20 LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. [V. 



a dirty greenish slope, patched with houses which them- 

 selves, both roof and walls, are of a mouldy green, as if 

 some long-since inhabited country had been fished up out 

 of the bottom of the sea. 



The effects of light and shadow are the purest I ever saw, 

 the contrasts of colour most astonishing, — one square front 

 of a mountain jutting out in a blaze of gold against the 

 flank of another, dyed of the darkest purple, while up 

 against the azure sky beyond, rise peaks of glittering snow 

 and ice. The snow, however, beyond serving as an orna- 

 mental fringe to the distance, plays but a very poor part at 

 this season of the year in Iceland. While I write, the 

 thermometer is above 70°. Last night we remained playing 

 at chess on deck till bedtime, without thinking of calling for 

 coats, and my people live in their shirt-sleeves, and — 

 astonishment at the climate. 



And now, good-bye. I cannot tell you how I am enjoy- 

 ing myself, body and soul. Already I feel much stronger, 

 and before I return I trust to have laid in a stock of health 

 sufficient to last the family for several generations. 



Remember me to , and tell her she looks too 



lovely ; her face has become of a beautiful bright green — 

 a complexion which her golden crown sets off to the great- 

 est advantage. I wish she could have seen, as we sped 

 across, how passionately the waves of the Atlantic flung 

 their liquid arms about her neck, and how proudly she 

 broke through their embraces, leaving them far behind, 

 moaning and lamenting. 



