24 ICELAND. 



active in the heart of that fearful wilderness ; then the 

 one great river Jokuisa, which flows from its mysterious 

 depths, is tinged with volcanic ash, and swollen with 

 melted snows ; then, too, the night sky gleams scarlet 

 over some unvisited, unknown, yawning crater, which is 

 pouring forth its flood of molten rock. 



This sea of lava sweeps up to the roots of a chain of 

 snow mountains perfectly unexplored, themselves vol- 

 anos ready to toss aside their mantles of white and 

 spread destruction for miles round. 



To the west of this vast region of lava and snow lies 

 an upland desert of black sparkling sand, stretching 

 completely across the island. This sand is volcanic, 

 -and has been deposited during outbursts of the neigh- 

 bouring mountains, when the clouds rain down sand 

 till the ground is covered many feet deep, and every 

 particle of vegetation is destro} T ed. I had an oppor- 

 tunity of observing a cutting made by a stream in this 

 district, and I found traces of three several depositions 

 of volcanic dust, the last as much as thirteen feet deep. 



Vegetation advances in Iceland with none of that 

 rapidity with which it covers the flanks of Vesuvius, 

 and sand in Iceland is many hundreds of years old 

 before it becomes covered with a scanty growth of 

 marram and moss campion. 



Part of this elevated table-land of desert is studded 

 with countless lakes of all shapes and sizes, disconnected, 

 landlocked ; some, quiet tarns of crystal clear water 

 others winding among the hills, ruffled and tossed iuta 



