164 
ANDERSON \ THE VOLCANOES OF ICELAND. 
of Iceland. They are very numerous, and as various in their volume 
as in the composition of their waters and the products deposited from 
them. The great Geyser, which has been so often described, spouts 
its mighty volume of water, only slightly charged with silica, and 
deposits a silicious sinter called Geyserite ; and several other springs, 
such as at Reykjames, deposit similar formations ; others are so 
charged with ferruginous and sulphurous mud, that they appear like 
boiling cauldrons of red and blue paint. Some of the Reykjanses 
springs, and many of those at Krisuvik, are of this kind, as are the 
more celebrated mud Geysers of Krabla, in the north of the island. 
At Krisuvik, and some other places, but connected with the 
springs, are fumaroles, from which some sulphurous vapour and 
steam escapes. This has given rise to deposits more or less extensive 
of sulphurous earth or mud, on the top of which a crust forms on 
which it is possible to walk ; care is however necessary, for if the 
traveller should happen to go through the crust, he will be precipi- 
tated into a mass of boiling sulphurous mud. It has been proposed 
to work these deposits for shipment to England, and a company was 
formed which came to an untimely end. We visited the house built 
for the manager at the springs ; it was built of galvanised iron. 
Could any one have conceived a material less likely to resist sulphur 
fumes ? There were many difficulties which operated to prevent 
success. The natural idea would have been to burn the crude 
sulphur in calcaroni or kilns, like those used in Sicily. The heat 
produced by the burning of part of the sulphur melts the remainder, 
and runs out in a refined state into moulds. But in Sicily the deposit 
is dry, here it was liquid mud ; there was no means of drying it. 
Krisuvik is near the sea, and this was conspicuously marked on the 
map published at the time ; but the coast is rocky, and there is no 
landing-place. In. reality, the sulphur had to be carried on ponies for 
many miles over the mountains to Hafnafjord. We were told that 
about seventy horses died one year, and the attempt was then 
abandoned. No wonder the venture was unprofitable to the share- 
holders. 
The rivers of Iceland are large and out of all proportion to the 
island, and are especially large and dangerous in the southern part, as 
