HUER. 



dying, and might be applied to many pur- 

 poses with great advantage, as victuals 

 may be dressed by its heat, merely by 

 placing the meat in a covered vessel, im- 

 mersed in common water, and that in the 

 boiling fluid ; they have indeed evaporat- 

 ed sea water over it, and made excellent 

 fine salt; and the cows which drink from 

 the stream after it has cooled are said to 

 give great quantities of good milk. Olaf- 

 sen says, that syrup of violets will not 

 change its colour, and that alkali has no 

 effect when thrown into it. There cannot 

 be a doubt, that the heat of these springs 

 and fountains is derived from the volca- 

 noes of the island, but for obvious reasons 

 they are seldom found very near them ; 

 they are common throughout the coun- 

 try, in the vallies between mountains, and 

 even the summits of the ice mountains 

 have their huers, particularly Torfa Jock- 

 til, which abounds with hot springs, and 

 two send their water to a great height ; 

 besides those, there is a lukewarm spring 

 near Haadegis Hunk, on Gueland's Jock- 

 ul, at the base of the mountain, with nu- 

 merous marks of closed huers. The influ- 

 ence which urges this heated water up- 

 wards is so considerable, as to force it in 

 that state through the cold medium of the 

 sea, the steam accompanying it floating 

 from the place, and pointing out the situa- 

 tion of the spring. Dr. Von Troil enume- 

 rates many separate huers and fountains, 

 which he visited in different parts of the 

 island; amongst those the valley of Reyk- 

 holts contains the greatest number. This 

 vale is two miles and a half in breadth, 

 and the steam arising from it is conspicu- 

 ous for several miles, producing an ap- 

 pearance exactly similar to the smoke as- 

 cending from a volcano. The huers at 

 Oelves are supposed to be the largest in 

 Iceland; and the most remarkable are 

 Geyser and Badstofn ; there is one at this 

 place which emits vapour only, bdt so 

 very hot, that water may be boiled by hold- 

 ing it above the steam a few minutes. 



Geyser is situated about two clays jour- 

 wey from Mount Hecla, near a farm call- 

 ed Haukadal. Here, says Dr. Von Troil, 

 a poet would have an opportunity of paint- 

 Ing a picture of whatever nature has of 

 beautiful and terrible united, by delineat- 

 ing one of its most uncommon phenome- 

 na; it would be a subject worthy the pen 

 of a Thomson, to transport the reader, by 

 poetical imagery, to the spot which is 

 here presented to the eye. A spacious 

 plain, bounded on one side by very dis- 

 tant mountains, covered with ice, and 

 their summits enveloped in clouds, which 



frequently changing their position, de- 

 scend to their bases, leaving the pointed 

 crags as if resting upon them, are the 

 least interesting part of the wild and chill- 

 ing wonders surrounding Geyser. Hecla, 

 frowning with volcanic majesty, and ex- 

 hibiting three vast pyramids encrusted 

 with ice, towering far above the clouds, 

 sends forth enormous volumes of smoke, 

 which, floating away in the direction of 

 the wind, and uniting with them, forms 

 another portion of this horrid circle, which 

 is completed by a ridge of high rocks, 

 wetted by the steams exhaling from 

 springs gushing in a state of ebullition at 

 their feet, and a marsh half a mile in cir- 

 cumference, whence the vapours of fifty 

 others ascend to an amazing height. In 

 the centre is Geyser, the approach to 

 which is perceived at a considerable dis- 

 tance by the rushing noise it occasions, 

 resembling the fall of a cataract ovr r pre- 

 cipices. The aperture whence the wa- 

 ter proceeds is nineteen feet in diameter; 

 but the basin or excavation made by the 

 descent of the fluid is fifty-nine feet in 

 breadth, each is covered with a rough 

 stalactic crust, and the latter is nine feet 

 higher than the aperture. 



The water has not been known to as- 

 cend regularly in a continued stream, but 

 in sudden impulses, after rather long in- 

 tervals of quiet. The inhabitants of the 

 neighbourhood assert, that the ascent is 

 higher in cold bad weather than at 

 other times, and they, and other observ- 

 ers, affirm that it is elevated sixty fa- 

 thoms, though without any means of de- 

 ciding beyond mere conjecture; indeed, 

 the method adopted by Dr. Von Troil and 

 his friends, to ascertain the height to 

 which the water ascended on the 21st of 

 September, 1772, was equally fallible; 

 they supposed the greatest elevation to 

 be only sixty feet. The gentleman allud- 

 ed to mentions, at thirty-five minutes 

 after twelve they heard three distinct 

 noises, like the discharge of cannons, in 

 the subterraneous caverns whence the 

 spring issues, which were followed by a 

 trembling of the earth and an immediate 

 rise and fall of the water in the basin. 

 At eight minutes after two the water 

 flowed over the border of the basin ; at 

 fifteen minutes after three several subter- 

 raneous noises were heard, but not so 

 loud as the first; at forty -three minutes 

 after four the water rushed violently over 

 the edge of the basin for about a minute : 

 at forty -nine minutes after the last named 

 hour, many loud explosions were heard, 

 as if near the source of the spring, a^d 



