10 



OLAFSEN AND POVELSENS 



with particles of spath. The holes and fissures of this stone 

 are filled with quarz, amongst which may be perceived small 

 hexagonal and rock crystals. On being submitted to fire., the 

 results are not equal., but vary according to the masses of spath 

 and other incombustible matter it contains. 



There is a stone, which the Icelanders call Hraun, or melted 

 stone, from its having been expelled from the bowels of 

 the earth by volcanic ebullitions. In some places, this stone 

 is collected into considerable rocks; it is of the same origin 

 as the lava of Italy, and may be classed with what Linnaeus calls 

 concreted dementi ignei, though differing from the pumice. 

 On traversing the shore in search of shells, our travellers on 

 their journey to Loundoe made the extraordinary discovery of 

 a bed of this lava, rive or six feet thick, and which seems to 

 form the base of that island. Hence they at first thought that 

 subterraneous fires had acted only in this canton ; but they w r ere 

 afterwards convinced, that they have prevailed throughout the 

 south of Iceland, 



The principal minerals found here, are vitriol, iron, and 

 sulphur. 



OF THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 



The district of Kiosar produces such an abundance of grass, 

 that each peasant is enabled to keep during winter six or eight 

 cows and from forty to fifty sheep; but from the small pro- 

 fit they derive from their cattle in the course of the year, 

 it must be concluded, that they are only half-fed, or that the 

 grass is of a very inferior quality to that of the northern and 

 western parts of Iceland ; since the peasantry of those quar- 

 ters acquire full as much advantage from their cattle without 

 giving them half the food they receive in the south. 



There are amongst this people a series of laws connected 

 with agriculture, which comprise the tarifs of the country, besides 

 different statutes relative to commerce : the people implicitly 

 submit to them, though they neither emanated from, nor are 

 sanctioned by, the King. The following is an instance of their 

 nature; a cow is not saleable, unless she give in summer 

 two pots of milk in twelve hours, and then, she is only consi- 

 dered as an inferior animal ; because a good cow is expected 

 to yield from six to ten pots even in winter, provided she be 

 well fed. It has, however, been observed, that in the district 

 of which we are speaking, the cows seldom give more than two 

 pots of milk, and few of them produce more than four, however 

 well they may be kept. 



The bad quality of the grasses and hay may be attributed to 

 several causes. The grass in general has not so much sap, and 



