TRAVELS THROUGH ICELAND. 



73 



formation, it offers the fullest scope, and the strong reptircussion 

 which gives rise to echo and counter-echo, which, however, is 

 not at all regular in its sound. Travellers who enter this cavern 

 from curiosity, amuse themselves by singing and hallowing, to. 

 hear the effect But it is more remarkable, that the slightest 

 sounds are distinctly repeated; as for example, on merely cough- 

 ing or speaking in one's usual tone, a melancholy sound or mur- 

 mur succeeds. Several niches are observable in this cavern, as 

 well as many runic and magical characters engraved on the rock ; 

 but most of them are effaced by time. The date of the earliest 

 which we could recognize was 1483. 



HEIGHT OF THE GLACIER. 



We were assured that some persons had succeeeded in mea- 

 suring the height of the Glacier, from a plain called Breid, 

 situated to the eastward, about a quarter of a mile east of 

 the castle; we could not, however, succeed in this point, on 

 account of the badness of the weather, which prevented us from 

 using our barometer. The Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen 

 had indeed taken the trouble to send us tubes and mercury for 

 constructing one ourselves; but it may easily be conceived, how 

 difficult the conveyance of such instruments must be on horse- 

 back; besides which, all the utensils necessary for their con- 

 struction were wanting: those which we had, contained air, and 

 were consequently in such a state^, as not to enable us to trust to 

 their graduation. 



The inhabitants of this part of the country considered it as rash- 

 ness in us to attempt to escalade the glacier; they gave us a 

 frightful picture of the dangers and difficulties we should encoun- 

 ter, and assured us, that it was impossible to reach the summit 

 of the steep rocks in our view ; that, besides, nobody could even 

 arrive at them, on account of the ruggedness of the road, and the 

 holes in the ice, w hich could not be passed without the risk of 

 being every instant precipitated and lost. They likewise added, 

 that if we gained the summit, we should be exposed to the loss 

 of our sight by the strong repercussion of the rays of the sun, 

 which fall incessantly on the icicles. They then informed us, 

 that two hundred years ago, two English sailors made an attempt 

 to escalade this glacier; that they succeeded in reaching the sum- 

 mit, but one of them soon after became blind, and being sepa- 

 rated from his companion, wandered about the mountain till he 

 perished, because the other was unable to render him any assist- 

 ance in descending. The latter, hower, took the precaution to 

 kill a lamb, and carrying the blood in a leather bottle, dropt it on 

 the ground as he advanced; so that, though his sight was much 

 injured, he could distinctly observe the red spots on the ice, and 



OLAFSEN.] K 



