So begins Sabine Baring-Gould's account of his journey on horseback around Iceland in 1862. Aged twenty-eight, the young writer and teacher was fascinated by the tradition of the Icelandic sagas, and this was the catalyst for his adventure and the book that emerged from it. His voyage took him from the then tiny settlement of Reykjavik through remote and hostile terrain, passing through the empty expanse of Iceland's countryside. He observed mountains and glaciers, volcanoes and geysers, wondering at the wild beauty of the landscape. He also recorded the rich flora and fauna that he saw-and, to his chagrin, that his companions shot.

A rich, fresh, anecdotal, and thoughtful account. Beautifully written, the book tells the story of modern families in technological Los Angeles who live compatibly amid chaparral with the scores of wild species on the hillsides and in the canyon. For students of ecology, conservation, and the environment.