Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. 14- 



to blame our two naturalists, nor the great navigator who could 

 not ageee with them. » 



Mr Banks, however, as he could not accompany Cook, resolv^ 

 ed to direct his ardour into another path. The northern coun- 

 tries, and especially Iceland, so remarkable for its volcanic phe^ 

 nomena, presented him with sufficient objects of research. In a 

 few weeks a vessel was freighted, laden with every thing that was 

 necessary for naturalists ; and Mr Banks set out on the 12th 

 July 1772, accompanied with his faithful Solander, a Swede, 

 Uno de Troil, afterwards Bishop of Linkoping, and some other 

 persons worthy of taking part in such an enterprise. 



A fortunate opportunity occurred to them of visiting, in pass- 

 ing, the island of Staffa, so interesting for the immense mass of 

 basaltic columns of which it is formed ; and for the cave of two 

 hundred and fifty feet in depth, entirely surrounded by these 

 columns, the natural regularity of which equals the most surpris- 

 ing efforts of human art. It is singular that this wonder of na- 

 ture, so near a populous country, had been so little known ; but 

 although the island had been named by Buchanan, no person 

 had given any description of its extraordinary structure ; and it 

 may be regarded as a discovery of our voyagers. 



They soon arrived in Iceland. Here they no longer met 

 with the happy islanders of the South Sea, on whom na- 

 ture had lavished her gifts. A soil, desolated alike by the 

 fire of volcanoes, and by winters of nine months' duration, 

 the low country bristled almost over its whole extent with 

 naked and sharp rocks, mountains of ice floating in the sea, 

 and which often, by their accumulation in the vicinity of the 

 land, caused the winter to recommence ; every thing seems to 

 announce to the Icelanders the malediction of the celestial 

 powers. They bear the impress of the climate ; their gravity, 

 their melancholy aspect, form as great a contrast with the 

 gaiety of the South Sea Islanders, as the countries inhabit- 

 ed by the two nations ; and yet the natives of Iceland have 

 their enjoyments, and these enjoyments of a superior order. 

 Study and reflection soften their lot. Those great natural edi- 

 fices of basalt, and vast fountains of boiling water ; the 

 stony vegetations which this water produces; the northern 

 lights of a thousand forms and hues, illuminating from time to 



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