53 



LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 



[VII. 



vive to write this letter is a proof of my having come subse- 

 quently to my senses. 



A. The Althing. 



C. The place where Flosi jumped. 



B. The Hill of Laws. 

 D. Adjacent Chasms. 



This spot then, erected by nature almost into a fortress, 

 the founders of the Icelandic constitution chose for the 

 meetings of their Thing, 1 or Parliament, armed guards 

 defended the entrance, while the grave bonders deliberated 

 in security within : to this day, at the upper end of the 

 place of meeting, may be seen the three hammocks, where 

 sat in state the chiefs and judges of the land. 



But those grand old times have long since passed away. 

 Alcng the banks of the Oxeraa no longer glisten the tents and 

 booths of the assembled lieges ; no longer stalwart berserks 

 guard the narrow entrance to the Althing ; ravens alone 

 sit on the sacred Logberg ; and the floor of the old Icelandic 



1 From thing, to speak. We have a vestige of the same word in 

 Dingwall, a town of Ross-shire. 



