, a group of ten islets,
called Gouberman's Islands ; there is not, however, the least
trace of them. It is certain that the group must have formerly
been in the situation, as the tradition of them is kept up in the
country, and they have doubtless been overwhelmed, in conse
quence of some sub-marine convulsion. The same fate has pro
bably carried away Pepy's Island, which is now no where to be
found, but which stands in the ancient charts near the eastern
coast of Iceland, in 64 degrees of latitude.
These extraordinary phenomena are of frequent occurrence,
and they change, in some measure, the face of nature, and the
general aspect of the coasts of the country. It does not appear,
however, that they impede the progress of navigation ; the shores
are every where steep, the anchorage good, and the bottom is gene
rally of volcanic gravel, or pebbles^ and broken shells ; and often
the two substances are found united. There are on the coasts a
number of deep bays, where ships may ride in perfect security,
covered by the high lands that encircle them.
The general population of the island at present is about 40,000

$4 FreminviUe's Voyage to the North Pole.
souls ; formerly it amounted to 60,000 ; but the scurvy, and
especially the small-pox, which proved very fatal in 1707 and
1 708, have greatly diminished the population, and are still very
destructive. The governor-general, Van Tramp, who came to
pay us a visit at Patfix Fiord, informed us that every year the
number of deaths exceeded that of the births. In time, perhaps,
the inhabitants of this country, who, besides, are addicted to insa
lubrious modes of living, will insensibly become extinct.
Iceland, subject to the crown of Denmark from the 13th cen
tury,* is rather an expensive charge than a profitable possession ;
the king only receives from it 140,000 francs per annum, and the
whole of this scanty revenue is absorbed in the charges of the
governor, of the bailiffs, and ecclesiastics, with the provisions
and other expenses of their household.
Notwithstanding its poverty, this country allured the cupi
dity of some Barbary corsairs, who, in 1626, landed here and car
ried off a number of the wretched inhabitants, whom they made
slaves of. They were again visited in 1687, by other pirates, who
practised the most horrid cruelties on the unfortunate natives,
totally bereft of all means of defence.
These two examples are on record, yet the King of Denmark
does not keep here any military force, nor have the Icelanders
arms of any description ; a gun, with powder and shot, is an object
of curiosity, almost as much as with the inhabitants of the South-
Sea Islands. We had pressing solicitations to indulge such
curiosity, but it was only to expend in the chace ; their peaceable
character not suffering them to think of any other mode of appli
cation. Of all other people, the Icelanders are, perhaps, those who
have retained the primitive patriarchal manners in the greatest
purity ; they are good, loyal, hospitable, and unacquainted
with any of those violent passions which, in other parts of th-e
world, lead men to act the part of butchers to each other.
:The Icelanders may, however, be characterised as indolent,
and, in some respects, of an apathetic turn. An intimate union
subsists among them ; those of the same family seldom separate.
The tenderness of patents for their offspring, the piety of
these towards the authors of their being, are virtues of which
we witnessed illustrious and affecting examples. No swspi-
cion or distrust, one of the other, can be found here> their,

* It was in the year 1261 that the Icelanders voluntarily submitted to Haquin,
King of Norway.

FreminviUe's Voyage to the North Pole. 95
and robbery are absolutely unknown ; and, even during ab
sence, he doors of their huts or cabins are always left open.
At thet first glance, one would conceive the Icelanders ot be
the most wretched of men, the most destitute of the conve
niences of life, and their condition to be the most frightful ;
but when we reflect on their unagitated character, on the fe\v
wants they feel, and the facility with which they can provide
for them ; if we consider, likewise, the sweet and intimate
union that links them in the bonds of friendship, we must
adopt another way of thinking, and even consider them as
happier than the Europeans, whose enjoyments are mingled
with so many perplexing circumstances, originating in ambi
tion, in disappointments, in bodily infirmities, and the illusions
and disquietudes of a thousand different passions.
The Icelander, satisfied with his lot, prefers his dreary
country to all the charms of a more polished society in Eu
rope. Such of them as have visited Copenhagen, in lieu of
being smitten with the rural scenery of Denmark, were ever
regretting their burnt mountains and eternal snows ; and
though numbers of them will turn out and volunteer, as sea
men, on board Danish, or other vessels, they are sure in the
end to return to their native isle, to mingle their ashes with
those of their ancestors.
Although exiled, as it were, and having little communica
tion with the rest of the world, the Icelanders are gifted with
a quickness of intellect, and supplied with a measure of in
struction which raises the lowest of them above the class of
our villagers. In general, they speak Latin pretty well. In
the eleventh century, science and literature were successfully
cultivated here, while, at the same period, Europe was im
mersed in the depth of ignorance. Their MSS. composed at
a period so remote, treat of astronomy, of physics, of natural
history, of morals, and philosophy in general. Sir Joseph
Banks, a celebrated naturalist, and worthy companion of Cap-:
tain Cook, was in Iceland in 17/2 ; he brought away 162 va
luable MSS. which he presented to the British Museum.
The native language of the Icelanders is. a very ancient
dialect of the Celtic ; it is not without its poetical effusions,
with songs or odes, that turn on the heifoic traditions of the
most distant times, and were recited by the bards, called
Scaldes. Their ancient mythology is exactly that of the
Scandinavians, from whom they are descended : thus their
traditions report the names of Odin and Frega ; of Hella and
the Goddesses Valkiries ; the aerial combats of the Shades};
the delicious residence of Valhalla, or the palace of Odin,

96 FreminviUe's Voyage to the North Pole.
wherein the spirits of departed heroes enjoy true felicity after
their decease.
1 could only find in Iceland one single . kind of antique
monuments ; these are tumuli, or tombs of pebbles and small
stones heaped together ; three of this description we recog
nised on the point of Vatneyre. All the voyagers who have
made mention of them, have represented these pyramidal
forms as raised expressly to point out the places of anchorage,
and to serve as beacons to vessels entering the bay; but the
director of the Danish factory assured me that they were an
cient sepulchres, and he earnestly recommended to us to forbid
our men from despoiling or degrading them, as it would be a
serious affliction to the natives, who could not see us even ap
proach them without symptoms of pain and uneasiness.
In France we have a great number of similar monuments,
which may be traced to the Celtic times ; among others, is
one in the Morbihan, near the famous men-hirs of Carnak,
that stand in a row, and which rises nearly a hundred feet in
height. The wood necessary for constructing their fishing-vessels
is brought from Denmark, for not a single tree is to4,be seen
on the island. The only fuel the inhabitants have is fish
bones, with turfs of peat-moss, and a sort of lignite, or wood half
mineralised, and very bituminous, that is found in the moun
tains. The Icelanders are extremely sober, but their unwhole
some diet is productive of different diseases; it chiefly con
sists of raw fish, dried in the sun, and of sheep's-heads, pre
served in a sort of vinegar, which they make with the juice
of sorrel. They eat also a sort of sea-weed (fucus saccharinus),
boiled in milk ; and they make soup of the lichen Jslandicus
reduced to powder. They are strangers to our bread, and
a fragment of worm-eaten biscuit was a treat to them. Water
and milk are their only beverage, and they ever testified a great
dislike for our wines and strong liquors.
Iceland may be considered as a very singular country, in
respect to its natural history, as yet but little known, and still
more so in a geological view, as teeming with observations
most curious and important. The mineralogist might here
collect a rich treasure of lavas, basalts, and pumices. In the vici
nity of Patrix Fiord, we found beautiful crystals of feldspath,
of analcime, of melonite, of amphigene, and zeolithe : these
substances are commonly to be found in the cavities of the
lavas. I saw also, on the crater of an extinguished volcano, some

FreminviUe's Pbyage to ihe North Pole. %J
octaedre crystals of native sulphur, involved in a whitish clay
ey substance ; also the obsidian stone of the ancient mineral
ogists may frequently be met with.
There is no abundant variety of botanical plants in a cli
mate so northerly, more particularly in the class of Phaneto-
games. Here follows a list of the various species that I have fib-
served : —

1 Fucus saccharinus.
2 Fucus nodosus.
3 Fuctrs xesicttlosus.
4 Fucus loreus.
5 Fucus carneus.
6 Fucus plnmosus.
7 Ulva lactuca.
8 Zostera marina.
9 Hypnum squarrosura.
10 Minum fontanum.
11 Lichen Islandicus.
12 Lichen chalybe'ifomiis.
13 Lichen spinosus.
14 Lichen oiuralis.
15 Lichen rangiferus.
16 Lichen paschalis.
17 Lichen pixidatus.
18 Juncus spicatus.
19 Anthericum calycinum.
20 Draba muralis.
SI Draba incana.
22 Saxifraga tridactylites.
23 Saxifraga oppositifolia.
24 Erigeron uniflorum.
25 Arabis thaliana.

27 Saxifraga aspefa.
28 Saxifraga stellaris.
29 Salix lanata.
30 Salix capiaea.
31 Carpinus betulus:
32 Dr as octopetala.
33 Pinguicula vulgaris.
34 Papaver alpinum.
35 Eriophoron vaginatunr.
36 Rhodiola rosea.
37 Carex ....
38 Barthia alpina.
39 Vaccinium vitis Idea.
40 Silene rupestris.
41 Silene areuaria.
42 Alsine media.
43 Rumex scutellatus.
44 Allium 
45 Cochlearia Groenlandica.
46Sedum villosuru.
47 Thlaspi ulliacea.
48 Cerastiurn repens.
40 Geranium repens.
50 Ranunculus sulfureus.
51 Viola calcarata.

26 Polygonum viviparuro.
There is a greater variety in the productions of Zoolegy-
The mammiferous animals of the island are—
1. The horse, which is small, but very numerous. It is of gtfeat
use for travelling, walking with a sure step on the edge Of pfCcipi*
ces, and over the sharp fragments of basalt that lie in heaps in the
paths. 2. The bull or ox, is poor and lean, and the island is but scantily
stocked with them.
3. The sheep are very numerous, of a good size, and commonly
very fat. Most of the rams have-four and even five horns.
4. The dog is about the size of our shepherd's dog, which he pret
ty much resembles.. The ears are straight, but gashed or broken at
their extremities ; this is a character peculiar to the Iceland dogs,
5. The Isatis, or Canis Lagopus of Linnaeus, is very common in
Voyages and Travels, JVo. 2, Vol. II. N

98 FreminviUe's Voyage to the North Pole.
Iceland. The natives call him the blue fox, from the slate-coloured
tinge of his hair; he is very destructive to the flocks. Though a
carnivorous animal, he will likewise eat grass, for I found a quantity
of it in the stomach of a young one killed near Vatneyre. What was
still more singular we found in the viscera of this animal the opercules
and other remnants of a shell-fish, common on the shore. 1 was not
aware, till then, that mammiferpus animals of this description would eat
shell-fish, and particularly such whose shell is so hard ; nor, I conceive,
has the fact been hitherto noticed by naturalists.
6. The whiteJjear is not a native of Iceland, but frequently arrives
there on floating fragments of ice, that are carried thither from the
coasts of Greenland. On the appearance of these terrible animals, the
inhabitants sound an alarm, and collect from every quarter to chare and
destroy them before they have time to multiply.
7. The seal is very common. We saw more than once, round the
bay of Leduc, another species of seal of the very largest dimensions,
being eight or ten feet iir length. The head, instead of terminating
in a pointed muzzle, as in the preceding tribe, is large, wide, and
much like that of a dog. The colour, taken altogether, of the ani
mal, is that of grey ashes ; unlike the rest of his genus, he is very
shy and ferocious, and will let none approach him. 1 could only kill
one of them.
8. The whale, designated by Linnaeus as the baleena mysticetvs,
is less common here than at Spitzberg.
9. The gibber, or- north caper, baleena physalus, is frequently met
with on the coasts of Iceland.
Birds are in greater number and variety than the mamrni-
ferous animals ; but the marine species are the most numerous.
We saw none, however, that are not well known to ornitholo
gists. Such as,

1 Aquila chrysaetos.
2 Aquila ossifraga.
3 Aquila Canadensis.
4 Falco haliaetos.
5 Falco communis.
6 Falco candicans.
7 Strix scandiacca.
8 Strix aluco
9 Corvus corax.
10 Eraberiza nivalis.
11 Fringilla vulgaris.
12 Charadrius auratus.
13 Scolopax gallinago.

16 Anas anser.
17 Anas borealis.
18 Anas mollissima.
19 A lea aretica.
20 A lea alee.
21 Procellaria pelagica.
22 Procellaria glacialis.
23 Uria grylle.
24 Uria troile.
25 Colymbus immer.
26 Colymbus glacialis.
27 Larus rissa.
28 Larus eburtieus.
29 Sterna hiruudo,

14 Anas cygnus.
15 Anas fusca.
We found no description of reptiles whatever on the island.
Ffeh are in abundance, but with few varieties.

FreminviUe's -Voyage to the North Pole,
rhe following are the several kinds : —
* Pleuronectus hippoglossus.

"2 Pleuronectus flesus.
3 Salmusalar.
4 Salma'trutta.

5 Gadua morhua. ,
6 Cyclopterus lumpus.
7 Anarrhicas lupus.
8 Squalus glaucus.

The iseas which wash these coasts abound with the Molusea
and raidiaire, but the short time of our residence in the island
did net permit us to notice them all. The most common spe
cies are the doris stellata and pilosa, the alios borealis and limaci-
na, * the asterias glacialis, the medusa capillati, and the new kiud
which I have described under the name of idya Islandica.
The shells contain several new species of the tellina, the patella,
and the buccinum ; we also met with a very large species of mMi-
ole:, the peclen Islandicus, the buccinum nudatum, and the lapillus ;
also some species of the trochus, of the meretrix mercatoria ; as,
afiso of the common muscle and the sea-urchin, which are very
f rood eating.
Insects are no strangers to the climate, notwithstanding its
extreme rigour; but they are few in number, and mostly of
the order of dipteres, and of the genera culex tipula syrphus, and
bibia of Linnaeus. I also met with a new species of the curadio,
or weasel ; and a very singular kind of night-bird.
There are several of the crustaceous kind, such as the cancer,
or crab ; the maga, the crangon, palaeman, gammarus, he. ;
and among the Zoophytes, some very beautiful species of coral
lines. Such are part of the observations that I made during a stay of
eighteen days, as well from my own researches as from the
conversation with the physician to the governor, Van Tramp, a
very intelligent character, who came at times to visit us, with all
his suite, during our residence at Patrix Fiord. This gentleman,
who had studied in the university of Upsal, had been a pupil of
Linnaeus. A traveller that should make a longer residence in the island,
and penetrate further into the interior, would find there a multi
tude of new facts, the narrative of which would be extremely in
teresting ; this country, I repeat it, is almost entirely new to us
with respect to its scientific reports and relations.
' The Bay of Patrix Fiord is one of the most convenient points
for the navigator ; water, fish, and mutton, are in the greatest
plenty ; excellent game may be had, in several different sorts of
sea-fowl ; but wood is not to be procured at any price.
During our stay we set up some tents for our sick men, who
very soon recovered, more especially from the use of the antiscoj-

\QQ FreminviUe's Voyage to the North Pole.
*" I
butievegetables that grow spontaneously in the island, a'nd are-
frequently to be met with. The sea in this bay does not rise above
eight feet in the highest tides. The variation of the needle was-
S3 deg. 45 min. to the N. W. J
July 30, we hoisted sail, and leaving the Bay of Patria Fiord,.
we bore away for the south, till we began again to distinguish
Mount Jeugel ; soon after, bidding a final adieu to Iceland, we
thought only of hastening our return to France. ',
Once more we passed over the point wherein the ancient Charts.-
placed the Isle of Bus, which we had before explored in vain $ we
were not more fortunate this time ; but, as on the former occa
sion, we had to encounter a broken, rippling water, the usual in
dication of shoals and shallows. \
On August the 18th we were on the coast of Ireland ; we
cruised there several days, at the entrance of the Bay of DonnegalV
we then steered for Cape Clear, which we doubled, to cruise ofi
the Soles ; at last we entered the Channel ; and, on the 5?7th\
of September, cast anchor in the Road of the Isle of Brehut.