Iceland: Its Scenes and Sagas

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Smith, Elder and Company, 1863 - Birds - 447 pages

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Page 93 - Above me are the Alps, The palaces of Nature, whose vast walls Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps, And throned Eternity in icy halls Of cold sublimity, where forms and falls The avalanche — the thunderbolt of snow ! All that expands the spirit, yet appals, Gather around these summits, as to show How Earth may pierce to Heaven, yet leave vain man below.
Page 201 - ... through all the city, for the space almost of forty days, there were seen horsemen running in the air, in cloth of gold, and armed with lances, like a band of soldiers, and troops of horsemen in array, encountering and running one against another, with shaking of shields, and multitude of pikes, and drawing of swords, and casting of darts, and glittering of golden ornaments, and harness of all sorts. Wherefore every man prayed that that apparition might turn to good.
Page 21 - ... breast, ie a bare spot from which the feathers have fallen off with the heat in hatching; its egg is twice as big as that of a Solan goose, and is variously spotted, black, green, and dark ; it comes without regard 'to any wind, appears the first of May, and goes away about the middle of June.
Page 332 - And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
Page xlvi - And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury, his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, and the Judges of the Courts of Vice- Admiralty, are to take the necessary measures herein, as to them may respectively appertain.
Page 321 - ... determine their relative strength. When this has been fairly ascertained, they advance to the brink of the precipice ; and, taking each other by the tail, the weakest descends first, while the strongest, forming the last in the row, suspends the whole number, till the foremost has reached their prey. A signal is then given, on which the uppermost fox pulls with all his might, and the rest assist him as well as they can with their feet against the rocks ; in this manner they proceed from rock...
Page 21 - Gairfowl, being the stateliest, as well as the largest sort, and above the size of a Solan goose, of a black colour, red about the eyes, a large white spot under each, a long broad bill...
Page 201 - For the space Of forty days almost were horsemen seen Running in air, in cloth of gold, and armed With lances, like a band of soldiery ; It was a sign of triumph.
Page 118 - ... and then with a fierce whistle scudded over the graveyard fence. Glamr had not returned when the service was over. Thorhall suggested a search, but no man would accompany him; and no wonder! it was not a night for a dog to be out in; besides, the tracks were a foot deep in snow. The family sat up all night, waiting, listening, trembling; but no Glamr came home. Dawn broke at last, wan and blear in the south. The clouds hung down like great sheets, full of snow, almost to bursting. A party was...
Page 118 - A sharp scramble brought them to high land ; and the ridge between the two rivers which join in Vatnsdalr was thoroughly examined. Here and there were found the scattered sheep, shuddering under an icicled rock, or half buried in a snow-drift. No trace yet of the keeper. A dead ewe lay at the bottom of a crag : it had staggered over it in the gloom, and had been dashed to pieces. Presently the whole party were called together about a trampled spot in the heithi, where evidently a deathstruggle had...

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