In 1872 Bryce travelled to Iceland to see the land of the Icelandic sagas, as he was a great admirer of Njáls saga. In 1876 he ventured through the Russian empire to Mount Ararat, climbed above the tree line and found a piece of hand-hewn timber, long and thick. He agreed that the evidence fit the Armenian Church's belief that it was from Noah's Ark and offered no other explanations.