24(S THORODDSEN 



cattle-rearing of the rural population. The peninsula of Reykjanes,, 

 which is of no great elevation, more than half of its surface being 

 below 100 metres, and which has a comparatively mild climate 

 with a considerable rainfall, is, however, so poor in plant-life, that 

 only 4 per cent of the area is grass-covered. The area bounded 

 on the west by Lagaskar5 and on the south by Hafnarfjor5ur is 

 about 1635 square km., but of this only at most 69 km. is occupied 

 by grassland. The greater part of the area of the peninsula of 

 Reykjanes is covered by more recent lava-streams, and has a scanty 

 vegetation; the inhabitants along the coast maintain themselves 

 chiefly by fishing. 



As it has already been remarked, the surface of the lowlands 

 varies in character. It usually consists of loose masses, but some- 

 times also of solid rock which projects here and there through the 

 more recent formations and the older and more recent lava-streams, 

 as crests, ridges and hills. As mentioned above, in South Iceland 

 large areas (2000 3000 square km.) are covered with glacial and 

 volcanic sand, through which branching glacier-rivers flow. Although 

 these sandy tracts originate mainly from river-gravel and sand, other 

 constituents are also found intermixed in them, for instance tuff-dust, 

 and volcanic scoriae and ashes, where active volcanoes occur in the 

 neighbourhood. On Myrdalssandur volcanic slags and ashes pre- 

 dominate. River-gravel and glacial clay occur only upon the surface 

 of changing river-beds. The vast SkeiQararsandur, on the other hand, 

 is formed almost exclusively of rolled glacial-gravel mingled with 

 fine sand and clav, which increases in amount the nearer the coast 



/ ? 



is approached. The various sandy tracts differ naturally somewhat 

 as regards the quality of the material and the size of the grains r 

 etc. Old lava-streams, also, extend over large areas of the lowlands; 

 they are usually covered with soil which supports a luxuriant vege- 

 tation with heather-moors, coppice-woods and grasslands. In thickly 

 inhabited districts such as Floi and Skei5, the substratum is of 

 lava, and in the former district it is marshy, as it lies so low (at 

 the level of the sea), that the water cannot drain off. Floi is jammed 

 in between tw r o river-deltas so that the rain-water cannot be drained 

 away owing to the pressure of the bottom water, and in rainy 

 years this district suffers greatly from water which has no outlet, 

 so that the ground is quite boggy. The underlying lava protrudes 

 from every hill and the soil is mixed with lava-fragments. The low- 

 land tract of Floi gradually merges into the district of Skei5 which 



