88 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 
exactly corresponding, though at a different level, 
with those on the face opposite, so cleanly were they 
separated. 
2. Is the sea of lava now lying on the top of the 
original surface. Its depth I had no means of ascer¬ 
taining. 
3. Is the level of the surface first formed when the 
lava was still hot. 
4. Is the plain of Thingvalla, eight miles broad, 
its surface shattered into a network of innumerable 
wide enough to have swallowed the entire company of 
Corah. At the foot of the plain lies a vast lake, into 
which, indeed, it may be said to slope, with a gradual 
inclination from the north, the imprisoned waters 
having burst up through the lava strata, as it subsided 
beneath them. Gazing down through their emerald 
depths, you can still follow the pattern traced on the 
surface of the bottom, by cracks and chasms similar 
to those into which the dry portion of Thingvalla has 
been shivered. 
The accompanying ground plan will, I trust, com¬ 
plete what is wanting to fill up the picture I so long 
