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Textbook Euro Par 2014 Parallel Processing Workshops Euro Par 2014 International Workshops Porto Portugal August 25 26 2014 Revised Selected Papers Part I 1St Edition Luis Lopes Ebook All Chapter PDF
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Euro-Par 2014:
LNCS 8805
Parallel Processing
Workshops
Euro-Par 2014 International Workshops
Porto, Portugal, August 25–26, 2014
Revised Selected Papers, Part I
123
Lecture Notes in Computer Science 8805
Commenced Publication in 1973
Founding and Former Series Editors:
Gerhard Goos, Juris Hartmanis, and Jan van Leeuwen
Editorial Board
David Hutchison
Lancaster University, UK
Takeo Kanade
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Josef Kittler
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Jon M. Kleinberg
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Friedemann Mattern
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
John C. Mitchell
Stanford University, CA, USA
Moni Naor
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
C. Pandu Rangan
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India
Bernhard Steffen
TU Dortmund University, Germany
Demetri Terzopoulos
University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Doug Tygar
University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Gerhard Weikum
Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Saarbruecken, Germany
Luís Lopes et al. (Eds.)
Euro-Par 2014:
Parallel Processing
Workshops
Euro-Par 2014 International Workshops
Porto, Portugal, August 25-26, 2014
Revised Selected Papers, Part I
13
Volume Editor
Luís Lopes
University of Porto
CRACS/INESC-TEC and FCUP
Rua do Campo Alegre, 1021, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
E-mail: lblopes@dcc.fc.up.pt
APCI&E MuCoCoS
Julius Žilinskas Siegfried Benkner
Vilnius University, Lithuania University of Vienna, Austria
julius.zilinskas@mii.vu.lt siegfried.benkner@univie.ac.at
BigDataCloud OHMI
Alexandru Costan Salvador Petit
Inria Rennes, France University of Valencia, Spain
alexandru.costan@inria.fr spetit@disca.upv.es
PADABS
DIHC Vittorio Scarano
Roberto G. Cascella University of Salerno, Italy
Inria Rennes, France vitsca@dia.unisa.it
roberto.cascella@inria.fr
PROPER
FedICI José Gracia
Gabor Kecskemeti High Performance Computing Center
MTA SZTAKI, Budapest, Hungary Stuttgart (HLRS), Germany
kecskemeti.gabor@sztaki.mta.hu gracia@hlrs.de
REPPAR
HeteroPar Sascha Hunold
Emmanuel Jeannot Vienna University of Technology,
Inria Bordeaux Sud-Ouest, France Austria
emmanuel.jeannot@inria.fr hunold@par.tuwien.ac.at
HiBB Resilience
Mario Cannataro Stephen L. Scott
University Magna, Catanzaro, Italy Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville,
cannataro@unicz.it USA
sscott@tntech.edu
LSDVE
Laura Ricci ROME
Stefan Lankes
University of Pisa, Italy
RWTH Aachen, Germany
ricci@di.unipi.it
SLankes@eonerc.rwth-aachen.de
VI Workshop Editors
SPPEXA UCHPC
Christian Lengauer Jens Breitbart
University of Passau, Germany Technical University Munich, Germany
lengauer@fim.uni-passau.de j.breitbart@tum.de
VHPC
TASUS
Michael Alexander
Jesus Carretero
Vienna University of Technology,
University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain
Austria
jesus.carretero@uc3m.es
michael.alexander@tuwien.ac.at
Preface
We are grateful to the Euro-Par general chairs and the members of the Euro-
Par Steering Committee for their support and advice regarding the coordination
of workshops. We would like to thank Springer for its continuous support in
publishing the workshop proceedings.
It was a great pleasure and honor to organize and host the Euro-Par 2014
workshops in Porto. We hope all the participants enjoyed the workshop program
and benefited from the ample opportunities for fruitful exchange of ideas.
Vice-Chair
Luc Bougé ENS Rennes, France
European Representatives
Marco Danelutto University of Pisa, Italy
Emmanuel Jeannot LaBRI-Inria, Bordeaux, France
Christos Kaklamanis Computer Technology Institute, Greece
Paul Kelly Imperial College, UK
Thomas Ludwig University of Hamburg, Germany
Emilio Luque Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
Tomàs Margalef Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
Wolfgang Nagel Dresden University of Technology, Germany
Rizos Sakellariou University of Manchester, UK
Henk Sips Delft University of Technology,
The Netherlands
Domenico Talia University of Calabria, Italy
Felix Wolf GRS and RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Honorary Members
Ron Perrott Oxford e-Research Centre, UK
Karl Dieter Reinartz University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
Observers
Fernando Silva University of Porto, Portugal
Jesper Larsson Träff Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Workshop Co-chairs
Luc Bougé ENS Rennes, France
Luı́s Lopes University of Porto, Portugal
Workshop Introduction and Organization
Organizers
Raimondas Čiegis Vilnius Gediminas Technical University,
Lithuania
Julius Žilinskas Vilnius University, Lithuania
Program Committee
Jesus Carretero Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain
Raimondas Čiegis Vilnius Gediminas Technical University,
Lithuania
Francisco Gaspar University of Zaragoza, Spain
Jacek Gondzio University of Edinburgh, UK
Mario Guarracino CNR, Italy
Pilar Martı́nez Ortigosa University of Almerı́a, Spain
Antonio J. Plaza University of Extremadura, Spain
Mindaugas Radziunas Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and
Stochastics, Germany
XII Workshop Introduction and Organization
Additional Reviewers
Algirdas Lančinskas Vilnius University, Lithuania
Natalija Tumanova Vilnius Gediminas Technical University,
Lithuania
the keynote given this year by Dr. Toni Cortes from Barcelona Supercomputing
Center. The talk introduced the idea of self-contained objects and showed how
third party enrichment of such objects can offer an environment where the data
providers keep full control over data while service designers get the maximum
flexibility.
We wish to thank all the authors, the keynote speaker, the Program Com-
mittee members and the workshop chairs of EuroPar 2014 for their contribution
to the success of this edition of BigDataCloud.
Program Chairs
Alexandru Costan IRISA/INSA Rennes, France
Frédéric Desprez Inria ENS Lyon, France
Program Committee
Gabriel Antoniu Inria, France
Luc Bougé ENS Rennes, France
Toni Cortes Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain
Kate Keahey University of Chicago/ANL, USA
Dries Kimpe Argonne National Laboratory, USA
Olivier Nano Microsoft Research ATLE, Germany
Bogdan Nicolae IBM Research, Ireland
Maria S. Pérez Universidad Politecnica De Madrid, Spain
Leonardo Querzoni University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy
Domenico Talia University of Calabria, Italy
Osamu Tatebe University of Tsukuba, Japan
Cristian Zamfir EPFL, Switzerland
addressing security, privacy, and high availability in clouds. The accepted papers
address issues to manage complex applications and facilitate the seamless and
transparent use of cloud platform services, including computing and storages
services, provisioned by multiple cloud platforms. The workshop also covered
HPC applications with the need of a new generation of data storage, management
services and heterogeneity-agnostic programming models for a better utilization
of heterogeneous cloud resources for scientific and data-intensive applications
while dealing with performance and elasticity issues. Privacy and security aspects
in cloud computing from theory to practical implementations were presented and
discussed.
In addition to the presentation of peer-reviewed papers, the 2014 edition
of the DIHC workshop includes a presentation on “Identities and Rights in e-
Infrastructures” by the invited keynote speaker Jens Jensen. The keynote pre-
sented lessons from the state-of-the-art technology used to identify management
in clouds and took a look into standards and the future solutions for federated
identity management.
Program Chairs
Roberto G. Cascella Inria, France
Miguel Correia INESC-ID/IST, Portugal
Elisabetta Di Nitto Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Christine Morin Inria, France
Program Committee
Vasilios Andrikopoulos University of Stuttgart, Germany
Alvaro Arenas IE Business School, Spain
Alysson Bessani University of Lisbon, Portugal
Lorenzo Blasi HP, Italy
Paolo Costa Imperial College London, UK
Beniamino Di Martino University of Naples, Italy
Federico Facca Create-Net, Italy
Franz Hauck University of Ulm, Germany
Yvon Jégou Inria, France
Jens Jensen STFC, UK
Paolo Mori CNR, Italy
Dana Petcu West University of Timisoara, Romania
Paolo Romano INESC-ID/IST, Portugal
Louis Rilling DGA-MI, France
Michael Schöttner University of Düsseldorf, Germany
Thorsten Schütt ZIB Berlin, Germany
Stephen Scott ORNL/Tennessee Technological University,
USA
Gianluigi Zavattaro University of Bologna, Italy
Additional Reviewer
Ferrol Aderholdt Tennessee Technological University, USA
Workshop Introduction and Organization XV
The program chairs sincerely thank the Euro-Par organizers for providing
the opportunity to arrange the FedICI workshop in conjunction with the 2014
conference. The program chairs also warmly thank MTA SZTAKI for its financial
support making it possible to organize the workshop. Finally, the program chairs
thank all attendees at the workshop, who contributed to a successful scientific
day. Based on the mostly positive feedback, the program chairs and organizers
plan to continue the FedICI workshop in conjunction with Euro-Par 2015.
Program Chairs
Gabor Kecskemeti MTA SZTAKI, Hungary
Attila Kertesz MTA SZTAKI, Hungary
Attila Marosi MTA SZTAKI, Hungary
Radu Prodan University of Innsbruck, Austria
Program Committee
Jameela Al-Jaroodi United Arab Emirates University, UAE
Salvatore Distefano Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Eduardo Huedo Cuesta Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Philipp Leitner University of Zurich, Switzerland
Daniele Lezzi Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain
Nader Mohamed United Arab Emirates University, UAE
Zsolt Nemeth MTA SZTAKI, Hungary
Ariel Oleksiak Poznan Supercomputer and Networking
Center, Poland
Anne-Cecile Orgerie CNRS, Myriads, IRISA, France
Simon Ostermann University of Innsbruck, Austria
Dana Petcu Western University of Timisoara, Romania
Ivan Rodero Rutgers the State University of New Jersey,
USA
Matthias Schmidt 1&1 Internet AG, Germany
Alan Sill Texas Tech University, USA
Gergely Sipos European Grid Infrastructure, The Netherlands
Massimo Villari University of Messina, Italy
Additional Reviewers
Matthias Janetschek University of Innsbruck, Austria
Weiwei Chen University of Southern California, USA
Workshop Introduction and Organization XVII
Program Chair
Emmanuel Jeannot Inria, France
Steering Committee
Domingo Giménez University of Murcia, Spain
Alexey Kalinov Cadence Design Systems, Russia
Alexey Lastovetsky University College Dublin, Ireland
Yves Robert Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France
Leonel Sousa INESC-ID/IST, Technical University of
Lisbon, Portugal
Denis Trystram LIG, Grenoble, France
Program Committee
Rosa M. Badia BSC, Spain
Jorge Barbosa University of Porto, Portugal
Olivier Beaumont Inria, France
Paolo Bientinesi RWTH Aachen, Germany
Cristina Boeres Fluminense Federal University, Brazil
George Bosilca University of Tennessee, USA
Louis-Claude Canon Université de Franche-Comté, France
Alexandre Denis Inria, France
Toshio Endo Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
Edgar Gabriel University of Houston, USA
XVIII Workshop Introduction and Organization
Additional Reviewers
Jose Antonio Belloch Jaume I University, Spain
Adrián Castelló Jaume I University, Spain
Ali Charara KAUST, Saudi Arabia
Vladimir Ciric University of Nis, Serbia
Diego Fabregat-Traver RWTH Aachen, Germany
João Guerreiro University of Lisbon, Portugal
Francisco D. Igual Jaume I University, Spain
Samuel Kortas KAUST, Saudi Arabia
Lı́dia Kuan University of Lisbon, Portugal
Emina Milovanovic University of Nis, Serbia
Aline Nascimento Fluminense Federal University, Brazil
Elmar Peise RWTH Aachen, Germany
Alexandre Sena Fluminense Federal University, Brazil
Paul Springer RWTH Aachen, Germany
François Tessier University of Bordeaux, France
Workshop Introduction and Organization XIX
additional reviewers, for the time and expertise they put into the reviewing
work, the Euro-Par organization, for providing the opportunity to arrange the
HiBB workshop in conjunction with the Euro-Par 2014 conference, and all the
workshop attendees who contributed to a lively day.
Program Chair
Mario Cannataro University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy
Program Committee
Pratul K. Agarwal Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA
Ignacio Blanquer Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain
Daniela Calvetti Case Western Reserve University, USA
Werner Dubitzky University of Ulster, UK
Ananth Y. Grama Purdue University, USA
Concettina Guerra Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Pietro H. Guzzi University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy
Vicente Hernandez Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain
Salvatore Orlando University of Venice, Italy
Horacio Perez-Sanchez University of Murcia, Spain
Omer F. Rana Cardiff University, UK
Richard Sinnott University of Melbourne, Australia
Fabrizio Silvestri Yahoo Labs, Barcelona, Spain
Erkki Somersalo Case Western Reserve University, USA
Paolo Trunfio University of Calabria, Italy
Albert Zomaya University of Sydney, Australia
Additional Reviewers
Giuseppe Agapito University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy
Barbara Calabrese University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy
Nicola Ielpo University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy
Alessia Sarica University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy
Workshop Introduction and Organization XXI
We wish to thank all who helped to make this second edition of the workshop
a success: Prof. Pedro Garcia Lopez who accepted our invitation to present
a keynote, authors submitting papers, colleagues who refereed the submitted
papers and attended the sessions, and finally the Euro-Par 2014 organizers whose
invaluable support greatly helped in the organization of this second edition of
the workshop.
Program Chairs
Laura Ricci University of Pisa, Italy
Alexandru Iosup TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands
Radu Prodan Institute of Computer Science, Innsbruck,
Austria
Program Committee
Michele Amoretti University of Parma, Italy
Ranieri Baraglia ISTI CNR, Pisa, Italy
Emanuele Carlini ISTI CNR, Pisa, Italy
Massimo Coppola ISTI CNR, Pisa, Italy
Patrizio Dazzi ISTI CNR, Pisa, Italy
Juan J. Durillo Institute of Computer Science, Innsbruck,
Austria
Kalman Graffi University of Düsseldorf, Germany
Alexandru Iosup TU Delft, The Netherlands
Dana Petcu West University of Timisoara, Romania
Andreas Petlund Simula Research Laboratory, Norway
Radu Prodan Institute of Computer Science, Innsbruck,
Austria
Duan Rubing Institute of High Performance Computing,
Singapore
Laura Ricci University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Alexey Vinel Tampere University of Technology, Finland
Workshop Introduction and Organization XXIII
Program Chairs
Siegfried Benkner University of Vienna, Austria
Sabri Pllana Linnaeus University, Sweden
Program Committee
Beverly Bachmayer Intel, Germany
Eduardo Cesar Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain
Milind Chabbi Rice University, USA
Jiri Dokulil University of Vienna, Austria
Franz Franchetti Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Michael Gerndt TU Munich, Germany
XXIV Workshop Introduction and Organization
Additional Reviewers
Pasquale Cantiello Seconda Università di Napoli, Italy
Antonio Esposito Seconda Università di Napoli, Italy
Francesco Moscato Seconda Università di Napoli, Italy
Kameswar Rao Vaddina NTNU Trondheim, Norway
Tomas Margalef Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain
Tilman Kuestner TU Munich, Germany
Terry Cojean University of Bordeaux, France
Jens Breitbart TU Munich, Germany
Minh Le TU Munich, Germany
Luka Stanisic University of Grenoble, France
Toni Espinosa Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain
Rocco Aversa Seconda Università di Napoli, Italy
Program Chairs
Julio Sahuquillo Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Maria Engracia Gómez Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Salvador Petit Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Program Committee
Manuel Acacio Universidad de Murcia, Spain
Sandro Bartolini Università di Siena, Italy
João M. P. Cardoso University of Porto, Portugal
Marcello Coppola STMicroelectronics, France
Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
Pierfrancesco Foglia Università di Pisa, Italy
Crispı́n Gómez Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Kees Goossens Eindhoven University of Technology,
The Netherlands
David Kaeli Northeastern University, USA
Sonia López Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
Pierre Michaud Inria, France
XXVI Workshop Introduction and Organization
Program Chairs
Vittorio Scarano Università di Salerno, Italy
Gennaro Cordasco Seconda Università di Napoli, Italy
Rosario De Chiara Poste Italiane, Italy
Ugo Erra Università della Basilicata, Italy
Program Committee
Maria Chli Aston University, UK
Claudio Cioffi-Revilla George Mason University, USA
Biagio Cosenza University of Innsbruck, Austria
Nick Collier Argonne National Laboratory, USA
Rosaria Conte CNR, Italy
Andrew Evans University of Leeds, UK
Bernardino Frola The MathWorks, Cambridge, UK
Nicola Lettieri Università del Sannio and ISFOL, Italy
Workshop Introduction and Organization XXVII
Additional Reviewers
Carmine Spagnuolo Università di Salerno, Italy
Luca Vicidomini Università di Salerno, Italy
becoming more apparent that in order to address the complexity concerns un-
folding in the exascale space, we must think of productivity and performance in
a more connected way and the technology to support them as being more open,
integrated, and intelligent.
Program Chairs
José Gracia High-Performance Computing Center
Stuttgart, Germany
Steering Committee
Andreas Knüpfer (Chair) Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Michael Gerndt Technische Universität München, Germany
Shirley Moore University of Texas at El Paso, USA
Matthias Müller RWTH Aachen, Germany
Martin Schulz Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA
Felix Wolf German Research School for Simulation
Sciences, Germany
Program Committee
José Gracia (Chair) HLRS, Germany
Denis Barthou Inria, France
David Böhme German Research School for Simulation
Sciences, Germany
Karl Fürlinger LMU München, Germany
Michael Gerndt TU München, Germany
Kevin Huck University of Oregon, USA
Koji Inoue Kyushu University, Japan
Andreas Knüpfer TU Dresden, Germany
Ignacio Laguna Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA
John Mellor-Crummey Rice University, USA
Matthias Müller RWTH Aachen, Germany
Shirley Moore University of Texas at El Paso, USA
Martin Schulz Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA
Nathan Tallent Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA
Jan Treibig RRZE, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Felix Wolf German Research School for Simulation
Sciences, Germany
Brian Wylie Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Germany
Workshop Introduction and Organization XXIX
Program Chairs
Sascha Hunold Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Arnaud Legrand CNRS, LIG Grenoble, France
Lucas Nussbaum CNRS, LORIA, France
Mark Stillwell Cranfield University, UK
Program Committee
Henri Casanova University of Hawai‘i, USA
Olivier Dalle University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis, France
Andrew Davison CNRS, France
Georg Hager University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
James Hetherington University College London, UK
Olivier Richard LIG Grenoble, France
Lucas M. Schnorr Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil
Jesper Larsson Träff Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Jan Vitek Purdue University, USA
Another random document with
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There are fully eight varieties of American dogs, several of which
are natives of the far North. The lagopus, or isatis, a native of
Spitzbergen and Greenland, extends over all the Arctic regions of
America and Asia, and is found in some of the Kurile Islands. Dogs
are employed to draw sledges in Newfoundland and Canada; and
the Eskimo dogs, used for this purpose by the Arctic explorers, are
famous for their strength, their docility, and power of endurance.
They were mute, until they learned to bark from European dogs on
board the discovery ships.
CHAPTER VI.
ICELAND AND THE ICELANDERS.
ust within the Arctic region, but nearly on the limits of what
geographers call the Atlantic Ocean, lies an island which,
since its colonization in the ninth century, has not ceased to
excite the interest of the explorer and the man of science.
Iceland—which measures about 300 miles at its greatest length,
from east to west, and about 200 miles at its greatest breadth, from
north to south—is situated in lat. 63° 23’-66° 33’ N., and long. 13°
22’-24° 35’ W.; at a distance of 600 miles from the nearest point of
Norway, 250 from the Faröe Isles, 250 from Greenland, and above
500 miles from the northern extremity of Scotland. As early as the
eighth Christian century it was discovered by some European
emigrants; though, indeed, the Landnana Book, one of the earliest of
the island-records, asserts that they found the memorials of a yet
earlier settlement in various Christian relics, such as wooden
crosses, which appeared to be of Irish origin. At all events, the first
really successful attempt at colonization was made by Ingolf, a
Norwegian, who planted himself and his followers at Reikiavik in
874. In the following century a somewhat extensive immigration took
place of Norwegians who resented the changes of polity introduced
by Harold Haarfager, and all the habitable points on the coast were
occupied by about 950 a.d. Fifty years afterwards, though not
without much opposition, Christianity was legally established, and
the bishoprics of Holar and Skalholt were founded. The government
assumed the character of an aristocratic republic, with a popular
assembly, called the Althing, meeting every summer in the valley of
Thingvalla. Commerce was encouraged, and the Icelanders early
distinguished themselves by the boldness of their maritime
enterprise, and the extent of their ocean fisheries.
About the year 932 they discovered Greenland, and about 986 a
portion of the North American coast, which they called “Vineland.”
They did not confine their voyages to the north, but sent their ships
even as far south as the Mediterranean. From 1150 to 1250 is rightly
considered the most flourishing period of Icelandic literature and
commerce. After the conquest of the island by Haco VI. of Norway,
much of the old spirit seemed to die out. When Norway was united to
Denmark in 1380, Iceland was included in the bond, and it is still
regarded as a dependency of the latter kingdom. In 1540 it
embraced the principles of Lutheran Protestantism. Its population at
one time numbered 100,000, but it gradually diminished until, in
1840, it was reduced to 57,094; but a slow increase has taken place
of late years, and it now amounts to about 70,000. The language
spoken is the old Norse.
Iceland is a fifth part larger than Ireland, and its superficial area is
estimated at 39,207 square miles. Not more than 4000 miles,
however, are habitable, all the rest being ice and lava; for the island
seems to be little more than a mass of trachyte, snow-shrouded and
frost-bound, resting on a sea of fire. It consists of two vast parallel
table-lands, the foundations of ranges of lofty mountains, most of
which are active volcanoes; and these table-lands strike across the
centre of the island, from north-east to south-west, at a distance from
one another of ninety to one hundred miles. Their mountainous
summits are not pyramidal, as is generally the case in Europe, but
rounded like domes, as in the Andes of South America. Their sides,
however, are broken up by precipitous masses of tufa and
conglomerate, intersected by deep ravines of the gloomiest
character. They are covered with a thick shroud of ice and snow, but
in their wombs seethe the fiery elements which ever and anon break
forth into terrible activity. The eastern table-land and its mountain
range is the most extensive, and contains Oërafa, the culminating
point of Iceland. It is visible from a great distance at sea, like a white
cloud suspended above the island. Its height is 6426 feet, and it
springs from a vast mountain-mass; no fewer than 3000 square
miles being perpetually burdened with ice and snow, at an altitude
varying from 3000 to 6000 feet.
AN ICELANDIC LANDSCAPE.
A very considerable portion of the island is occupied by the large
glaciers which descend from the mountains, like frozen torrents,
pushing forward into the lowlands, and even to the margin of the
sea. These act as almost impassable barriers to communication
between the various inhabited districts.
We have spoken of the two ranges of table-lands as about ninety
to one hundred miles apart. The interspace forms a low broad valley,
which opens at either extremity on the sea—an awful waste, a region
of desolation, where man is utterly powerless; where the elements of
fire and frost maintain a perpetual antagonism; where blade of grass
is never seen, nor drop of water; where bird never wings its way, and
no sign of life can be detected. It seems a realization of Dante’s
“circle of ice” in the “Inferno.” The surface consists of lava streams,
fissured by innumerable crevices; of rocks piled on rocks; of dreary
glaciers, relieved by low volcanic cones. It is supposed that some
remote portions of the inaccessible interior are less barren, because
herds of reindeer have been seen feeding on the Iceland moss that
fringes the borders of this dreary region. But there is no reason to
believe that it can ever be inhabited by man.
HARBOUR OF REIKIAVIK.
The Icelander is honest, temperate, hospitable, possessed with a
fervent spirit of patriotism, and strongly wedded to the ancient
usages. He is also industrious; and though his industry is but scantily
remunerated, he earns enough to satisfy his simple tastes. In the
interior his chief dependence is on his cattle; and as grass is the
main produce of his farm, his anxiety during the haymaking season
is extreme. A bad crop would be almost ruin. He is, however, wofully
ignorant of agriculture as a science, does but little for the
improvement of the soil, and employs implements of the most
primitive character. The process of haymaking in Iceland is thus
described:—
The best crops are gathered from the “tún,” a kind of home-park
or paddock, comprising the lands contiguous to the farmstead—the
only portion of his demesne to which the owner gives any special
attention, and on the improvement of which he bestows any labour.
This “tún” is enclosed within a wall of stone or turf, and averages an
extent of two or three acres, though sometimes it reaches to ten. Its
surface is usually a series of closely-packed mounds, like an
overcrowded graveyard, with channels or water-runs between, about
two feet deep. Hither every person employed on the farm, or whom
the farmer can engage, resorts, with short-bladed scythe and rake,
and proceeds to cut down the coarse thick grass, and rake it up into
little heaps.
Afterwards the mowers hasten to clear the neighbouring hill sides
and undrained marshes.
This primitive haymaking, so unlike the systematic operation
which bears that name in England, is carried on throughout the
twenty-four hours of the long summer day. The hay, when sufficiently
dried, is made up into bundles, and tied with cords and thongs, and
packed on the back of ponies, which carry it to the clay-built stalls or
sheds prepared for it. And a curious sight it is to see a long string of
hay-laden ponies returning home. Each pony’s halter is made fast to
the tail of his predecessor; and the little animals are so
overshadowed and overwhelmed by their burdens, that their hoofs
and the connecting ropes alone are visible, and they seem like so
many animated haycocks, feeling themselves sufficiently made up,
and leisurely betaking themselves to their resting-places.
During the protracted winter the Icelander, of course, can attend
to no out-of-door labour, and passes his time within his hut, which, in
many parts of the island, is not much superior to an Irish “cabin.”
The lower part is built of rough stones up to a height of four feet,
and between each course a layer of turf is placed, which serves
instead of mortar, and helps to keep out the cold. The roof, made of
any available wood, is covered with turf and sods. On the southern
side the building is ornamented with doors and gable-ends, each of
which is crowned by a weathercock. These doors are the entrances
to the dwelling-rooms and various offices, such as the cow-shed,
store-house, and smithy. The dwelling-rooms are connected by a
long, dark, narrow passage, and are separated from each other by
strong walls of turf. As each apartment has its own roof, the building
is, in effect, an aggregate of several low huts, which receive their
light through small windows in the front, or holes in the roof, covered
with a piece of glass or skin. The floors are of stamped earth; the
fireplace is made of a few stones, rudely packed together, while the
smoke escapes through a hole in the roof, or through a cask or
barrel, with the ends knocked out, which acts as chimney.
In some parts of the island lava is used instead of stones, and
instead of wood the rafters are made of the ribs of whales. A horse’s
skull is the best seat provided for a visitor. Too often the same room
serves as the dining, sitting, and sleeping place for the whole family,
and the beds are merely boxes filled with feathers or sea-weed.
There are, however, a few houses of a superior character, in which
the arrangements are not much unlike those of a good old-fashioned
English farm-house; the walls being wainscotted with deal, and the
doors and staircase of the same material. A few prints and
photographs, some book-shelves, one or two little pictures, decorate
the sitting-room, and a neat iron stove, and massive chests of
drawers, furnish it sufficiently.
From the houses we turn to the churches. In Reikiavik the church
is a stone building, the only stone building in the town; but this is
exceptional: most of the churches are not much better than the
houses. We will be content, therefore, with a visit to the Reikiavik
sanctuary, which is a neat and unpretending erection, capable of
accommodating three or four hundred persons. The Icelanders are
not opposed to a “decent ritual,” and the Lutheran minister wears a
black gown with a ruff round his neck. The majority of the
congregation, here as everywhere else, consists of women; some
few dressed in bonnets, and the rest wearing the national black silk
skull-cap, set jauntily on one side of the head, with a long black
tassel drooping to the shoulder, or else a quaint mitre-like structure
of white linen, almost as imposing as the head-dress of a Normandy
peasant. The remainder of an Icelandic lady’s costume, we may add,
consists of a black bodice, fastened in front with silver clasps, over
which is drawn a cloth jacket, gay with innumerable silver buttons;
round the neck goes a stiff ruff of velvet, embroidered with silver
lace; and a silver belt, often beautifully chased, binds the long dark
wadmal petticoat round the waist. Sometimes the ornaments are of
gold, instead of silver, and very costly.
Towards the end of the Lutheran service, the preacher descends
from the pulpit, and attiring himself in a splendid crimson velvet
cope, turns his back to the congregation, and chants some Latin
sentences.
Though still retaining in their ceremonies, says a recent traveller,
a few vestiges of the old religion, though altars, candles, pictures,
and crucifixes yet remain in many of their churches, the Icelanders
are stanch Protestants, and singularly devout, innocent, and pure-
hearted. Crime, theft, debauchery, cruelty are unknown amongst
them; they have neither prison, gallows, soldiers, nor police; and in
the manner of their lives mingles something of a patriarchal
simplicity, that reminds one of the Old World princes, of whom it has
been said, that they were “upright and perfect, eschewing evil, and in
their hearts no guile.”
In the rural districts, if such a phrase can properly be applied to
any part of Iceland, the church is scarcely distinguishable from any
other building, except by the cross planted on its roof. It measures,
generally, from eight to ten feet in width, and from eighteen to
twenty-four feet in length; but of this space about eight feet are
devoted to the altar, which is divided off by a wooden partition
stretching across the church, just behind the pulpit. The communion-
table is nothing more than a small wooden chest or cupboard, placed
at the end of the building, between two small square windows, each
formed by a single common-sized pane of glass. Over the table is
suspended a sorry daub, on wood, intended to represent the Last
Supper. The walls, which are wainscotted, are about six feet high;
and stout beams of wood stretch from side to side. On these are
carelessly scattered a number of old Bibles, psalters, and loose
leaves of soiled and antiquated manuscripts. The interior of the roof,
the rafters of which rest on the walls, is also lined with wood.
Accommodation, in the shape of a few rough benches, is provided
for a congregation of thirty or forty souls.
Poor as are the churches, the pastors are still poorer. The best
benefice in the island is worth not much more than £40 per annum;
the average value is £10. The bishop himself does not receive more
than £200. The principal support of the clergy, therefore, is derived
from their glebe-land, eked out by the small fees charged for
baptisms, marriages, and funerals.
Such being the case, the reader will not be surprised to learn that
the Icelandic clergy live miserably and work hard. They assist in the
haymaking; they hire themselves out as herdsmen; they act as the
leaders of the caravans of pack-horses which carry the produce of
the island to the ports, and return loaded with domestic necessaries;
and they distinguish themselves as blacksmiths, as veterinarians,
and shoers of horses.
Dr. Henderson gives an interesting and graphic account of a visit
he paid to one of these “poor parsons,” John Thorlukson, who, while
supporting himself by drudgery of this painful kind, translated
Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and Pope’s “Essay on Man” into Icelandic.
“Like most of his brethren, at this season of the year,” says Dr.
Henderson, “we found him in the meadow assisting his people at
haymaking. On hearing of our arrival he made all the haste home
which his age and infirmity would allow, and bidding us welcome to
his lowly abode, ushered us into the humble apartment where he
translated my countrymen into Icelandic. The door was not quite four
feet in height, and the room might be about eight feet in length by six
in breadth. At the inner end was the poet’s bed; and close to the
door, over against a small window, not exceeding two feet square,
was a table where he committed to paper the effusions of his muse.
On my telling him that my countrymen would not have forgiven me,
nor could I have forgiven myself, had I passed through this part of
the island without paying him a visit, he replied that the translation of
Milton had yielded him many a pleasant hour, and often given him
occasion to think of England.”
It is true that this passage was written some fifty-five years ago,
but the condition of the clergy of Iceland has not much improved in
the interval.