“Here is one of the best maps of Iceland, that of Handersen, and I believe this will solve the worst of our difficulties.”

I bent over the map.

“You see this volcanic island,” said the Professor; “observe that all the volcanoes are called Jökulls, a word which means glacier in Icelandic, and under the high latitude of Iceland nearly all the active volcanoes discharge through beds of ice. Hence this term of Jökull is applied to all the eruptive mountains in Iceland.”

“Very good,” said I; “but what of Snæfells?”

I was hoping that this question would be unanswerable; but I was mistaken. My uncle replied:

“Follow my finger along the west coast of Iceland. Do you see Reykjavík, the capital? You do. Well; ascend the innumerable fjords that indent those sea-beaten shores, and stop at the sixty-fifth degree of latitude. What do you see there?”