Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania Part 15

Story-telling is much appreciated by all cla.s.ses. There are wandering minstrels who gain their livelihood by going from house to house to recite the stories in prose and poetry which they have learned by heart.

Spindle and distaff are used in spinning the wool into yarn, which is then knit or woven into cloth on a hand loom.

Education is universal, and no child of twelve years can be found who is unable to read or write. The families are so isolated that there are few schools outside of the capital; but the parents diligently teach their children whatever they themselves have learned.

During the long winter evenings one member of the family reads aloud while the others are busily at work, the men making nets and ropes, or removing the wool from the sheepskins, the women embroidering, sewing, or using spindle and distaff.

In no other country of Europe are so many books and papers published in proportion to the population as in Iceland. On the average one hundred books are issued annually from Icelandic presses. Several excellent newspapers and periodicals are also published.

Every Icelander to-day knows perfectly the sagas, the legendary stories that commemorate heroes and heroic deeds and which are so dear to his heart. It is not uncommon to find an Icelander who is well versed in the ancient cla.s.sics or one who can speak several languages. They are well acquainted with the writings of Milton and Shakespeare, which have been translated into their own language. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Iceland produced a literature equal to that of any other nation in Europe within the same period.

CHAPTER XIV

GREENLAND

The history of Greenland really begins about the year 986 A. D., when Eric the Red, a chieftain who had been banished from Iceland, landed on the island with some of his followers and made it his permanent residence. At different times these hardy and daring seamen made expeditions to the eastern coast of North America, and sailed as far south as Chesapeake Bay. They attempted to found a colony on the east coast at a point thought to be on the coast of New Jersey but, after contending with the savages for some time, deemed it best to abandon the project and to return to their Greenland home. The location at which they attempted their colony is by no means certain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Stone igloos on the bleak coast of Greenland]

All this island, a half million square miles in area, except a small part of the southern coast line and a larger area in the north, is covered by an immense glacier. And this field of ice, like a huge piece of plastic wax, is constantly moving from the interior down toward the sea. As it approaches the ocean it divides into branches which flow down the numerous fiords and valleys into the sea. As the fronts of the branch glaciers are pushed out into the water their ends are broken off by the buoyancy of the water. These glacial-born ma.s.ses then float away as icebergs, carrying with them on their southward journeys the rock waste--moraine detritus it is called--gathered by the parent glaciers.

When these floating leviathans are off the coast of Newfoundland, they encounter the waters of the Gulf Stream, melt, and scatter their debris of stony matter over a large area of the ocean bed. This process, having gone on for thousands of years, has shoaled the ocean in certain parts, forming the so-called Banks of Newfoundland.

A gelatinous slime filled with minute animal life forms on the bottom of the ocean in the arctic; the cold currents flowing south carry some of it along with them, and much of it is lodged on the stony bottoms of these banks. Fish, especially the cod, are fond of this gelatinous substance, and throng thither at certain seasons of the year in countless numbers to feed upon it.

One ignorant of the currents of the ocean might be puzzled at times in observing that an iceberg floats southward at the same time that pieces of wood are floating northward, both apparently acted upon by the same current. This may be explained by recalling that warm water is lighter than cold and hence is found as the upper layer when a cold and a warm current are flowing in different directions, one upon the other. It should be borne in mind that seven-eighths of the floating iceberg is under water, leaving but one-eighth above the surface. The Gulf Stream drift spreads out as it travels northward, and, being much shallower than the arctic currents, carries floating objects northward on the surface, while the deeper and more powerful arctic currents force the huge ma.s.ses of ice southward.

When the warm air over the Gulf Stream comes in contact with the floating ice it is chilled, and the moisture which it holds is condensed into fog. The fogs in turn, which are off the Newfoundland coast, being in the line of steamship communication between Europe and America, are a constant menace to navigation. The near presence of ice is usually detected by a greater chilliness in the air. In order to avoid collisions with one another, and also with icebergs, a ship constantly sounds its sirens and fog horns as warnings while in the fog belt. The signal of another steamship is a warning of the one; the answering echo announces the nearness of the other.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A large iceberg]

The high interior of Greenland, about ten thousand feet in alt.i.tude, is thought to result largely from the acc.u.mulation of ages of snow and ice, only a part of which melts or moves oceanward to form glaciers. No other part of the world is such an absolute desert as the greater part of this island. Animal and vegetable life are wholly absent.

The colony which was planted in Greenland by Eric the Red, and subsequently augmented by other Nors.e.m.e.n, continued to prosper for four hundred years. At the end of that period there were about two hundred villages, twelve parishes, and two monasteries. These, however, disappeared. The hostility of the Eskimos in part accounts for their extinction, but an encroachment of ice from the north, which encompa.s.sed the southern part of the island, is thought to have been also a factor.

The fact that foreign trade with Greenland was forbidden by the mother country may account in part for the gradual disappearance of the colony.

At all events, intercourse with Europe seems to have been cut off. This condition continued for upward of two centuries, and when intercourse with the mother country was again possible there was no Greenland colony. Perhaps the finding of "white" Eskimo in Victoria Land may explain this disappearance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A group of Eskimos in south Greenland]

Subsequently the island was again colonized, but concerning the disappearance of the former inhabitants history is silent. The mute testimony of a few ruined buildings and relics is all that has been found to give the least shadow of information as to the final struggle of the wretched colonists. We only know that they mysteriously disappeared. But the great glacial cap is slowly receding and ages hence more ground will be laid bare.

The present inhabitants number about ten thousand, most of whom are Eskimos. They are lacking in thrift and live chiefly by hunting and fishing. Among the wild animals living here are the arctic fox, the arctic hare, the musk ox, the seal, the polar bear, the ermine, and the walrus.

The princ.i.p.al resources of the island are sealskins, eider-down, oil, and cryolite.

Cryolite is a mineral from which common soda is easily extracted, and also from which the light silver-like aluminum was formerly prepared.

The mines near the village of Ivigtut furnish practically the world's supply of this mineral. Formerly it was carried to Philadelphia, but in recent years not much is used. The fisheries are a monopoly of Denmark, and each station is visited from one to three or four times a year.

CHAPTER XV

WHERE THE TWO GREAT OCEANS MEET

Perhaps there is no section of the globe about which most well-informed persons know so little as the southern part of South America. Judged by the reports of early discoverers and explorers, this region until recently has been considered a desolate stretch of snow mountains, barren plains, and extensive mora.s.ses, spa.r.s.ely inhabited by a few thousand human beings of the lowest type and worthless to civilized man.

Such a picture is but partly true. Many of the highest mountains are snow-capped throughout the year and are scored by immense glaciers which are constantly moving down their grooved sides; but there are also heavily forested slopes flanked by valleys and plains covered with rich gra.s.ses, making most excellent pasturage. The best land, comprising a large area, is now occupied as grazing grounds princ.i.p.ally by sheep farmers.

In the early part of the sixteenth century it was rumored that a water pa.s.sage traversed the southern part of South America. This rumor was proved true in 1520, when Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in the service of Charles V of Spain, sailed through the strait which now bears his name. He called the pa.s.sage Todos los Santos--literally, "All Saints"--but later the name was changed to commemorate the bold captain who discovered the route.

Magellan was the first not only to sail through the strait, but to cross the broad Pacific Ocean, which was so named by him on account of the quietness of its waters. Because he saw the fires built by the natives blazing on the islands along the south side of the channel, he called them Tierra del Fuego, meaning "Land of Fire."

The Strait of Magellan varies from three to seventy miles in width. The scenery along its sh.o.r.es, low and treeless in the eastern part, elsewhere is mountainous and heavily wooded--mainly with beech. In various places lofty precipices rise abruptly from the water's edge; throughout most of its extent the sh.o.r.e line is rock-bound and studded with islets.

A more picturesque route, and one abounding in the grandest and most stupendous scenery in the world, is that from the Pacific by way of Smyth Channel, the entrance to which is four hundred miles north of the entrance to Magellan Strait. By this route one follows a series of channels and reaches the strait proper near Desolation Island. On account of the dangers besetting this course, underwriters refuse to insure vessels taking it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, New York The Straits of Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western end]

It remained for a Hollander named Schouten to discover Cape Horn, in 1616, and thus find a safer way for sailing vessels going from the one great ocean to the other. Schouten named the cape "Hoorn," from his native city in Holland. Afterward the name was shortened to Horn, which is applied both to the cape and to the island from which it projects.

Since the western entrance to the strait is subject to rough, tempestuous weather and strong currents, very few modern sailing vessels take the shorter course, preferring to double the cape. Though doubling the cape is the safer route, yet this pa.s.sage itself is beset by dangerous storms and tempestuous seas. Fortunate is the sailing master who rounds the Horn with pleasant weather.

Some of the smaller islands of the archipelago are densely wooded and practically unexplored. Gold has been found on the beaches of several of the islands in paying quant.i.ties, and these placers have been worked successfully for several years. On the islands are found wild strawberries of great size and fine flavor, wild raspberries, gooseberries, grapes, and celery; in the spring the pastures are covered with a variety of wild flowers. A profusion of ferns is seen almost everywhere. Wild geese and swans are found on the lagoons and lakes in large numbers.

Once upon a time Patagonia, as the southern part of the continent is popularly called, was regarded as a waste; now it is recognized as a wonderfully fertile region, and is being rapidly settled. European colonies have been established there, and they are highly prosperous.

The native Indians are disappearing, hurried to extinction chiefly by King Alcohol, which, once tasted, seems to conquer them. Traders know the weakness of these savages, and exploit it for all they are worth.

The articles which the Indians chiefly barter are skins, pelts, and ostrich feathers.

The Indians are well supplied with horses, the descendants of those brought to South America by Spanish explorers. They are wonderful riders and excel in the use of a peculiar la.s.so called the bolas. It consists usually of three b.a.l.l.s of stone or metal covered with rawhide and attached to one another by twisted thongs of the same material. In fighting as well as in capturing wild animals, this instrument is indispensable. The operator, holding one of the b.a.l.l.s, swings the others over his head and when sufficient momentum has been obtained lets them go. If well aimed, the connected b.a.l.l.s circle around the legs of the animal to be caught, entangling and throwing it down.

The Indians of the mainland are strong and tall. Unlike most South American Indians, they go about well clothed. Occasionally they kill their horses for food, but their chief reliance for both food and clothing is the guanaco.

Although the Indians have inhabited this part of South America for centuries, they follow well-beaten trails. They live in a superst.i.tious dread of evil spirits, who they believe dwell in the densely wooded mountain slopes of the Cordillera.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fuegians]

The Indians of Tierra del Fuego archipelago are much inferior to those of the mainland. They go almost or entirely naked and subsist on fish.

The canoe Indians, as those in the western part are called, build boats of bark sewn together with sinews. The boats are about fifteen feet long, and in the centre a quant.i.ty of earth is carried, upon which a fire is built. The canoe Indians have neither chief nor tribal relations; each family is a law unto itself. They spend most of their time during the day in rowing among the different channels where fish may be obtained. At night they generally go on sh.o.r.e to sleep. A hole scooped out of the ground or a sheltered rock with a few boughs bent down suffices for a house where all can huddle close together for warmth. Seldom do they sleep more than one night in a place, fearing that if they do not move on an evil spirit will catch them.

In the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego and on some of the other larger islands two tribes of Indians are found whose subsistence consists of sea food, guanacos, and such sheep as they can steal. These tribes are continually at enmity with the white settlers and will kill them whenever possible.

In spite of cloudy weather and cold winds, which are common a part of the year, the climate of Patagonia is milder than that of places much farther north, and the sheep require no feeding during the winter season. In the matter of sheep farms this section rivals Australia, since there is no fear of drought. The gra.s.s continues green the year around, and the sheep easily fatten upon it.

The drawbacks to successful sheep-growing are many and the business requires constant vigilance. Vultures, foxes, wild dogs, pumas, and Indians make serious inroads on the flocks. The wild dogs live in the surrounding forests and from time to time rush out in packs of from ten to thirty and attack the sheep. Notwithstanding all these troubles, however, the profits of sheep-growing are large.