INTRODUCTION 
The excellent and well-known Letters on 
Iceland, published by the Archbishop Von Troil, 
had filled me at an early age with the most 
ardent desire to visit that most interesting coun¬ 
try, to see its volcanic mountains and its boil¬ 
ing springs, unequalled by any in the known 
world. The small degree of intercourse, however, 
carried on by England with that obscure part 
of the globe, and still more, the unfriendly dis¬ 
position of the Danish government towards our 
nation, scarcely allowed me even to entertain a 
hope that an opportunity would present itself of 
gratifying such a wish, till, in the spring of the 
year 1809, Sir Joseph Banks most unexpectedly 
proposed to me, as a compensation for my not 
having it in my power, during that season, to 
put in execution a projected voyage to a tropical 
climate, that I should take my passage in a 
