A CATCHER OF GNATS. 
103 
have arrested the further progress of the lava torrent. 
A lovelier scene I have seldom witnessed. In the 
foreground lay huge masses of rock and lava, tossed 
about like the ruins of a world, and washed by waters 
as bright and green as polished malachite. Beyond, 
a bevy of distant mountains, robed by the transparent 
atmosphere in tints unknown to Europe, peeped over 
each other’s shoulders into the silver mirror at their 
feet, while here and there from among their purple- 
ridges columns of white vapour rose like altar smoke 
toward the tranquil heaven. 
On returning home we found dinner waiting for 
us. I had invited the clergyman, and a German 
gentleman who was lodging with him, to give us the 
pleasure of their company; and in ten minutes we had 
all become the best of friends. It is true the conver¬ 
sation was carried on in rather a wild jargon, made 
up of six different languages — Icelandic, English, 
German, Latin, Danish, French—but in spite of the 
difficulty with which he expressed himself, it was im¬ 
possible not to be struck with the simple earnest 
character of my German convive. He was about 
five-and-twenty, a u doctor philosophic” and had come 
