THE DESER1. 27 



angry waves by the cutting blasts which howl over the 

 waste. This wild region is utterly barren. The hills 

 are bare, exposed stone, broken into angular fragments 

 and torn into gullies by the melting snows of spring. 

 The elevated plains are masses of splintered trap and 

 black mud, into which a horse will flounder to its belly. 

 The dales are occasionally grey with moss, and partially 

 clothed with stunted willow. 



But every spring thaw helps to destroy the little 

 amount of vegetation which exists, as the icy water tears 

 down the hill-slopes and rips up the moss, or bears 

 away the sandy soil in which the willow found root. 



It must not be thought that a mossy, willowy bottom 

 is common. You may travel all day without coming to 

 one, but a few do exist, known only to certain individuals 

 who haunt the waste during the summer, gathering the 

 lichen islandicus, or seeking swans. 



This region bears some resemblance to the Siberian 

 tundras, but it is more barren. The tundras are moss- 

 covered, and nourish herds of reindeer; but the heidis 

 of the centre of Iceland could not support any quadruped. 

 For the most part this desert is devoid of living crea- 

 tures, for birds will not frequent spots where there is no 

 vegetation. 



Wherever a morass of moss, blaeberry, and willow is 

 to be found, however, multitudes of wild fowl congregate. 

 The lakes teem with red-fleshed Alpine trout and magni- 

 ficent char, and where the fish are, there are to be found 

 the swan and the diver. 



