Otto and Axel board the schooner on June 2. The voyage takes 10 days, during which time the Professor is seasick and stays mostly in his cabin. Upon their arrival to Reykjavik, they meet the governor, as well as other officials, including M. Fridrikson, the professor of natural science at the local school, who welcomes them into his home. Otto immediately goes to the library to look up information on Snäfell, while Axel decides to walk around the town.

Reykjavik is described as small and dreary, lacking any vegetation. The houses are built into the earth, with the roofs covered in grass. There are almost no people outside, except in the commercial part, where unsmiling men and women are “engaged in drying, salting, and loading cod fish—the principle article of exportation” (36).

After returning from his walk, Axel finds his uncle back at the house. Together with their host, they sit down to dinner, and Otto complains that there were no relevant books at the library. M. Fridrikson explains that they do have numerous and rare works but that they circulate freely among the population as almost everyone in Iceland can read. Otto then tries to find out more about the alchemist Saknussemm, and M.