TRAVELS IN ICELAND. 



39 



WESTERN QUARTER OF ICELAND. 



Having noticed every thing of interest in the southern, our 

 travellers arrived at the western quarter of Iceland, which is 

 comprized under the name of Borgarfiord. It was spring when 

 they intended to set off for this district ; but the weather was 

 so rigorous, that they could not use horses for travelling till 

 towards the middle of summer. They at length arrived on the 

 1st August, in the jurisdiction or district of Borgar : this district 

 is 14 Danish miles long from S. W. to N. E. that is, from the 

 mouth of the Gulf of Borgar, on the point of Akranoes, to the 

 land of Arnavatn, situated to the north of Fiskevatm It is com- 

 puted to be 8 miles in width in a direct line from the Gulf of 

 Hval to the river of Hitar, and something more by the way of 

 the mountains. The district is divided into two portion?, one 

 ^n each side of the river Hvit, and contains twenty parishes. 



R EM ARK ABLE MOUNTAINS. 



This district is full of high and steep mountains, which mostly 

 proceed from the grand chain that separates the northern from 

 the southern part of Iceland, and from the tops of these may 

 be discovered the different glaciers, of which that of Geitland 

 only belongs to this quarter. All these mountains are consi- 

 dered as primitive, while those to the S. E. nearHvalfiord are re- 

 garded as secondary, and have greater analogy with that of Esiau, 

 already mentioned. The Thyril is a summit that forms a round 

 and very high peak, which is very steep towards the sea ; it 

 has received the name of Thyril, because the currents of air 

 turn spirally round its top, and occasion furious whirlwinds, 

 which take their direction from N. to N. W. and hence travellers 

 £_re obliged to take the greatest precautions on approaching it. 

 This mountain is formed of several horizontal strata ; and its 

 height is estimated at 1,800 feet: The highest of the other 

 mountains cannot be much less than from 4000 to 5000 feet. 



OF THE FORMATION OF NEW GLACIERS. 



On passing on the 6th August, near the mountainous summit 

 called Mofeli, we perceived at its top a long extent of ice. 

 On arriving at the nearest hamlet, we asked the peasants if 

 the ice, which covered a part of the Mofeli, did not melt in 

 summer ? They ans wered in the negative ; and added, that, having 

 been born and brought up in the country, they well remembered 

 in their youth that there was not the least ice to be seen in those 

 parts ; but that having passed a few years in another quarter, 

 they had found with surprize, on their return, the snow had ac- 

 cumulated, and from year to year they observed it to decrease 

 less in summer. This part fronts the N. W. and we remarked., 



