HOT: SPRINGS in ICELAND. 141 



and by her kindnefs made ample amends for her former inat- 

 tention. She put us in pofleffion of her beft room, and fet be- 

 fore us plenty of good cream, fome wheat cakes, fugar, and a 

 kind of tea made of the leaves of the dryas oclopetala *. 



I mention thefe circumftances of our reception at Haukadal, 

 as chara&eriftic of the manners of the Icelanders. Several 

 times during my flay in the country, I experienced this fuc- 

 ceffion of civility to coldnefs. The Icelanders are naturally 

 good, but not ealily roufed to feeling. When once their con- 

 ftitutional indifference was overcome, we ufually found them 

 defirous of pleafing, and zealous to do us fervice. 



As the houfe was not fufficiently large to contain the whole 

 of our party, we were under the neceffity of returning again 

 to the church as foon as our baggage arrived. Here we paffed 

 the firft and fecond nights of our flay, in the neighbourhood 

 of the fprings. On the third day, we left Haukadal, to fix 

 ourfelves in fome ftation nearer to them, from which we 

 could watch their eruptions with more convenience. 



The view from near the church was very beautiful. It ex- 

 tended toward the fouth along the plain into an open country. 

 On the other fides, it was bounded by hills, which had not the 

 barren and rugged appearance that deform almoft every fcene 

 in this divifion of the ifland. It was, however, ftill finer from 

 fome of the eminences near the fprings. The plain and the 

 furrounding mountains, feen from a height, appeared to more 

 advantage ; and the eruptions from the great wells breaking 

 from time to time, the general ftillnefs that prevailed, were 

 much more diltinct. The courfe of the river, winding under 

 the eye, could be traced with greater accuracy. It flows through 



the 



* Called in Englifti the Mountain Avens. We found this plant growing very lux- 

 uriantly, and in great abundance, in every part of Iceland that we vifited. 



