Freminville'it Voyage to the North Pole. 87 



the poor Icelanders, half buried in earth ; the roofing- only, 

 made of whales' ribs, rises above the surface. Behind these 

 is a pool of fresh water, which has given to Patrix Fiord the 

 Icelandish name of Vatneyre, the Water Town. 



The bay may be about three leagues in length, from W. to 

 E. ; its greatest breadth is about a league and a half. Very 

 near the middle is a large sand-bank, which gets dry at 

 low-water, and over which large vessels cannot pass. Besides 

 the town or village of Vatneyre, there are others dispersed 

 about the bay, at certain distances ; the most considerable is 

 that of Sadlangsdaler, where there is a Lutheran church; it lies 

 on the side opposite to the Danish factory, on the banks of a 

 sheet of water well stocked with salmon. 



A chart of all the parts of the island that we visited, with a 

 number of our own new discoveries and original remarks, 

 were transmitted, on our return, to the minister of marine, 

 together wiih a collection of seventeen designs, representing 

 views of different coasts, some tracts or situations in Iceland, 

 and various objects of natural history, either new or but little 

 known. 



The country round the bay presents a gloomy sort of pros- 

 pect, but dignified and imposing; every thing bears the im- 

 pression of volcanic convulsions and of the ravages of earth- 

 quakes. All the mountains seem, at it were, calcinated; you 

 cannot walk except over lava and basalt, the fragments of 

 which, disjoined, roll under your steps with a rattling and 

 stunning noise; only two colours, red and black, diversify the 

 lugubrious landscape within the circle of your view. A good 

 scene-painter for a theatre, who would make a drawing of the 

 infernal regions, could copy no better model than one of the 

 situations of Iceland. 



One of the oddest spectacles that I ever beheld, was a very 

 extensive platform, serving as a cimex, or crown, to the moun- 

 tain that overlooks the anchorage of Vatneyre. It is com- 

 posed of large tables of basalt, from eight to ten feet of surface, 

 but on a level, and arranged regularly, one beside another, 

 like so many leaves in a book ; the edge, not above four inches 

 in thickness, every where meeting your view. In some parts, 

 these basaltic tables, overset by earthquakes, yield such an 

 image of disorder and confusion, that you would be led to think 

 the spot (whereon no sign of vegetation or life appears) to be 

 made up of the ruins of the globe. 



In low places, at the entrance of the valleys, there is some 

 little appearance of verdure ; a thick turf, with a few flowers 

 scattered on it, may be seen on the banks of the running 

 waters. I collected a number of plants, but little known in 



