hot springs, and the jets d'eau which darted into the air on every side, and they resolved not to quit this curious island, without taking an accurate survey of the most prominent of these natural boiling springs.

Of the antiquity of these springs little can be said, except that Saxo Grammaticus in the Preface to the History of Denmark, which was written in the twelfth century, mentions the great height to which they ejected water. The operations of subterraneous heat, seem indeed to be of great antiquity in Iceland; and the whole country probably owes its existence to the fires which burn beneath its surface. Every hill proves, at least, with what violence these fires have acted for ages; and the terrible eruptions of lava which burst from the mountain of Skoptefield in 1783, show that they are as yet far from being extinguished.

The springs of Rykum they first visited, among which the most remarkable is that distinguished by the people of the neighbourhood by the name of the Little Geyzer. The water of it boils with a loud and rumbling noise, in a well of an irregular form, of about six feet in its greatest diameter; from thence it bursts forth in the air and subsides

again, nearly every minute. The jets are dashed into spray as they rise, and are from twenty to thirty feet high. Volumes of steam or vapour ascend with them, and produce a most magnificent effect, particularly as the dark hills, which almost hang over the fountain, form a back ground to the picture. The jets are forced in rising to take an oblique direction, by two or three large stones, which lie on the edge of the bason. Between these and the hill, the ground, (to a distance of eight or nine feet) is remarkably hot, and entirely bare of vegetation. If the earth is stirred a steam instantly rises, and in some places it was covered with a thin coat of sulphur, or rather, loose stones only were covered with flakes of it. In one place there was a slight efflorescence on the surface of the soil, which by the taste seemed to be allum.

The spray fell towards the valley, and in that direction covered the ground with a thick incrustation of matter which it deposited. Close to this, and in one spot very near the well itself, the grass grows with great luxuriance.

The village of Rykum or Ryka, called either indiscriminately, from Ryk, an Icelandic word, signifying smoke, is situated in the middle of the valley, and, by an observation

made by Dr. Walker, is in latitude 54° 4′ 38′′ N. About twenty miles from Rykiavick, and eight or ten from Oreback, a small harbour on the southern coast of the island. The village consists of the farmer's house, and the houses of his servants or dependents, and a small church. All the adjacent lands belong to him, and he keeps a considerable number of sheep and cattle, and some few horses. These constitute his riches; and he purchases at Rykiavick, with skins, wool, and butter, whatever he requires, of which the chief article is fish for his winter's provision.

"The springs at Hankadal are more magnificent than this Edward," said Dr. Walker, "and we will not quit Iceland without seeing them."

The springs known by the name of Geyzers, are situated about six and thirty miles from Mount Heckla, and about twelve miles, in a north-east direction, from the village of Skalholt. The road from thence to the springs is over a flat country, which although marshy in several places, is not unpleasant to the eye, and abounds in excellent pasturage.

The steam ascending from the principal springs during their eruptions, may be seen from a considerable distance. When the air is still it rises perpendicularly, like a column, to a great height; then spreads itself into clouds, which roll in successive masses over each other, until they are lost in the atmosphere. Our travellers perceived one of these columns when distant sixteen miles at least, in a direct line from Hankadal,

The springs mostly rise in a plain, between a river that winds through it, and the base of a range of low hills, and some very near their summits. They are all contained, to the number of 100 or more, within a circle of two miles.

The most wonderful and beautiful spring rises nearly in the midst of the other springs, close to the hills. It is called Geyzer, the name probably in the old Scandinavian language, for a fountain, from the verb geysa, signifying to gush, or to rush forth.

The next most remarkable spring rises at a distance of 140 yards from it, on the same line, at the foot of the hills. It is called the New Geyzer, on account of its having but lately played so violently as at present.

There are others of consequence in the place, but none that approach to these in magnificence, or that when com

pared with them, deserve much description. The genera. lity of the springs are in every respect similar to those near Rykum; boiling in cauldrons of three or four feet diameter, and some of them throwing their water, from time to time, by sudden jets into the air. Many springs in this place, as in the other, boil through strata of coloured clay, by which they were rendered turbid. Here, however, the red clays were brighter, and in a greater proportion to the clays of other colours. Here also, as in the valley of Rykum, are many small springs, which throw out a sulphureous vapour, and near which the ground, and the channel of the water are covered and lined with a thin coat of sulphur.

The farm of Hankadal, and the church of the parish, stand near one another, about three quarters of a mile beyond the great spring. The house is one of the best built in Iceland. It occupies a large space of ground, and consists of several divisions, to each of which there is an entrance from without. Some of these are used as barns and stables for the cattle, and others as workshops. The dwelling part of this house was small, but comfortable. There was a parlour with glass windows, a kitchen, and separate bed-chambers for the family. The building was partly of stone, partly of wood, and covered with sods, under which the bark of birch trees on boards are generally placed, as a greater security against rain.

Dr. Walker and his pupil were obliged to the mistress of this farm, who was a rich widow, for a very hospitable reception, although at first she seemed to consider them rather unwelcome guests, and left them, though they had requested admittance into her house, as they were drenched with rain, and their tents and baggage were not yet arrived, to take up their lodging in the church. They had not been long there, however, before she invited them to her house, and by her kindness made ample amends for her former inattention. She put them in possession of her best room, and set before them plenty of good cream, some wheat cakes, sugar, and a kind of tea made of the dryas octopetela, called in English the mountain avens.

The view from near the Church was very beautiful. It extended towards the south, along the plain into an open country. On the other sides, it was bounded by hills, which had not the barren and rugged appearance that deform almost every scene in this division of the island. It

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however, still finer from some of the eminences near the springs. The plain and surrounding mountains, seen from a height, appeared to more advantage; and the eruptions from the great wells breaking from time to time the general stillness that prevailed, were much more distinct.

The course of the river, winding under the eye could be traced with great accuracy. It flows through the plain into an open country, where, being increased by the waters of numerous streams and rivulets, it bends to the westward, and near Skalholt falls into a considerable river, called the Huit-au.

The pleasant and fertile pastures near its banks, were enlivened by many herds of cattle and sheep, the united riches of three or four farmers in the neighbourhood of Hankadal. The mowers also at work in the different fields surrounding each house, gave, at this season, additional beauty to the prospect. High hills to the westward were separated from the eminences immediately above the springs by a narrow valley. They were partly clothed with bushes of birch, which, although in no place above five feet high, were gratifying to the sight, which so seldom in Iceland can rest on any appearance even of underwood. Above these, some vegetation still continued to cover the sides of the hills, and our travellers found a variety of plants near their summits, which were certainly, in some places, not less than 1,600 feet above the plain.

To the eastward, the plain, several miles in breadth, is bounded by a long range of blue mountains, extending considerably to the south. Beyond these, the triple summit of Hekla may be seen from the western hills, but it could not be distinguished from the plain, or even from the heights, in the country just described.

The

But to return to the account of the springs which break out in different places from the sides of a hill, and the space enclosed between its base and the windings of a river. soil through which they rise is a mixture of crumbled materials, washed by degrees from the higher parts of the hill. In some places these have been reduced into a clay, or earth; in others they still remain in loose and broken fragments of the rock from whence they have fallen, or as dust produced by their friction against each other. Above the great spring, the hill terminates in a double pointed rock, which our travellers found, by measurement, to be 310 feet

higher than the course of the river; the rock is split very strangely into lamina, and at first sight has much of the appearance of a schistus, or thick slate. It consists, however, of a grey coloured stone, of a very close grain, the separate pieces of which although divided as they lay, do not break in the hands in any particular direction. It is supposed that the substance of the rock is chiefly argillaceous, and that like every other stone in the island, it has suffered some change by the action of fire. It is not precisely lava, as it bears no mark of having been once in a melted state, whatever baking or induration it may have sustained in the neighbourhood of subterranean heat. It contains no heterogeneous matter or cavities, in which agates, or zeolites, or vitrified substance could have been, formed.

The attention of our travellers during the four days they remained in this place, was so much engaged with the beauties and remarkable circumstances of the two principal springs, that they had no time for inspecting those of inferior note.

The springs in general resemble those at Rykum, but there are five or six which have their peculiarities, and throw up their waters with violence, to a considerable height. Their basons are of irregular forms, four, five, or six feet in diameter, and from some of them the water gushes out in all directions, from others obliquely. The eruptions are never of long duration, and the intervals are from fifteen to thirty minutes.

The periods of both are exceedingly variable. One of the most remarkable of these springs throws out a great quantity of water, and from its continual noise, it is called the Roaring Geyzer. The eruptions of this fountain are incessant. The water darts out with fury every four or five minutes, and covers a great space of ground with the matter it deposites. The jets are from thirty to forty feet in height. They are shivered into the finest particles of spray, and surrounded by great clouds of steam. The situation of this spring was eighty yards distant from the Geyzer, on the rise of the hill. By a gradual deposition of the substances dissolved in its water for a long succession of years, perhaps of ages, a mound of considerable height has been formed, from the centre of which the Geyzer issues. It rises through a perpendicular and cylindrical pipe or shaft, seventy feet in depth, and eight feet and a half in diameter, which opens