ICELAND. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE DESERT. 



HPHE central deserts of Iceland are unexplored. A man 

 must be bold, and singularly favoured by weather, 

 to investigate their mysterious recesses and to return 

 with life. 



One region, part wild tumbled snow and glacier moun- 

 tains, part plains of bristling lava, is as unknown as the 

 heart of Africa. The glimmer of silver peaks has been 

 seen from afar across an impassable arm of lava, the 

 confines of the great sea of molten matter have been 

 skirted, but those billows of black ragged stone have 

 never been traversed even in the old adventuresome days 

 of Iceland. 



Sometimes violent shocks and a rising column of black 

 cloud warn distant settlers that volcanic fires are still 

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