ICELAND. 



35 



Round the coast the lakes at many points approach the outer fiords, with 

 which they were formerly connected, and we oocasionally meet with basins which 

 seem to belong both to the land and sea. Thus Olafsson and Pulsson speak of a lake 

 north of the Snaefells-J(ikull, on the shores of the 01afs-Fj(h-^r, where both fresh 

 and salt water fish are still taken— amongst the latter the common cod, the black 

 cod, flounder, and skate, all smaller thun those of the high seas, but of excellent 



Fig. 14. — Almannagjà. 



flavour. There is probably no other instance on the globe of salt-water inlets thus 

 changed into fresh-water reservoirs, where so many marine species have become 

 naturalised. The same Icelandic explorers amongst the semi-marine lakes 

 mention the Diupalon, near the extremity of the Snaefells-Jokull headland. This 

 lake is apparently cut ofl* from the sea by a barrier of lavas ; yet there must be 

 some communication, since it ebbs and flows regularly. Nevertheless its waters are 

 sweet, so that the tides must act from beneath in the same way that they do on 



