completely unhurt in the midst of the surrounding flames. Some parts of the stream, close to the wall, are more than double the height of the church. Who knows but the ef fectual fervent prayer of some pious individual, or some designs of mercy, may have been the cause fixed in the eternal purpose of Jehovah for the preservation of this edifice?

From this place a prospect presents itself, which, perhaps, of all the views in the world, bears the most striking resemblance to that in the vicinity of the Dead Sea. The Myvatn, or Gnat Lake, so called, from its being frequented by immense swarms of that troublesome insect, lies directly before you; and the whole of the intervening tract, which may be about a mile in breadth, is one vast field of black, rugged, and cavernous lava, now projecting a considerable way into the lake, and now giving place to the water: thus forming innumerable creeks and promontories along the greater part of the northern margin. To the north-west rise a number of barren hills that open into the sandy deserts; leaving which, the eye wanders over an extensive tract of moor, intersected, at different distances, by red conical mountains; till, reaching the south side of the lake, it falls in with several huge dark mountains, of various singular forms, that are again relieved in the east by the Nâmar, or

"It is

• Strabo, in his Geograph. lib. xvi. speaking of the Dead Sea, says, full of asphaltus, which, at irregular periods, boils up out of the deep, like the ebullitions of hot water, and, assuming a curvated appearance, looks like little hills, emitting a quantity of hot embers, from which an illusive vapour proceeds," &c." For there is also a fountain of fire in the middle, producing abundance of bitumen, the irregularity of whose ejections is to be ascribed to the motion of fire, which, like many other substances, observes an order invisible to us. That there exists fire in this region, is evinced by many other signs; by the rugged calcined rocks around Moasada, hollow caverns in many places, slags, pitch distilling from the rocks and hot rivers, the unpleasant smell of which is perceptible at a distance."-In like manner Philo de vita Moses, lib. ii. :"The memory of that inexpressible disaster (the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah) is still shewn in Syria: ruins, ashes, brimstone, smoke, and thin flames, still breaking forth, intermingled as it were with fire." The barrenness of the surrounding soil became proverbial; and, according to the unanimous testimony of oriental travellers, it wears, to this day, the most sterile and melancholy appearance. See Newberry, Cartwright, and especially Mariti, Arvieux, and Volney.

sulphur mountains, from the decomposition going forward in which, a vast profusion of smoke is constantly ascending to a great height in the atmosphere. The most profound and death-like silence pervades the whole of this desolated region. The dismal gloom reflected by the darkness of the opposite mountains on the lake is greatly augmented by the small black islands of lava with which it is studded; and the pillars of vapour proceeding in different places from the surface of the water, though affording a slight contrast, only tend to finish the melancholy scene, by leading the mind to the destructive element, still raging at no great depth in the earth, which has been the tremendous cause of the surrounding wildness and ruin. The lake, which is reckoned to be about forty miles in circumference, has been so filled up with the torrents of lava which have been emptied into it, that, at its extreme depth, it does not exceed four fathoms and an half, and, in most places, is only between two and three fathoms deep. In the lava with which the bottom is covered, are numerous rents and cavities; and, what is remarkable, there are hot fountains in the middle of the lake, boiling to such a degree, that the steam rising from them is seen at a considerable distance. The immediate vicinity of these fountains proves an excellent nursery for the forelles, which are found here in great abundance, and much fatter than common. The islands, which have been formed by the heavings and explosion of the sub-aquatic lava, are upwards of thirty in number. Some of them yield a little hay and pasture; and most of them abound in angelica, a plant of which the natives are very fond, and which they collect for winter provision. It has a pleasant taste when fresh, but is said to be still better after it has been kept some time.

As the atmosphere was temperate, I luckily escaped being attacked by the gnats, but observed thousands of them in the window at Reykiahlid. They are greyish in colour, have long shining wings, and are much larger than any I had seen before. Not only the peasants, who are continually pestered by them in warm weather, but travellers, who merely pass the lake, declare them to be insupportable.

Their bite is extremely painful; and it is impossible, even after using every means of defence, to keep them from penetrating to the skin. The poor horses, especially black ones, are most tormented by them; and instances have been known, of those belonging to travellers having suffered to such a degree, that, in order to obtain relief, they have rushed with fury into the lake and perished. *

Having pitched my tent close to the margin of the lava, I retired to read a little; but had not proceeded far in that exercise, when my servant announced the arrival of a large travelling cavalcade from the east country; which, on coming out, I found belonged to Kammer-assessor Thorlacius, who had been several years Sysselman of South Mulè district, but had lately received the Sysselmanship of Arness district, and was now removing his family to the south. It is impossible for a foreigner, who has never been in Iceland, to form any idea of the trouble and danger connected with such a removal. The conveyance of the more important parts of household furniture is entirely out of the question: for they cannot be got overland, and there are no coasting vessels; and it is with the utmost difficulty that the most portable articles can be removed. The fording of the rivers, the climbing of the mountains, the scrambling over the lava, the passage of the morasses, bad weather, and numberless other circumstances, present very serious inconveniences even to the most robust and accustomed traveller, and might be deemed absolutely insurmountable barriers in the way of females and young children; yet Mrs Thorlacius, with her three children, had undertaken a journey of not less than five hundred British miles, and seemed to support it with a courage that quite astonished me. They had each a horse, except the youngest, a girl of about two years, who rode before an assistant. This poor little infant, had the misfortune to be dropped the same morning by her keeper, but did not appear to have received any material injury, only she complained of a pain in her stomach; till, arriving at

Mohr's Naturhistorie, p. 100.

L

this place, and being undressed, it was found that the dear babe had broken her thigh-bone. The anguish and perplexity of the parents on this discovery may be easily conceived. At a strange place, with more than the half of their journey before them, and at least sixty miles distant from any surgical aid, their case was truly pitiable. We endea voured, as well as we could, to set the bone, and bound some pieces of tough sheep-skin parallel with it, to prevent its sliding, all which the child bore with uncommon patience; and, getting it rebound the following morning, they proceeded to Akureyri, whence they intended sending for proper assistance.

I had become acquainted with Mr Thorlacius in Copenhagen, and knew he would enter cordially into the Bible cause; and I received, on this occasion, the strongest assurances of his assistance and support.

At the distance of twenty-five miles east from Reykiahlid, is the large Yökul river, which, taking its rise in the northern regions of the Klofa Yökul, and being augmented by an immense number of tributary streams, pours a vast body of water into the Axarfiord, a bay on the northern coast, about thirty miles distant from Husavik. It frequently overflows its banks, and has repeatedly done great damage to the houses and grounds in the neighbourhood of the sea. As this is the nearest farm on the west side of the river, it is necessary to make an agreement with the peasant for a man and horse to conduct you to the ferry, and row you over, for which he charges three rix-dollars, or about five-and-sixpence Sterling. Not being accustomed to such heavy charges in Iceland, I considered it rather exorbitant, but found ultimately no reason to complain, having got sufficient service for the money.

The morning of the 19th being clear and serene, I resolved to proceed into the desert; and, sending my servant on before me with the baggage, I got the guide to strike off a little to the right, in order to conduct me through the mines. Encountering a cavernous tract of ancient and recent lavas, intermixed and tossed about in the wildest manner, my curiosity was excited by a singular looking hill, about

half a mile before me, from the top and sides of which a considerable quantity of smoke was making its escape, and which wore every appearance of a volcano in miniature. On coming up to it, I found it to consist of lava and volcanic sand. In the middle was a circular crater, of about twenty feet in diameter; which, being open on the south side, I entered, and surveyed various rents in the scorified wall, which emitted so much heat and smoke, that I could scarcely approach within a yard of them. The bottom was filled with sand and rough slags, and the whole bore the most evident marks of its having been a furnace in which the fire has raged, and from which it has played on the surrounding regions. From this place I rode, in a north-east direction, encompassed on every hand by smoking rents and chasms in the lava, till I came to the Vapour-bath, a low rude building of lava, raised over an excavation, in which is a crevice that sends forth a current of steam, and heats the place to such a degree, that, on closing the door, a person is instantly thrown into the strongest perspiration. Close to the crevice, Fahrenheit's thermometer rose, in the course of two minutes, to the 144th degree. The bath is frequented by people from a distance, and is celebrated for its efficacy in curing various diseases. It is, however, very inconvenient to bathe here, owing to the quantity of small sooty volcanic sand, which is not only thrown around the bath, but has even penetrated into the inside, through the pieces of lava of which it is constructed.

The sulphureous exhalations now becoming so strong, and the deceitfulness of the surface so great, we were obliged to alight from our horses, and lead them over such parts of the soil as appeared most indurated, though, after we had used every precaution in selecting the road, it frequently happened that one of the horses' feet broke through the crust, and left a hole, which continued to send forth smoke in great abundance, so that every moment we were in danger of sinking into

"a fiery deluge, fed

With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed!"