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ICELAND. 



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Iceland, blishment ; and, accordingly, its few short regular streets 

 contain a considerable number of roomy wooden buildings, 

 resembling those of Norway, and furnished with many of 

 the comforts of life ; there the merchant usually has a large 

 miscellaneous shop and stores for goods on the ground 

 floor, and a tolerable suite of apartments for his family 

 above. Standing a little apart, and in strong contrast, is 

 the fishermen's village, consisting of a cluster of the veriest 

 hovels ; there, according to the description of a traveller, 

 — " A window is a luxury ; a cask or barrel, with the two 

 ends knocked out, answers the purpose of a chimney ; but 

 the smoke is frequently allowed to escape through a hole in 

 the roof." 



The surface of the country is for the most part highly 

 mountainous and rugged ; some of the yokuls or snow- 

 capped emmences, as the Snaefell, the Skaptaa, Kateja 

 Torsa, and Hecla, rising to the height of from 4000 to 

 6000 feet above the sea. The centre of the island, how- 

 ever, is traversed by considerable plains, some of which are 

 covered with tolerable pasture, whilst others form extensive 

 wastes, morasses, and fields of lava. It is also watered by 

 a number of large rivers, which, from the rapid melting of 

 the snows in summer, present a turbid, and some of them 

 so white an appearance, that they are denominated from that 

 circumstance. The smaller streams which rise in the lower 

 grounds are transparent, and are celebrated for the abun- 

 dance and beauty of the salmon wliich frequent them. 

 There are also a number of lakes, of which the principal are 

 Thingvalla Vatn, an expanse of water from 10 to 15 miles 

 in length, and 6 to 8 in width, on whose banks the great 

 assemljlies of the nation used to be held ; Myvatn, in the 

 north-eastern extremity of tlie island ; and Fiskevatn, a 

 lake so designated (rom the fine fish it affords to the inha- 

 bitants of the midland districts. 



The coast, like that of Norway, is in every direction 

 deeply indented with creeks and arms of the sea ; few of 

 them, however, afford safe anchorage ; and along the south- 

 ern coast, eastward from where the great river Elvas emp- 

 ties itself into the sea, there are extensive shoals, formed 

 partly, no doubt, by the depositions of the rivers proceeding 

 from the great range of yokuls to the eastward of Mount 

 Hecla, but principally from the remains of volcanoes, which, 

 like the Sabrina and Graham Islands, have at one period 

 appeared above the surface, but from the action of the 

 waves have subsequently sunk below it. No part of the 

 globe presents such a number of volcanic mountains, so 

 many boiling springs, or such immense tracts of lava. The 

 frequent and long-continued eruptions of its volcanoes are 

 all on record in the historical annals of the island ; their 

 number since the year 1004 is stated at sixty-five. Of 

 Hecla no less than sixteen great eruptions are mentioned ; 

 but, with the exception ot those in 1818 and 1846, this 

 celebrated mountain has been in a quiescent state since the 

 middle of last century. By far the most dreadful occur- 

 rence of this description was that already mentioned, which 

 took ])lace from the great range of the Skaptaafell Yokul in 

 the year 1783, — an eruption which devastated the finest 

 portion of the island, and produced famine and disease 

 amongst its inhabitants to an extent scarcely credible. 



The boiling springs of Iceland have long attracted the 

 attention of scientific men, and they are assuredly amongst 

 the most curious and most remarkable phenomena which it 

 presents. These are veiy numerous in many quarters of 

 the island. One group, called the Geysers of Haukadalr, 

 situated at the distance of two days' ride (about 70 miles) 

 from Reikiavik, has attracted special attention. It occupies 

 a space of a quarter or third of a mile square, on the slope 

 of a small hill of trap rock, overlooking a valley connected 

 with that of the River Hvita, or White River. In the 

 lower part, amidst grassy groiuid, are the various hot-water 

 wells and openings now in activity, each surrounded by 

 VOL. xil. 



more or less of silicious incrustations ; in the upper and Iceland, 

 steeper part, immediately under the cliffs forming the top ^— ^v-— ^ 

 of the hill, are great banks composed of the debris of the 

 incrustations of ancient and now nearly extinct geysers. 

 The district of the active springs is constantly covered with 

 steam proceeding from the various openings, and a sulphu- 

 reous smell pervades it. The springs are very various in 

 size and action ; many being small, and a few large ; some 

 being constantly full to the brim and at rest, while others 

 are at full boil ; and a few are subject to occasional water- 

 eruptions. The most remarkable are the Great Geyser, 

 the Great and Little Strokr ; and t« o large but quiet wells, 

 noted for the beautiful blue tint of the water. 



The Great Geyser presents itself, in its calm moments, 

 as a circular pool, 72 feet in diameter, and 4 feet deep ; 

 placed on the summit of a moimt wholly composed of sili- 

 cious matter, and from 10 to 20 feet higli, according to the 

 side on which it is measured, the ground here making a 

 rapid inclination. In the centre of the saucer-like basin 

 containing the pool is a well, above 10 feet in diameter and 

 83 feet deep. Water at a high temperature is continually 

 rising through this well, and filling and overflowing the 

 basin, at the outer edge of which the writer found it to be 

 at 188° Fahrenheit. Every few hours, however, a rumbling 

 noise is heard underground, and the water heaves up in the 

 centre a few feet above the general level, and overflows the 

 basin in \musual quantity. Oncea-day, at an average, an erup- 

 tion takes place, — a spectacle of the utmost grandeur. " The 

 prominent object before me," says a late tourist, " the ground 

 of the spectacle, as an artist might call it, was the vast effu- 

 sion of steam covering the place, and rolling away under 

 a varying wind. It was only on coming pretty near and 

 getting to windward, that I caught the sight of a multitude 

 of jets of water darting in outward curves, as from a centre, 

 through amidst this steam-cloud, glittering in the sunshine 

 for a moment, and then fklling in heavy plash all over the 

 incrusted mount. It seemed to me, though the circum- 

 stances are certainly not favourable for an accmate esti- 

 mate, that these jets rose about 60 or 70 feet above the 

 basin." An eruption generally lasts a few minutes, and at 

 its close the water is found to have slirmik a few feet down 

 the well, leaving the basin dry. Sir George Mackenzie spe- 

 culated on these outbursts being produced by pressure on 

 the air contained in cavernous recesses under the ground ; 

 but Professor Bunsen has lately announced a chemical theory 

 much more likely to be accepted. He points to the fact 

 tliat water, after being long subjected to heat, loses much 

 of the air contained in it, has the cohesion of its molecules 

 much increased, and requires a higher temperature to bring 

 it to the boil, at which moment, however, the |)roduction 

 of vapour becomes so great and so instantaneous as to cause 

 explosion. The bursting of furnace boilers is often attri- 

 butable to this cause. Now, the water at the bottom of the 

 well of the Great Geyser is found to be of a constantly in- 

 creasing temperature up to the moment of an eruption, when 

 on one occasion it was as high as 261° Fahrenlieit. Pro- 

 fessor Bunsen's idea is, that, on reaching some unknown 

 point above that temperature, ebullition takes place, vapour 

 is suddenly generated in enormous quantity, and an eruption 

 of the superior column of water is the consequence. 



The Great Strokr {strokr means a churn in Icelandic), 

 situated about 100 yards from the Great Geyser, is a pit 

 of silicious matter, of irregular form, but approaching the 

 appearance of a well, and having only a tendency to the 

 formation of a basin at the top. Usually, the water is 

 heard fretting about a dozen feet down ; but at intervals of 

 half a day or so, eruptions take place, resembling those of 

 the Great Geyser. The visitor can here command an 

 eruption, by throwing in a barrowful of t\irf, or any similar 

 stuff'. The appearance and phenomena of the Little Strokr 

 are precisely similar, only on a smaller scale. It appears that 



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