On the Glaciers and Climate of Iceland. 295 



time on the sea, at about 6 miles (27 English miles) from 

 the coast. 



Other stoi'ms of a similar kind occurred repeatedly during 

 our journey, and were still more destructive than the one 

 which has just been described ; as they were accompanied 

 with rain, hail, and impenetrable clouds of fog, or dust. The 

 neighbourhood of the Hecla is peculiarly subject to storms, 

 accompanied with dust ; the dust being canned up by the 

 wind from the extensive fields of volcanic ashes, which are 

 spread out around that mountain. 



On the 25th of July, we witnessed, immediately at the foot 

 of Hecla, a phenomenon of this kind. The storm had be- 

 gun to rage in the night, and it blew down our tent, which 

 we had pitched over the crater of Raudoldur. The dust and 

 the volcanic ashes were raised in such quantities, that, as if 

 surrounded by a thick cloud, the nearest hills were invisible, 

 and it was often almost impossible for us to open our eyes. 



Storms, with showers of hail and torrents of rain accom- 

 panied us through the whole country, during our stay, so 

 constantly, that we at length began to become accustomed 

 to them. Thunder stoi'ms, on the contrary, are rare, and 

 during the course of the summer there were only two that I 

 observed. 



From this delineation of the Icelandic climate, in the most 

 favourable season of the year, some idea may be formed as 

 to the character of the weather in winter, which we did not 

 learn from personal observation. At the end of Septembei% 

 or the beginning of October, the winter usually sets in. Dark, 

 stormy weather then occurs, which terminates in a thick im- 

 penetrable fall of snow. The journeys over the mountain- 

 passes (Fiall Vegur) then become peculiarly dangerous ; 

 although the Icelanders, so as to avoid losing their way on 

 such occasions, have taken the precaution of piling up, at 

 short distances from one another, heaps of stones, of a pyra- 

 midal form (Warde), which serve them as landmarks at night 

 and in fogs. Here and there, little houses, or huts, are erected, 

 which serve as places of refuge for men and animals ; and, 

 where these are wanting, the Icelanders, who usually travel 

 in large companies, sit down, closely crowded together, behind 



