70 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



The Namar, or boiling mud-caldrons of Reykjalilid, situated among a range 

 of mountains near the My vatu (Gnat-Lake), in one of the most solitary spots in 

 the north of the island, on the border of enormous lava-fields and of a vast un- 

 known wilderness, exhibit volcanic power on a still more gigantic scale. There 

 are no less than twelve of these seething pits, all filled with a disgusting thick 

 slimy gray or black liquid, boiling or simmering with greater or less vehemence, 

 and emitting dense volumns of steam strongly impregnated with sulphurous 

 gases. Some sputter furiously, scattering their contents on every side, while in 

 others the muddy soup appears too thick to boil, and after remaining quiescent 

 for about half a minute, rises up a few inches in the centre of the basin, emits 

 a puff of steam, and then subsides into its former state. The diameter of the 

 largest of all the pits can not be less than fifteen feet ; and it is a sort of mud 

 Geysir, for at intervals a column of its black liquid contents, accompanied with 

 a violent rush of steam, is thrown uj) to the height of six or eight feet. Pro- 

 fessor Sartorius von Waltershausen, one of the few travellers who have visited 

 this remarkable spot, says that the witches in Macbeth could not possibly have 

 desired a more fitting place for the preparation of their infernal gruel than the 

 mud-caldrons of Reykjahlid. 



Among the hot or boiling springs of Iceland, which in hundreds of places 

 gush forth at the foot of the mountains, some are of a gentle and even flow, and 

 can be used for bathing, washing, or boiling, while others of an intermittent na- 

 ture are mere objects of curiosity or wonder. One of the most remarkable of 

 the latter is the Tungo-hver, at Reykholt, in the " valley of smoke," thus named 

 from the columns of vapor emitted by the thermal springs which are here scat- 

 tered about with a lavish hand. It consists of two fountains within a yard of 

 each other — the larger one vomiting a column of boiling water ten feet high for 

 the space of about four minutes, when it entirely subsides, and then the smaller 

 one operates for about three minutes, ejecting a column of about five feet. 

 The alternation is perfectly regular in time and force, and there are authentic ac- 

 counts of its unfailing exactitude for the last hundred years. 



But of all the springs and fountains of Iceland there is none to equal, either 

 in grandeur or renown, the Great Geysir, which is not merely one of the curi- 



