difficulty. The chief obstacle to working these mines is their distance from a port, whence the produce could be shipped. But there are so many horses in the country, whose original price is trifling, and whose maintenance during summer costs nothing, that the conveyance of sulphur to Reykiavik presents no difficulties which might not probably be surmounted.

"Below the ridge on the farther side of this great bed of sulphur, we saw a great deal of vapour escaping with much noise. We crossed to the side of the mountain opposite, and found the surface sufficiently firm to admit of walking cautiously upon it. We had now to walk towards the principal spring, as it is called. This was a task of much apparent danger, as the side of the mountain, for the extent of about half a mile, is covered with loose clay, into which our feet sunk at every step. In many places, there was a thin crust, below which the clay was wet, and extremely hot. Good fortune attended us; and we reached, without any serious inconvenience, the object we had in view. A dense column of steam, mixed with a little water, was forcing its way impetuously through a crevice in the rock, at the head of a narrow valley, or break in the mountain. The violence with which it rushes out is so great, that the noises thus occasioned may often be heard at the distance of several miles; and, during the night, while lying in our tent at Krisuvik, we more than once listened to them with mingled awe and astonishment. Behind the column of vapour was a dark coloured rock, which gave it its full effect.

"It is quite beyond my power to offer such a description of this extraordinary place, as to convey adequate ideas of its wonders, or its terrors. The sensations of a person, even of firm nerves, standing on a support which feebly sustains him, over an abyss where, literally, fire and brimstone are in dreadful and incessant action; having before his eyes tremendous proofs of what is going on beneath him; enveloped in thick vapours; his ears stunned with thundering noises: -these can hardly be expressed in words, and can only be well conceived by those who have experienced them."

Crossing the Henglafell mountains, which took me nearly four hours, owing to the inequalities of the lavas, which they have poured down in every direction, I made my horse quicken his pace, and reached Reykiavik about five o'clock in the afternoon.

Had I arrived a few days sooner, I might have proceeded to Liverpool, in a vessel which sailed for that port the following morning; but it was still necessary for me to make some final arrangements respecting the affairs of the Bible Society, which prevented me from availing myself of that opportunity. I was under the necessity, however, of using all possible expedition, as the Danish vessels were also on the eve of sailing.

Having taken leave of the Bishop, and the rest of the public authorities in Reykiavik, from all of whom I had experienced the kindest and most unwearied attentions during my stay in Iceland, I embarked on the 20th of August, on board a Danish vessel, bound for Copenhagen. As we stood out from Reykiavik, and the land on both sides of the Faxe Fiord began to recede from my view, I was conscious of strong feelings of regret, which not even the anticipations necessarily connected with my return to the continent of Europe were able fully to repress. I was leaving an island, distinguished by its natural phenomena from every other spot on the surface of the globe, where I had been furnished with frequent opportunities of contemplating and admiring some of the more sublime displays of the wisdom and power of God in the operations of nature. But what principally attached me to Iceland, was the exhibition of moral worth, and the strong features of superior intellectual abilities, which had so often attracted my notice during the period of my intercourse with its inhabitants. My thoughts were also directed to the effects which were likely to result from my visit. I had circulated extensively among them that blessed Book, which is able to make them wise unto salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ; which alone contains an authenticated, complete, and most satisfactory revelation of the character, purposes, and will of the Supreme Ruler of the

universe; and directs the guilty sons of Adam to the only possible way in which they can obtain true and lasting felicity. And while I reflected on the responsibility which attaches to the situation of such as are favoured with this revelation, and the aggravated guilt and condemnation of those who receive not the truth in the love of it that they may be saved, my earnest prayer for the Icelanders was, that they might have grace communicated to them from above, to enable them suitably to improve the inestimable privilege which had been conferred upon them.

On the 6th of September, after a rough passage of seventeen days, I again arrived in Copenhagen, where I met with a hearty welcome from the numerous friends I had left behind me in that city.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

A HISTORICAL VIEW

OF

THE TRANSLATION and different eDITIONS

OF THE

ICELANDIC SCRIPTURES.