ciers in the eastern part, and in the distance saw the high and square mountain of Hærdabreid, an ancient volcano, which appeared like a large castle. Sir G. S. Mackenzie, in his recent travels in Iceland, ascended Mount Hecla; and from his account we extract the following interesting particulars. In proceeding to the southern extremity of the mountain, he descended, by a dangerous path, into a valley, having a small lake in one corner, and the opposite extremity bounded by a perpendicular face of rock, resembling, in its broken and rugged appearance, a stream of lava. While advancing, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds, and the brilliant reflection of his beams, from different parts of this supposed lava, as if from a surface of glass, delighted our traveller by the instantaneous conviction that he had now attained one of the principal objects connected with the plan of his expedition to Iceland. He hastened to the spot, and all his wishes were fully accomplished in the examination of an object which greatly exceeded the expectations he had formed. On ascending one of the abrupt pinnacles, which rose out of this extraordinary mass of rock, he beheld a region, the desolation of which can scarcely be paralleled. Fantastic groups of hills, craters, and lava, leading the eye to distant snow-crowned jockuls, (inferior mountains,) the mist rising from a water-fall; lakes, embosomed among bare bleak mountains; an awful profound silence; lowering clouds; marks all around of the furious action of the most destructive of elements; all combined to impress the soul with sensations of dread and wonder. The longer himself and his companions contemplated this scene, the more unable they were to turn their eyes from it; and a considerable time elapsed before they could bring themselves to attend to the business which had tempted them to enter so frightful a district of the country. Having proceeded a considerable distance along the edge of a stream of lava, a narrow part of which they crossed, they gained the foot of the south-end of Mount Hecla. While, in ascending, they had to pass over rugged lava, they experienced no great difficulty in advancing; but when they reached the steepest part of the mountain, which was covered with loose slags, they sometimes lost at one step by the yielding of these, a space which had been gained by several. Having passed a number of fissures, by leaping across some, and stepping along masses of slags which lay over others, they at length reached the summit of the first peak. The clouds now became so thick, that they began to despair of being able to proceed any further: it was, indeed, dangerous even to move; for the peak consists of a very narrow ridge of slags, not more than two feet broad, having a precipice on each side, several hundred feet in depth. One of these precipices forms the side of a vast hollow, which seems to have been one of the craters. At length the sky cleared a little, and enabled them to discover a ridge below, which seemed to connect the peak they had ascended with the middle or principal one.They lost no time in availing themselves of this opportunity, and, by balancing themselves like rope-dancers, succeeded in passing along a ridge of slags, so narrow that there was scarcely room for their feet. After a short, but very steep, ascent, they gained the highest part of this celebrated mountain. Its earliest eruption is said to have happened in 1004, since which time upwards of twenty have occurred. That of 1693 was the most dreadful, and occasioned terrible devastations, the ashes having been thrown over the island in every direction, to the distance of more than one hundred miles. In 1728, a fire broke out among the surrounding lava; and also in that to the west of the volcano, in 1754, which lasted for three days. There has not been any eruption of lava since 1766; but for some years after flames issued from the volcano. THE GEYSERS. [See Plate No. 15.] Nor stops the restless fluid, mounting still, The crystal treasures of the liquid world, THOMPSON. These celebrated fountains, or hot spouting water springs, being nearly connected with the operations of subterraneous fire, so visible in every part of Iceland, may be properly introduced after the description of Mount Hecla, given above. They are seldom very near the volcanoes, but are dispersed over the whole country, and are even to be found on the summits of several of the ice mountains. The largest and most remarkable of these is situated in a large field, about sixteen miles to the north of Skalholt. At a great distance from it, on one side, are high mountains covered with ice, and on the other Hecla is seen rising above the clouds, while opposite to it is a ridge of rocks, at the foot of which water from time to time rushes forth. At the distance of a mile and a half a loud roaring noise is heard like that of a torrent precipitated from stupenduous rocks, each ejection being accompanied by violent subterraneous detonations. The depth of the opening from which the water rushes has not been ascertained, but some seconds elapse before a stone thrown in reaches the surface. The Danish traveller Olafsen, asserts, that the water rises as high as sixty fathoms; while Van Troil estimates the highest jet at not more than sixty feet: the latter allows, however, that the jets may be more elevated, particularly in bad weather. The greatness of the explosive power is evinced by its not only preventing stones thrown in from sinking, but even forcing them up to a very great height, together with the water, and splitting the pebbles into a thousand pieces. The heat was found by Van Troil to be two hundred and twelve degrees of Fahrenheit, the boiling point. The edges of the pipe or basin are covered by a coarse stalactitic rind, and the water has been found to have a petrifying quality. The opening is perfectly circular, in diameter nineteen feet, and forms above, on the surface of the ground, a basin fifty-nine feet in diameter, the edge of which is nine feet above the orifice or hole. In speaking of the Geysers, or hot spouting springs, Horrebow observes, that if you fill a bottle at one of them, the water it contains will boil three or four times, at the same time with the water in the well. The inhabitants boil their meat in it, by putting the meat in a vessel of cold water which they place in the hot spring. Sir G. S. Mackenzie, whose recent travels in Iceland we have already cited, visited the Geysers at a season favourable to his observations, the latter end of July. He found the cultivation of the surrounding territory much higher than might have been inferred from the idea generally entertained of the barren and unproductive state of Iceland. All the flat ground in that quarter of the island was swampy, but not so much so as to impede the progress of the party, who, having passed several hot springs to the eastward of Skalholt, and others rising among the low hills they had left to the right, in proceeding to the great Geyser, came to a farm house, situated on a rising ground in the midst of the bogs. Here the people were busily. employed in making hay, a scene which afforded a pleasing change from the dreary solitude they had quitted; the whole of this extensive district, which abounds in grass, would, if drained, our traveller observes, prove a very rich pasture country. Farther on they came to several cottages at the foot of the mountain, round which they turned, and came in sight of the hill, having the Geysers at one of its sides. This hill, in height not more than three hundred feet, is separated from the mountain, towards the west, by a narrow slip of flat boggy ground, connected with that which extends over the whole valley. Having crossed this bog, and a small river which ran through it, the party came to a farm house at the east end of the hill, and arrived at a spot where the most wonderful and awful effects of subterraneous heat are exhibited. On the east-side of the hill there are several banks of clay, from some of which steam rises in different places; and in others there are cavities, in which water boils briskly. In a few of these cavities, the water being mixed with clay, is thick and varies in colour; but is chiefly red and grey. Below these banks there is a gentle and uniform slope, composed of matter which, at some distant period, has been deposited by springs which no longer exist. The strata or beds thus formed, seemed to have been broken |