1818.] Henderson's Journal of a Residence in Iceland. 303 



ticularly struck us was the majesty of the vast ice-mountain, which extends from a 

 little to the east of Tindafiall, in a westerly and northerly direction, to the dist- 

 ance of not less than 100 miles across the interior of the island. 



" Descending by the west end of Blafell, which here consists of immense irregular 

 masses of dark brown tuffa, we came again, in the course of a short time, to the 

 Hvita, near its egress from a large lake, to which it gives the name of Hvitarvatn. 

 The whole of the western margin of this lake is lined with magnificent glaciers, 

 which, before meeting the water, assume a hue of the most beautiful green. It 

 abounds with excellent fish, aud used to be much frequented in former times by the 

 peasants in the south. At the fording-place, the river may be about 100 yards 

 across ; and we found it in some places so deep, that our horses were on the point 

 of swimming. It is certainly the most formidable river in this quarter of Iceland j 

 and is often unfordable for weeks together, when travellers, coming from the de- 

 sert, are not unfrequently reduced to great straits, by the consumption of the 

 food they had provided for their journey. 



" On leaving the Hvita, we encountered a long tract of volcanic sand, with here 

 and there insulated stones, of an immense size, which must have been erupted from 

 the Kerlingar-fialla volcanoes, situated at the distance of 15 or 20 miles in an east- 

 erly direction. Most of these volcanic mountains form beautiful pyramids, and 

 some of them are of a great height, and partially covered with snow. The cone, in 

 the remote distance, is most perfectly formed, and is quite red in appearance, 

 arising from the scoriae deposited on its sides. None of these volcanoes have ever 

 been explored ; nor have I so much as met with their names in any description of 

 the island that I have seen. From the peasant at Holum, who has proceeded seve- 

 ral times to the vicinity in search of moss, I learned that a very extensive tract of 

 lava stretches between them and the ancient road, called Spreingi-sand ; and at one 

 place he observed much smoke, which he supposed arose from springs of boiling 

 ■water. 



" At four o'clock we came to the Black River (Svarta), fording which we fell in 

 with an extensive tract, known by the name of the Kialhraun, which has been 

 at least twice subjected to fiery torrents from a volcano in the neighbourhood of 

 Bald-Yokul, if not from the Yokul itself. This lava is upwards of 20 miles in 

 length, and in some places five or six in breadth. Here the road divided: that 

 called Kialvegur, leading to Skagafiord, lay to the left, across the lava; whereas 

 the way to Eyafiord, which we pursued, ran along its eastern margin, now on one 

 side of the Black River, and now on the other. After travelling about eight miles 

 farther, over a very stony tract, we came to the station of Grinaness, which we 

 found to be the termination of a very ancient stream of lava, mostly covered with, 

 moss and willows, and having only a little grass in the cavities, which have been 

 formed by the bursting or falling in of the crust. Inhospitable as it appeared, we 

 were obligf d to stop, as we were exposed to a heavy rain, and the next green spot 

 was about 50 miles distant. 



" On the afternoon of Monday, the first of August, we commenced the worst stage 

 on our wholejouraey. Our road, which at times was scarcely visible, lay along 

 the west side of the Hof, or Arnarfell Yokul, a prodigious ice mountain, stretch- 

 ing from the volcanoes above-mentioned, in a northerly direction, for upwards of 50 

 miles, when it turns nearly due east, and extends to nearly 30 miles in that direc- 

 tion. We rode at no great distance from it for the space of 20 hours, and were all 

 the time exposed to a cold piercing wind which blew from that quarter. About 

 11 at night we came to the Blanda, or Mixed River, the waters of which were of a 

 bluish colour, and, dividing into upwards of a dozen of branches, they rendered 

 our passage both tedious and troublesome. Near the north-west corner of the 

 Yokul, a great number of curiously shaped hills presented themselves to our view, 

 which we found, on approaching them, to be partly volcanic and partly immense 

 masses of Yokul, intermixed with drosses and fragments of lava, which have been 

 separated from the mountain during some of its convulsions, and hurled along to 

 their present situation by the inundations it has poured down upon the plains. At 

 '10 minutes before three o'clock in the morning, as we had got quite surrounded by 

 these hills, and were almost shivering with cold (the waters being covered with fresh 

 ice), we were gratified with a view of the sun, rising in all hisglory directly before 

 us. The gloom in which we had been involved now fled away; and we obtained 

 a very extensive prospect of the surrounding country. It was a prospect, however, 

 by no means pleasing ; for to whatever side we turned, nothing was visible but the 

 devastations of ancient fires, or regions of perpetual frost." 



