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CHAP. VI.

Yökulsá-i-Lon-West Foreland-Magnificent Prospect→ Beautiful Basaltic Pillars-Ice Mountains of Myrar and Heinaberg-Basalts-Fellshverfi-Description of Breidamark Yökul, or Moving Ice-Field-Hypothesis respecting its formation, and change of position-Dangerous Yökul River—Öræfa Yökul and Volcano-Volcanic Eruption of 1727 described-Skaftafell-Topographical View -Moving Ice Mountain of Skeiderâ—Passage of the Skeidera-Promontory of Lomagnupr-Fliotshverfi.

As the rain continued unabatingly till about ten o'clock in the forenoon of the 5th, the Yökulsá had increased to such a degree, that Sira Berg did not think it advisable for me to attempt fording it. In the afternoon, however, as we apprehended more rain the following night, and the water had somewhat subsided, I struck my tent, and proceeded on my journey, accompanied by two men from the parsonage, who undertook to conduct me across. As I approached the river, it wore a very formidable appearance, covering almost the whole of the plain between Stafafell and the mountains in the vicinity of Vestr-Horn. Not being fordable at the usual place, we had to enter it higher up, where the branches were about thirty in number, some of which took our horses near the middle, and two of them were upwards of a hundred yards in breadth. The Laxá, which we had also to ford a little above its confluence with the Yökulsâ, was still deeper; but we passed it without much difficulty, its water being clear, whereas that of the Yökulsâ is white and muddy.

Having reached the base of the mountains, which are covered with debris more than half way up, I skirted it some time, till, crossing the valley, which leads up to a mountain-pass

called Almannaskard, I came to Fiördr, a farm close behind Vestr Horn, where I had my tent pitched at a short distance from the house. The Horn, or West Foreland, consists of three mountains; the lowest and most easterly of which, appears to have been split into three parts, and presents a very singular appearance, the divisions being all pointed at the summit, and the two on the sides inclining towards the higher one which stands between them.

Early on the morning of the 6th I proceeded up Almannaskard, on reaching the extremity of which, a prospect burst upon my view, the most novel, magnificent, and unbounded that I ever beheld. At my feet lay a stupendous precipice, whose base is washed by the sea, and which is certainly not less than nine hundred feet of nearly perpen. dicular height. The ocean, bounded only by the distant horizon, expanded towards the left. The Hornafliot appeared on the right; the eastern margin of which is beautifully ornamented with the farms constituting the parish of Biarnaness; beyond which, as far as the eye could sweep, nothing was seen but one vast chain of Yökuls, or ice-mountains, stretching back into the deserts in the interior, and terminating towards the west in the majestic Öræfa-Yökul, the highest mountain on the island. The sparkling rays of the meridian sun, reflected from the marble snow with which the upper regions of the Yökuls are covered, the vivid green crust which forms their base, and the blue waves of the ocean, had a most exhilarating effect; and the whole of the scenery was calculated to produce in the mind the noblest and most sublime emotions. How vast and glorious are the works of God! How they reflect the splendour, majesty, and unlimited perfection of their Maker! But if such be the grandeur and beauty of creation; if the eye be dazzled with its lustre, and the most capacious mind be unable to grasp its immensity; how infinitely more excellent and glorious must He be, to whose all-creative word they owe their existence; who dwells in light inaccessible; and before whom "the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance !"

Having stopped some time in order to contemplate the sublimity of this spectacle, I approached the east side of the pass, and proceeded down a very precipitous descent, the bottom of which I reached with extreme difficulty, as every step I took set the fragments of the rock in motion, and it required the utmost agility to avoid being rolled along with them into the hollow. The traveller is also here exposed to immense disruptions from the face of a rugged mountain, which overhangs the descent at the height of at least eleven hundred feet. Several of these had fallen apparently only a few days before I passed, and, not having been cleared away from the road, considerably impeded my progress. The mountains in this quarter wear a whitish appearance, and consist for the most part of thin slate stone, and a porous kind of basalt, the beds of which are distinguishable, in various places, by the regularity of their perpendicular columns. As the Hornafliot, a Yökul river nearly two miles in breadth, appeared to be much swelled by the late rains, I rode up to a rich farm called Arnaness, the proprietor of which is an intelligent and judicious man, in order to request his guidance, when I met with a friendly reception, and, ere leaving the place, I was obliged to borda, i. e. dine with him, which I did on a most delicious dish of salmon trout that had just been taken in the river. Being unfordable at the usual place, the farmer sent his son about four miles farther up with me to his brother, who is Hrepstiori, from whom I got a man to conduct me across. Proceeding within a little of the Hofsfell and Svinafell Yökuls, and fording the rivers which they pour forth previous to their junction in the Fliot, I got over with the utmost ease.

From the west side of the water, to a farm named Raú daberg, where I pitched my tent, a distance of about three miles, the road lay through immense masses of variously situated columnar rocks, some of which appeared to have been thrown down from the adjoining mountains, and others were standing in their original beds. At one place especially, I almost fancied myself amid the ruins of some of the noblest structures of ancient Grecian architecture. The pillars were

piled one above another with the most perfect exactness, and arranged so as to form an entire semicircle. They stand quite perpendicular; some of the divisions may be about four feet in length, but in general they appeared to be from two to three feet. The most of them were six-sided; a considerable number had five, and some seven sides. Finding that such fragments as had been thrown down were mostly all concave at the one end, and convex at the other, I was anxious to ascertain their original position, and climbed up amongst the broken pillars, when I discovered that they were all concave at the upper end; and the excavation appeared to be more or less hollowed according to the convexity of the lower end of the joint that had stood upon it.

As I stood and admired the regularity and perfection of this natural colonnade, and the exactness with which the angles of the pillars were formed, my servant alighted from his horse, and, coming up to me, declared that the place was visibly the work of art, but that it was too stupendous to be the effect of human art. Such vast natural structures the natives call Tröllahlad, or "Giant's Wall;" the cavities found in ranges of smaller basalt are termed Dverga-Kamrar, or “ Chambers of the Dwarfs ;" and when they would describe any workmanship as particularly artificial, they give it the name of Dverga-smidi: all which proves, that, like the unenlightened of other countries, they have been accustomed to view such uncommon appearances as the production of certain intelligences superior to man. What cause have we to bless God for the light of science! While it annihilates the imaginary beings of superstitious invention, introduces us into the more secret recesses of the great cabinet of nature, and presents us with ever fresh discoveries of the wisdom, the power, and the greatness of her divine Creator. "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein," Psalm civ. 24. cxi. 2.

On approaching the farm, I found it surrounded by a natural fortification of basaltine pillars, which I had to skirt

for some time, till reaching a lower part of the circular range, which serves for a gate, I ultimately succeeded in gaining admittance. The people shewed a kind and obliging disposition, and seemed wonderfully pleased with a copy of the New Testament which I gave them, there not being any in the vicinity.

As the weather continued fine the following day, I advanced as far as Reinavellir, which lies at the eastern termination of Breidamark-Yökul, and about thirty-six miles from my former station. The first part of the road lay across alternate tracts of bogs and sand, at the distance of a quarter of a mile from the margin of the Myrar and Heinaberg Yökuls, which are only branches of the immense Klofa Yökul, a central chain of snow and ice mountains in the interior, connecting the numerous Yökuls that project towards the eastern coast of Iceland, and occupying a space of not less than three thousand square miles. In regard to form, they are considerably high and narrow behind where they leave the main mass, but run forward, sloping and spreading as they advance, till they reach the plain, which they line to the distance of ten or twelve miles, presenting a margin of from twenty to fifty feet high. Their curvated appearance, and their inclination round the barren peaks which they em bosom, suggest the idea of a vast fluid body having moved forward into the plain, and congealed in the attitude they now present. In the upper regions, they appear to consist of the purest virgin snow; about the middle, they become blackish, owing, I suppose, to the admixture of sand and dust from the adjacent mountains; and a considerable way around the edge they assume a beautiful green tint, which, reflecting the beams of the sun, produces the most brilliant effect.

Besides several inferior streams, these Yökuls pour into the ocean three large rivers called Holmsâ, Heinabergs-vötn and Kolgrimarâ, none of which, however, we found any great difficulty in passing except the first, which we had to attempt at different places ere we could get over. It is pretty deep, and is so completely filled with quicksands, that the

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