8s 



through which they passed. There were numerous hot springs 

 scattered about in variouf; parts of Iceland, some of which owed their 

 existence to earthquakes, which instantaneously called them into 

 being — in 1339 a hot spring 60 feet in diameter suddenly opened at 

 Mosfellj— and during the earthquakes which preceded the great 

 eruption of Slcaptar Jokull, in 1783, no less than 35 new hot springs 

 made their a;)pearance. 



He would not dwell longer upon these interesting phenomena, but 

 turn their attention to the huge ice mountains or Jokulls of Iceland, 

 which constituted such an important feature in the physical geography of 

 the country. The principal ones were theVatna,Arnnafells, Hoss, Langs, 

 Myrdals, Godalouds, Eyjafjalla, Dranga, and Glamu Jokulls. He would 

 try and form some idea of by far the largest of these, namely, the Vatna 

 Jokull, which, until recently, was almost a " terra incognita," and 

 until this year had resisted all attempts that had been made to cross it. 

 It was the very best example that he could lay before them, as it dis- 

 played all the phenomena of the Icelandic Jokulls on the most exten- 

 sive scale. The Vatna Jokull was a vast accumulation of volcanoes, 

 ice, and snow, comprising an area of over 3,000 square miles. It was 

 for the most part surrounded by a wilderness, formed by the 

 destructive outbursts of its volcanoes and the constant drifting of the 

 glacial torrents which flowed from its melting snows . Never should 

 he forget the aspect of this mighty frozen desert when he assailed it 

 last June. They had reached the point where the rocks terminated, 

 and the external snows of the Vatna commenced. As far as the eye 

 could see was one lifeless, pathless, wilderness of snow, destitute alike 

 of animal, insect, or floral life ; their footsteps gave no sound, and 

 their very voices seemed strange in this drear solitude, the deathlike 

 stillness of whose frozen wastes was broken only by the howling of the 

 storm or the outbui'sts of a volcano. This journey across the Vatna 

 Jokull from the south to the north of Iceland occupied 16 days, twelve 

 of which were spent amongst the regions of perpetual snow. The 

 Vatna Jokull and its immediate surroundings constituted the most 

 lofty portions of Iceland, and he believed the oldest, for they found lava 

 streams which had flowed from its volcanoes in a state of ruin ?nd decay 

 unequalled in any other part of the country ; and, again, they found it 

 bounded upon the south by sea cliffs that were washed by pre-historic 

 oceans when many other parts of the island must necessarily have been 

 under water, unless very serious depressions had taken place since the 



