PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 199 



the lowland which is very swampy and above which project 

 numerous low, isolated, basalt hills. The eastern part is called 

 BorgarfjorSur and the western Mjrar. From the low land several 

 wide valleys extend inwards between the mountains. 



The north-western peninsula, as mentioned above, constitutes 

 a small plateau by itself and is separated from the mainland by 

 Breidifjordur and Hunafloi; the isthmus which connects the peninsula 

 with the mainland has a breadth of only 7 km., and rises to a height 

 of 228 metres. The coast of north-west Iceland, which is much in- 

 dented by tjords, is bounded everywhere by steep, dark mountain- 

 sides which often rise abruptly, even vertically, from the sea to a 

 height of 400 500 metres. The mountains are everywhere composed 

 of horizontal, or slightly inclined, basalt-layers which are highly 

 denuded by erosion, so that numerous small valleys, cirques, clefts, 

 ridges and bastions occur as in other basalt regions of Iceland. By 

 climbing the mountain-edge up in the highlands, and ascending to 

 a sufficient height it will be seen that fjords and valleys have 

 trenched the plateau with great regularity. The eye wanders freely 

 over wide wastes, the valleys and fjords either disappear or are 

 seen as insignificant clefts, and a monotonous table-land lies stretched 

 out to view, the surface of which is broken only by low ranges of 

 hills, and ice-striated basalt-masses with large stretches covered by 

 angular blocks of rock and scattered snow-wreaths. It is often ex- 

 tremely difficult to traverse this kind of ground, across an ocean 

 of rocky blocks, w r here the clay and the sravel between the blocks 



ft/ V 



often occur as a slushy mass owing to the thawing of the numerous 

 patches of snow. Only now and then can a solitary, stunted Alpine 

 plant be seen maintaining a miserable existence in the shelter of 

 the large blocks of rock. The plateau of the north-western peninsula 

 has an average height of only about 600 metres, and where it is 

 highest (800900 metres) the snow drifts and consolidates into neve- 

 domes - - Glama (about 60 square km.) towards the SW. and Dranga- 

 jokull (about 350 square km.) towards the NE. The numerous valleys 

 which lead up from the fjords and cut into this plateau are similar 

 in character to the other Icelandic vallevs in the basalt districts, 



*. 



so it will be convenient to describe their physiographical charac- 

 ters collectively. The bottom of the valley rises gradually in broad 

 rock-terraces, upon the surface of which bogs and small lakes often 

 occur, and it terminates amphitheatrically in a large cirque, down 

 the steep rocky sides of which several streams fall in cascades. 



