Note 219 — SECTION VII. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES (ANIMALS WILD AND TAME)—NOTES ON FLORA—AGRICULTURE AND CATTLE-BREEDING—FISHERIES AND FISHING—INDUSTRY AND EMIGRATION.

Further notices will occur in the Journal (Chap. V.) about this Surtar-brand (not “Surtur-brand”). Etymologically, it is from Surtr (a congener of “swarthy”) “the Black,” a fire-giant, who, coming from the south, will destroy the Odin-world, and Brandr, a firebrand. After the change of faith, this northern Ahriman or Set (Typhon) was ready to hand, and at once became the Semitico-Scandinavian “Devil.” Upon the same principle, the latter is known in Scotland as “Auld Sootie,” since the classical gamins gave horns and tail to Pluto, and the face of the great god Pan was blackened by the monks. The Surtshellir tunnel in western Iceland, famed for the atrocious “Cave-men” (outlaws), is also derived from the Surtr of Scandinavian mythology. The author did not visit it, but the descriptions and illustrations suggested the Umm Nírán in the lava formations of the Safá, near Damascus, noticed in “Unexplored Syria.”