HOT SPRINGS in IGELAND. 143 
affemblage of ‘Yoku/s or ice-mountains, which occupy a confider- 
able extent of the interior country. Their forms were moftly 
conical ; and from their general refemblance to other mountains 
in the ifland, from which ftreams of lava have been emitted, 
‘I think it probable they were once volcanos. They are not fo 
connected as to form a continued range or chain of hills. Each 
ftands infulated; and therefore the fnows which have for ages 
 refted on their fides, are no where accumulated in valleys and 
converted into lakes of ice and glaciers, as amidft the Alps of 
Switzerland and Savoy. 
A view fo different from the general features of the coun- 
__ try, impreffed us with the moft agreeable fenfations. Hitherto 
we could but compare one fcene of drearinefs with another ; 
and although the view before us was deftitute of trees, yet the 
verdure, and pleafant diftribution of hills and plain, in fome 
meafure compenfated for this deficiency. © 
I wow return to the account of the fprings, which I have 
already obferved break out in different places from the fides of 
a hill, and the {pace inclofed between its bafe and the windings 
of ariver. The foil through which they rife is a mixture of 
crumbled materials, wafhed by degrees from the higher parts 
of the hill. In fome places, thefe have been reduced into a 
clay or earth; in others, they ftill remain loofe and broken 
_ fragments of the rocks from whence they have fallen, or a 
_ duft produced by their friction againft each other. Wherever 
_ the ground is penetrated by the fteam of the fprings, thefe frag- 
ments are foon decompofed, or changed into coloured clays. 
/ ° In other places, the furface of the ee 1s covered with in- 
; _empetrum nigrum *, the berries of which were at this time ripe 
_ and in great abundance. 
. ABOVE: 
z * The crow berry. This is almoft the only fruit we met with in Iceland. Mr Waicur- 
_ found a few ftrawbcrries. Neither goofcberries nor currants will come to perfection by 
any management. whatever.. ; 
