We continued our

best clothes, and was ready to start with us. journey along the foot of a barren mountain, at no great distance from the marshes. Here and there, indeed, we met with a few stunted birch trees, but no plants that I had not seen elsewhere. Leaving the mountain, and crossing a disagrecable swamp, we, in about two or three hours, arrived at the most fordable part of the Brueraa. There was already a party of horsemen, resting their horses a little, to prepare them for the fatigue of passing through this stream, the bottom of which is exceedingly rocky, and the river itself both wide and deep, but at this time considered fordable. The packages of fish, wool, &c., were carefully fastened by ropes to the top of the horses' backs, so that they might be as little exposed to the water as possible; and the horses, being then tied in a line one behind the other, all reached the opposite shore in safety, though the smaller ones were compelled to swim. A foal, which was tied by the neck to the tail of its mother, was dragged through, and landed on the other side of the river, more dead than alive, through fear and cold. Our party followed, and was equally fortunate in getting over without any accident (except the wetting of the luggage and ourselves,) though the water reached to the middle of the body of our tallest horses. Here, after procuring us some milk from a cottage close by, the priest took his leave of us. In the vicinity of the house were two or three boiling springs which were used by the inhabitants for the purpose of cooking, as well as for that of washing their clothes. At a few miles distance, on our right, we saw a very considerable column of steam, rising from the marshes, at a place which the guides called Reykum ;* and which they said I might visit on my way to Skalholt. Our journey now lay either entirely over a morass, which proved extremely fatiguing to our horses, or upon the edge of it, where a quantity of loose soil had been washed down from the mountains by the torrents, and was scarcely more firm. At about five o'clock in the afternoon we obtained the first view of the mountain, called Laugerfell, from which the Geysers spring. It is of no great elevation, and according to Sir John Stanley, who had an opportunity of ascertaining by admeasurement, rises only three hundred and ten feet above the course of a river which runs at its foot. It is, however, remarkable for its insulated situation; being entirely surrounded by a morass, which extends for a very considerable way in every direction, except towards the north, where it is

This is not the Reykum, or Rykum, which Sir John Stanley has given so full and so admirable an account of: many places are called by this and similar names, derived from the Icelandic word Reik, or Reyk, which signifies smoke; such are Reykholt, Reikevig, Reikholtsdal, Reikanaes, &c.

not separated by an interval of more than half a mile from higher mountains. The north side is perpendicular, barren, and craggy; the opposite one rises with a tolerably gradual ascent, and from this near its base, we saw a number of columns of steam mounting to various heights. We quickened our pace, and at eight o'clock arrived at the foot of the hill. Here I left my horses, &c. to the care of the guides, and hastened among the boiling springs, happy in the prospect of soon beholding what may justly be considered as one of the most extraordinary operations of nature. The lower part of the hill was formed into a number of mounds, composed of what appeared to be clay or coarse bolus, of various sizes: some of them were yellowish white, but the greater number of the colour of dull red brick. Interspersed with them here and there, lay pieces of rock, which had rolled, or been washed down by the rains, from the higher parts of the mountain. On these mounds, at irregular distances, and on all sides of me, were the apertures of boiling springs, from some of which were issuing spouts of water, from one to four feet in height; while in others, the water rose no higher than the top of the basin, or gently flowed over the margin. The orifices were of various dimensions, and either covered on their sides and edge with a brownish siliceous crust, or the water only boiled through a hole in the mound, and became turbid by admixture with the soil, which coloured it either with red, dirty yellow, or gray. Upon the heated ground, in many places, were some extremely beautiful, though small, specimens of sulphuric efflorescence, the friability of which was such, that, in spite of the utmost care, I was not capable of preserving any in a good state. I did not remain long in this spot, but directed my steps to the loftiest column of steam, which I naturally concluded arose from the fountain that is alone, by way of distinction called the Geyser. It lies at the opposite extremity of this collection of springs, and I should think full half a quarter of a mile distant from the outermost ones which I first arrived at. Among numerous small ones, I passed three or four apertures of a considerable size, but all so much inferior to the one I was now approaching, that they scarcely need any farther notice. It was impossible, after having read the admirable descriptions of the Geyser, given by the Archbishop Von Troil and Sir John Stanley, and especially after having seen the engra

I need scarcely refer my readers for a more full account of the Geyser than it is in my power to give, to the letters of Von Troil, who accompanied Sir Joseph Banks in his voyage to Staffa and Iceland: the work is too well known to every one. The two excellent letters of Sir John Stanley on the hot springs near Rykum, and on those near Haukardal, are to be found in the third volume of the Transactions of the Society of Edinburgh. In the same volume, also, is to be met with a full account of the analysis of the water of the hot springs, by the late Dr. Black, of Edinburgh.

vings made from drawings taken by the last-mentioned gentleman, to mistake it. A vast circular mound (of a substance which I believe was first ascertained to be siliceous by Professor Bergman,) was elevated a considerable height above those that surrounded most of the other springs. It was of a brownish gray colour, made rugged on its exterior, but more especially near the margin of the basin, by numerous hillocks of the same siliceous substance, varying in size, but generally about as large as a molehill, rough with minute tubercles, and covered all over with a most beautiful kind of efflorescence; so that the appearance of these hillocks has been aptly compared to that of the head of a cauliflower. On reaching the top of this siliceous mound, I looked into the perfectly circular basin,* which gradually shelved down to the mouth of the pipe or crater in the centre, whence the water issued. This mouth lay about four or five feet below the edge of the basin, and proved, on my afterwards measuring it, to be as nearly as possible seventeen feet distant from it on every side; the greatest difference in the distance not being more than a foot. The inside was not rugged, like the outside; but apparently even, although rough to the touch, like a coarse file: it wholly wanted the little hillocks and the efflorescence of the exterior, and was merely covered with innumerable small tubercles, which, of themselves, were in many places polished smooth by the falling of the water upon them. It was not possible now to enter the basin, for it was filled nearly to the edge with water, the most pellucid I ever beheld, in the centre of which was ob servable a slight ebullition, and a large, but not dense, body of steam, which, however, increased both in quantity and density from time to time, as often as the ebullition was more violent. At nine o'clock I heard a hollow subterraneous noise, which was thrice repeated in the course of a few moments; the two last reports following each other more quickly than the first and second had done. It exactly resembled the distant firing of cannon, and was accompanied each time with a perceptible, though very slight, shaking of the earth; almost immediately after which, the boiling of the water increased, together with the steam, and the whole was violently agitated. At first, the water only rolled without much noise over the edge of the basin, but this was almost instantly followed by a jet, which did not rise above ten

To compare great things with small, the shape of this basin resembles that of a saucer with a circular hole in its middle.

t I have followed Sir John Stanley in using the word jet for the sudden shooting of the water into the air, which continues but a few seconds, because I do not know that we have any term inore applicable in our language. The French employ the word élancement in the same sense, which seems to convey a better idea of the thing, but camot well be made into English.

not separated by an interval of more than half a mile from higher mountains. The north side is perpendicular, barren, and craggy; the opposite one rises with a tolerably gradual ascent, and from this near its base, we saw a number of columns of steam mounting to various heights. We quickened our pace, and at eight o'clock arrived at the foot of the hill. Here I left my horses, &c. to the care of the guides, and hastened among the boiling springs, happy in the prospect of soon beholding what may justly be considered as one of the most extraordinary operations of nature. The lower part of the hill was formed into a number of mounds, composed of what appeared to be clay or coarse bolus, of various sizes: some of them were yellowish white, but the greater number of the colour of dull red brick. Interspersed with them here and there, lay pieces of rock, which had rolled, or been washed down by the rains, from the higher parts of the mountain. On these mounds, at irregular distances, and on all sides of me, were the apertures of boiling springs, from some of which were issuing spouts of water, from one to four feet in height; while in others, the water rose no higher than the top of the basin, or gently flowed over the margin. The orifices were of various dimensions, and either covered on their sides and edge with a brownish siliceous crust, or the water only boiled through a hole in the mound, and became turbid by admixture with the soil, which coloured it either with red, dirty yellow, or gray. Upon the heated ground, in many places, were some extremely beautiful, though small, specimens of sulphuric efflorescence, the friability of which was such, that, in spite of the utmost care, I was not capable of pres serving any in a good state. I did not remain long in this spon but directed my steps to the loftiest column of steam, whic naturally concluded arose from the fountain that is alone, by of distinction called the Geyser. It lies at the opposite ext ty of this collection of springs, and I should think full quarter of a mile distant from the outermost ones which arrived at. Among numerous small ones, I passed three apertures of a considerable size, but all so much inferio one I was now approaching, that they scarcely need an notice. It was impossible, after having read the adm scriptions of the Geyser, given by the Archbishop and Sir John Stanley, and especially after having seen

I need scarcely refer my readers for a more full account it is in my power to give, to the letters of Von Troil, who seph Banks in his voyage to Staffa and Iceland: the w every one. The two excellent letters of Sir John Stan Rykum, and on those near Haukardal, are to h

the Transactions of the Society of Edinbur be met with a full account of the am

the late Dr. Black, of Edinbu

de, diagonally, to a prodigious distance.* Ency of the body of water, and the brillihe sun shone through them, considerably the spectacle. As soon as the fourth jet

was much less than the former, and I of two minutes from the first, the water sin, with a rushing noise, and nothing was amn of steam, which had been continually mmencement of the eruption, and was now larly to an amazing height, as there was xpanding in bulk as it rose, but decreasing in er part of the column gradually lost itself in nosphere. I could now walk in the basin to pe, down which the water had sunk about boiled, and every now and then furiously, noise, rose a few feet higher in the pipe, then remained for a short time quiet. This conBe for some hours. I measured the pipe, and

tanic Garden, vol. i. page 123, has a few lines upon the ...her more poetical than correct:

in the frozen north where Hecla glows,
elts in torrents his coeval snows;
des and oceans sheds a sanguine light,
shoots red stars amid the ebon night;

n, at his base entombed, with bellowing sound
Geyser roar'd and struggling, shook the ground;
→'d from red nostrils, with her scalding breath,
Boiling deluge o'er the blasted heath;

dwide in air its misty volumes hurl'd

tagious atoms o'er the alarmed world:

mphs, your bold myriads broke the infernal spell, nd crush'd the sorceress in her flinty cell."

last lines the Doctor alludes, as he tells us in a note, to the lcano which happened subsequently to the time of Sir Joseph here, and which extended as far as the Geysers, and overflowed lava. Whence he could have obtained this piece of information, to guess certainly it was not from any book of good authority, cumstance has happened. This reminds me of a similar error Geography, where it is said that Hecla is constantly spouting ot water, and with regard to the religion of the Icelanders, that are Lutherans, but that there are some Pagans. The Tatsroed, a very mild temper, which I never saw ruffled even in trying ciras still unable to restrain himself when he pointed out these inac, and denied the veracity of them, with considerable warmth: ges from English authors who had written previously to the am, and who had stated the facts as they really were. He begreturn, to make Dr. Adam acquainted with the incorrectness of on Iceland, that they might be altered in a future edition of his time is past; for the worthy Doctor is dead;-"Requiescat in