formed man. He further told me, that in point of the height of its jets, the Old Strockr rivalled the Geyser; but immediately after an earthquake in the above mentioned year, it greatly diminished, and in the course of a few years became entirely tranquil. The same year, Strockr, which had not before attracted any particular attention, began to erupt, and threw up water and steam to an amazing height. This account entirely coincides with Sir John Stanley's observations: "One of the most remarkable of these springs," he says, "threw out a great quantity of water, and, from its continual noise, we named it the Roaring Geyser. The eruptions of this fountain were incessant. The water darted out with fury every four or five minutes, and covered a great space of ground with the matter it deposited. The jets were from thirty to forty feet in height. They were shivered into the finest particles of spray, and surrounded by great clouds of steam."* And, treating of Strockr, to which, as was observed above, he gave the name of the New Geyser, he adds in a note, "Before the month of June, 1789, the year I visited Iceland, this spring had not played with any great degree of violence, at least for a considerable time. (Indeed, the formation of the pipe will not allow us to suppose, that its eruptions had, at no former period, been violent.) But, in the month of June, this quarter of Iceland had suffered some very severe shocks of an earthquake; and it is not unlikely, that many of the cavities communicating with the bottom of the pipe had been then enlarged, and new sources of water opened into them." This conjecture is rendered certain by the fact, that during the dreadful earthquake which happened in the year 1784, not only did the three more remarkable fountains gush forth with uncommon violence, but no less than thirty-five spouting springs made their appearance, many of which, however, afterwards abated in their fury. ‡

During the night there had been two large explosions of

• Account of the Hot Springs in Iceland, p. 32.

+ Ibid. p. 41.

Bishop Finnson, in The Transactions of the Icelandic Society.

the Great Geyser, but the servant who observed them not awakening us, we were deprived of the sight. However, the loss was made up by the comfortable sleep we enjoyed, of which we had much need, having been fatigued by the ride, and the walks we took after our arrival the preceding day.

At ten minutes before ten, we were attracted to the mound by several loud reports, which were succeeded by a partial eruption; none of the jets exceeding five feet in height. About half past ten the reports were reiterated, but no jets ensued; only a gentle rise was observable in the contents of the bason. At eleven we were again gratified with a most brilliant eruption. The jets were ten or twelve in number, and the water was carried to the height of at least sixty feet. Vast clouds of steam, which made their escape during the eruption, continued to roll and spread as they ascended, till they filled the whole of the horizon around us; and the sun, though shining in full splendour, was completely eclipsed; but the points of the jets, receiving his rays as they rose through the vapour, wore the most charming lustre, being white and glistening as snow. The instant all was over, Mr Hodgson and I repaired to the foot of a small cataract, at the northern base of the mound, over which the streamlet is precipitated in its way down to the river, and had a pleasant bath in the warm water as it fell upon us from the rock above.

A small preliminary eruption again took place at seventeen minutes past one, and another four minutes before two. The bason continued filling, till within three minutes of three, when, after a number of very loud reports, the water burst, and the spouts rose with a noise and velocity which I can compare to nothing more aptly than to those of a quantity of large rockets fired off from the same source. This crup tion was the longest of any we saw: a space of eight minutes and ten seconds clapsing from the first propulsion of the water from the bason, till it again subsided into the pipe. The jets were also much higher than in any of the former eruptions, yet none of them exceeded an hundred feet,

Our two friends now left us, for the purpose of visiting some other hot springs on their return to Reykiavik; but we resolved to spend another night at this place, chiefly for the sake of our horses, that they might be sufficiently rested before we entered the mountains. In the course of the afternoon and evening, there were several indications of a fresh eruption, but they only proved strong ebullitions, which always take place till the bason gets filled. At thirty-five minutes past nine we had another fine spectacle, which was little inferior to any of the preceding, and lasted for the space of five minutes.

The most enrapturing scene, however, that we beheld, was exhibited on the morning of the 30th. About ten minutes past five, we were roused by the roaring of Strockr, which blew up a great quantity of steam; and when my watch stood at the full quarter, a crash took place as if the earth had burst, which was instantaneously succeeded by jets of water and spray, rising in a perpendicular column to the height of sixty feet. As the sun happened to be behind a cloud, we had no expectation of witnessing any thing more sublime than we had already seen; but Strockr had not been in action above twenty minutes, when the Great Geyser, apparently jealous of her reputation, and indignant at our bestowing so much of our time and applause on her rival, began to thunder tremendously, and emitted such quantities of water and steam, that we could not be satisfied with a distant view, but hastened to the mound with as much curiosity as if it had been the first eruption we had beheld. However, if she was more interesting in point of magnitude, she gave the less satisfaction in point of duration, having again become tranquil in the course of five minutes; whereas, her less gaudy, but more steady companion, continued to play till within four minutes of six o'clock. *

On my return this way from the north, about the middle of August, 1815, I again pitched my tent for two days beside these celebrated fountains, and found their operations still more magnificent and interesting than they were the preceding year. The Great Geyser continued to erupt every six hours in a ost imposing manner. In some of the eruptions, the jets seemed to be thrown