On the Glaciers and Climate of Iceland. 137 



and is known by the names of Klofa-Jokull and Vatna-Jokull. 

 Separate parts of these frozen wintry wastes bear peculiar 

 names, Orafa-Jokull, Skeidara-Jokull, Sidu-Jokull, and Skap- 

 tar-Jbkull. This is the region in which, for some centu- 

 ries past, the most fearful volcanic eruptions have occurred 

 in the middle of that world of glaciers, where the destroying 

 agency of water has in alternation emulated that of subter- 

 ranean fire. 



Besides several comparatively smaller masses of ice, there 

 lie on the high plateau, in the middle of the island, two other 

 very extensive glaciers, the Lange-Jokull and the Hofs-Jokull, 

 of the latter of which the eastern part is named Arnarfells 

 Jokull, or the Eagle Glacier. 



On our Journey through the interior of the island to what 

 is called the Sprengesandur-Vegur, we had the opportunity 

 of making ourselves acquainted somewhat more minutely 

 with this glacier and its immediate neighbourhood. 



In the middle of a gloomy waste of black volcanic sand, its 

 crystal arches lie, overhung by grey piles of clouds, so- 

 lemnising their own grandeur in dread solitude. The mur- 

 mur of unseen springs, and the rushing of new-born ice- 

 streams which, after a short course, unite themselves to the 

 Thiorsa, alone enliven with a monotonous sound this other- 

 wise silent wilderness, untrodden by the footsteps of man. 

 High over this sheet of ice, whose dazzling whiteness is in- 

 teiTupted by the deep blue " crevasses,'' Arnarfell rears ma- 

 jestically its pointed form ; and the ice, with two far extend- 

 ing arms, embraces the open hill on three sides, sparing 

 only, towards the east, an alpine meadow at its foot. To 

 the wearied travellei', and his exhausted horses, this patch 

 of grass seen in the distance appears like an oasis in the 

 desert, as it promises a welcome and pleasant place of rest 

 for the night, after the exex'tions of the day. 



The stratified structure of the ice, from which Forbes, 

 in his excellent Treatise, principally deduces the gradual 

 motion of the glaciers, is exhibited, at their termination, 

 in almost horizontal lines. In the present instance it could 

 not escape even the most unpractised eye. Though there 

 may be much with regard to the motion of glaciers which 



