TRAVELS IN ICELAND. 



65 



that employed in the manufactories of earthenware. This varnish, 

 as well as the stalactites just mentioned, affords a certain proof of 

 the operation of subterraneous tires, and that the lava, in a state 

 of fusion, has passed, like a rivulet, through this channel, while 

 it began to cool on the sides and top of the cavern. The flux of 

 lava must have given to the cavern its present form ; while 

 the same fusion must have covered the sides with the metallic 

 alkaline varnish, by melting the interior crust of the cavern in 

 those parts where the heat was strongest. The same cause must 

 also have produced the stalactites. 



After reaching a certain distance within the cavern, they per- 

 ceived the light of day breaking through an aperture in the sum- 

 mit; and on passing this hole the cave became as dark as before, and 

 they observed on each side, at the height of some feet, the mouths 

 of two other caverns. When strangers visit this country, they are 

 often induced, from curiosity, to proceed thus far in the cavern ; 

 our travellers ascended to that on the right, and then saw two 

 other excavations, separated by one partition. One of these last 

 caves is narrow, and of no great extent, but the other is double 

 its size. A small portion of light is perceptible at its entrance, 

 and its height enables a man to stand erect ; it is supposed to be 

 thirty feet long, its top is arched, and its bottom is smooth, red- 

 dish, and declines at the entrance. Messrs. Olafsen and Povelsen 

 found here some large bones of an ox, or similar animal, which 

 they considered as the remains of antiquity, because they were soft 

 and friable, though they were not exposed either to the attacks 

 of water, wind, or weather; they also remarked some common 

 stones of a cubical form, and of a different nature from those of 

 which the rock of Sourther is composed. It is therefore very pro- 

 bable, that they had been brought thither for making a fire-place, 

 as their arrangement seemed to indicate that they had been used 

 for this purpose. 



Having examined these small passages, our travellers returned, 

 and proceeded towards the great cavern at their commencement, 

 and to enter which it was necessary to climb an equal height. They 

 found it much larger, but more hideous, and totally dark. On 

 first entering, they supposed it to be nothing but a simple cavity ; 

 but on passing forward they discovered, in front of the entrance, a 

 small partition, or kind of column, which, however, was of no 

 great extent: it is a kind of gallery extending beyond the cavern, 

 and to which they formerly gave the name of the Little Fort. On 

 one side is a wall, or kind of rampart, built of lava-stone that has 

 been conveyed thither for that purpose. The Stourlonga-Saga, 

 vol. 5, represents this place as a security against any attack, be- 



OLAFSEN.] I 



