ICELAND. 



77 



roof, beneath which the molten stream flowed on to lower levels, leaving a vast 

 cavern into which the upper crust subsequently plumped down." In the lapse 

 of years, the bottom of the Almannagja has become gradually filled up to an 

 even surface, covered with the most beautiful turf, except where the river 

 Oxeraa, bounding in a magnificent cataract from the higher plateau over the 

 precipice, flows for a certain distance between its walls. At the foot of the 

 fall the waters linger for a moment in a dark, deep, brimming pool, hemmed 

 in by a circle of ruined rocks, in which anciently all women convicted of 

 capital crimes were immediately drowned. Many a poor crone, accused of 

 witchcraft, has thus ended her days in the Almannagja. As may easily be im- 

 agined, it is rather a nerve-trying task to descend into the chasm over a rugged 

 lava-slope, where the least false step may prove fatal ; but the Icelandic horses 

 are so sure-footed that they can safely be trusted. From the bottom it is 

 easy to distinguish on the one face marks and formations exactly correspond- 

 ing, though at a different level, with those on the face opposite, and evidently 

 showing that they once had dovetailed into each other, before the igneous 

 mass was rent asunder. 



Two leagues from Kalmanstunga, in an immense lava-field, which probably 

 originated in the Bald Jokul, are situated the renowned Surts-hellir, or caves 

 of Surtur, the prince of darkness and fire of the ancient Scandinavian mytholo- 

 gy. The principal entrance to the caves is an extensive chasm formed by the 

 falling in of a part of the lava-roof ; so that, on descending into it, the visitor 

 finds himself right in the mouth of the main cavern, which runs in an almost 

 straight line, and is nearly a mile in length. Its average height is about forty, 

 and its breadth fifty feet. The lava-crust which forms its roof is about twelve 

 feet thick, and has the appearance of being strMified and columnar, like basaltic 

 pillars, in its formation. Many of the blocks of lava thus formed have become 

 detached and fallen into the cavern, where they lie piled up in great heaps, and 

 heavily tax the patience of the traveller, who has to scramble over the rugged 

 stones, and can hardly avoid slipping and stumbling into the holes between 

 them, varied by pools of water and masses of snow. But after having toiled 

 and plodded to the extremity of this dismal cavern, his perseverance is amply 

 rewarded by the sight of an ice-grotto, whose fairy beauty appears still more 

 charming, in contrast with its gloomy vestibule. From the crystal floor rises 

 group after group of transparent pillars tapering to a point, while from the 

 roof brilliant icy pendants hang down to meet them. Columns and arches of 

 ice are ranged along the crystalline walls, and the light of the candles is reflect- 

 ed back a hundred-fold from every side, till the whole cavern shines with aston- 

 ishing lustre. Mr. Holland, the latest visitor of the Surts-hellir, declares he 

 never saw a more brilliant spectacle ; and the German naturalist, Preyer, pro- 

 nounces it one of the most magnificent sights in nature, reminding him of the 

 fairy grottoes of the Arabian Nights' Tales. 



From the mountains and the vast plateau which occupies the centre of the 

 island, numerous rivers descend on all sides, which, fed in summer by the melt- 

 ing glaciers, pour enormous quantities of turbid water into the sea, or convert 

 large alluvial flats into morasses. Though of a considerable breadth, their 



