ICELAND: OR THE JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE IN THAT ISLAND, DURING THE YEARS 1814 AND 1815. CONTAINING OBSERVATIONS ON THE NATURAL PHENOMENA, BY EBENEZER HENDERSON, Doctor in Philosophy, Member of the Royal Society of Gottenburgh, Honorary Copenhagen. Abridged from the second Edinburgh Edition. ILLUSTRATED WITH A MAP AND ENGRAVINGS. BOSTON: PERKINS & MARVIN, 114, WASHINGTON STREET. 1831. ADVERTISEMENT. No apology can be necessary, for presenting to the American public an edition of the best account in our language, of such a land of prodigies as that to which this volume is devoted,-a land in which the traveller meets with such a constant succession and endless variety of natural wonders, and the inhabitants of which present so many points in history and character, of deep interest to all lovers of liberty, literature, and religion. The appearance of an abridgment, however, may seem to require an explanation. This will be given in a few words. In the first place, a very considerable part of the original work, especially a voluminous Appendix, is devoted to matters, that, however valuable to one engaged in the investigations to which they relate, can be of little interest to the general reader. And secondly, as is most often the case with Journals of this description, there are many passages in it, that can be of little importance to any body, and which therefore diminish the interest of the volume just in proportion |