252 REV, F. A. WALKER, D.D., F.L.8., ETC., 
believe, not thought to exist in Iceland, but I excavated several in 
the presence of the clergymen, and generally found layers of bones 
of the ox and sheep-——the ox and the sheep bones together in a 
layer—then an interval, as though perhaps 50 or 60 years had 
elapsed ; and then another layer of ox and sheep bones. These had 
evidently been sacrificial mounds: they were at right angles with 
the corners of the old temples, and were evidences of the old 
Icelandic worship, prior to the introduction of Christianity. 
Amongst other things, I found upon the ground—not elevated— 
an ancient gigantic cross, made of seven blocks of lava. 
Mr. James Locan Losuny, F.G.S.—The chief geological teach- 
ing of Iceland, beyond the voleanic phenomena it presents, is the 
wonderful evidences it gives of past glacial action. The cutting 
of the deep fjords that penetrate the island, on the northern and 
western sides especially, has been effected by this action. This 
shows—although it has been said that glaciers are now advancing 
again on the cultivated lands—that in pre-historic times the whole 
island was covered by an ice cap such as covers Greenland in 
the present day, and that this ice cap has gradually made its way 
to the sea coast, and has broken up into different glaciers, which 
have cut back the land and penetrated into the sea, and so these 
great fjords have been formed. 
Dr. G. Hartny, F.R.S.—Although I have not visited the 
Icelandic geysirs, I have visited those of Montana and Wyoming, 
in North America, where they are very numerous, I saw no less 
than twenty play there in one day. The geysirs there are 
enormously large in comparison with those in Iceland. Some 
are said to throw up a column of water 350 feet high, and 
of a diameter of 15 feet. This I cannot vouch for, as I did 
not measure them; but I measured the outlet of one after it had 
subsided, and it was no less than 64 feet. We were told that 
one went up 300 feet; but, even if we allow for exaggeration, 
surely a column of water 6 feet in diameter, going straight up 
into the sky even 150 feet, is a marvel. Now the interesting point 
about these geysirs is their periodicity—they are almost life- 
like things. Everything they do is periodic, although not 
always regular. One of them, called “ Faithful,” plays regu- 
larly every 50 or 60 minutes, and it has played at that rate 
for the last seven years without a single exception. Others 
