90 LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. [VII. 



me with that feeling of snug content of which I believe 

 Englishmen alone are susceptible. 



I have now to relate to you a most painful occurrence 

 which has taken place during my absence at the Geysirs ; — 

 no less a catastrophe, in fact, than a mutiny among my 

 hitherto most exemplary ship's company. I suppose they, 

 too, had occasion to bear witness to the proverbial hospi- 

 tality of Iceland ; salt junk, and the innocuous cates which 

 generally compose ship-board rations, could never have pro- 

 duced such an emergency. Suffice it to say, that "Dyspepsia 

 and her fatal train" having taken hold of them, in a des- 

 perate hour they determined on a desperate deed, — and 

 rushing aft in a body, demanded of my faithful steward, not 

 only access to the penetralia of the absent Doctor's cupboard, 

 but that he himself should administer to them whatever 

 medicaments he could come by. In vain Mr. Grant threw 

 himself across the cabin-door. Remonstrance was useless ; 

 my horny-handed lambs were inexorable — unless he acceded 

 to their demands, they threatened to report him when I 

 returned ! The Doctor's sanctuary was thrown open, and all 

 its sweets — if such they may be called — were rifled. A 

 huge box of pills, the first that came to hand — they happened 

 to be calomel — was served out, share and share alike, with 

 concomitant vials of wrath, of rhubarb and senna ; and it 

 was not until the last drop of castor oil had been carefully 

 licked up that the marauders suffered their unwilling accom- 

 plice to retire to the fastnesses of his pantry. 



An avenging Nemesis, however, hovered over the vio- 

 lated shrine of Esculapius. By the time I returned the 

 exigencies of justice had been more than satisfied, and the 

 outrage already atoned for. The rebellious hands were 

 become most penitent stomachs; and fresh from the Oriental 

 associations suggested by our last day's ride, I involuntarily 

 dismissed the disconsolate culprits, with the Asiatic form of 

 condonation : " Mashallah, you have made your faces white ! 

 Go in peace ! " 



During our expedition to the interior, the harbour of Reyk- 



