TRAVELS T N ICELAND. 



9 



strong wind blows from the glaciers of the eastern quarter 

 towards Rangvalle, and the deserts that surround Mount Hecla; 

 because there rises in the air a column of pulverised pumice- 

 stone, sand, and dust, which is conveyed by it beyond the 

 western provinces, as far as Mosfell-Sweit, which distance is 

 equal to two Danish miles. 



OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SOIL. 



We find here as elsewhere, that common kind of black or 

 deep-brown soil, generally called garden-mould; hence grass 

 and plants vegetate on the surface in every spot, where the 

 soil is susceptible of fertility. This mould is tolerably elastic, 

 but its strata are seldom more than a Danish foot in thickness, 

 except in the vicinity of the houses, where it is annually manured. 

 Nearly half of the district in question consists of marshy ground, 

 in which are strata consisting of reddish mixture of sand and 

 clay from three to six inches thick ; beneath this is a stagnant 

 mud, composed of plants that have rotted and a feruginbus 

 ochre ; the latter is very elastic, moist and full of stones, and 

 its layers are generally three or four feet thick. 



of turf (Humus bituminostts). 



Beneath this swampy or putrid soil, is found a bituminous 

 earth, which the inhabitants call Mor or forf, its layers are 

 from six to eight feet deep. It is dug up with a kind of spade, 

 and being cut into cubes and dried, is used as fuel. 



This bituminous earth is here of great advantage as well as 

 in the whole southern part of the island ; because it is a sub- 

 stitute for wood. In digging it they meet with branches of 

 trees, and sometimes even with lumps of wood of a considerable 

 size; and the places where this bitumen is found, were, ac- 

 cording to the accounts of the ancient historians, once covered 

 with forests. Many naturalists assert, that this turf is repro- 

 duced, even after its whole stratum has been carried away; and 

 the Norwegians are of the same opinion. The ashes of tins 

 turf are generally of a red colour. 



At low water, there is also obtained on the shore at Kialarnes 

 another kind of turf, which the inhabitants call Sio ; it burns 

 well, but sparkles and emits a sulphureous smell. It is likewise 

 remarkable, that this turf contains Branches of trees, which 

 proves, that the place where it is found was formerly a part of 

 the land, on which the sea has encroached. Beneath these 

 turfs, is a stratum of soft and swampy mould, and alter it come 

 masses of rocks. 



OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF STONES. 



The most common kind of stone, of which the mountains of 

 this vicinity are formed, is composed of a cemented sand, mixed 



OLAFSEN.] B 



