NEAR REIKEVIG. 
69 
attempt visiting them. As the snow was now, 
however, in some measure melted away, and as 
they did not appear to be at a greater distance 
than twelve or fourteen miles, I resolved, if pos¬ 
sible, to climb some part of them to-day, and 
accordingly set off on foot, and without a guide, 
early in the morning for that purpose. But, 
after goins? in as direct a line towards the nearest 
part of them, by the compass, as the nature of the 
country would permit, at six o’clock in the even¬ 
ing, I found myself, apparently, as far from the 
object of my walk as when I set out. This de¬ 
lusion, I apprehend, was owing to the extensive 
valley that I entered yesterday, through which 
the lava had made its course, which was concealed 
from the view of a person looking towards it 
from the neighbourhood of Reikevig, by inter¬ 
vening hills. Except for the first three or four 
miles, the rest of my walk was entirely over the 
Hraun; and a more toilsome excursion can 
hardly be conceived: it seemed to be rendered 
doubly so, by my being obliged to return with¬ 
out reaching the mountains. The immense 
quantity of Trjchostomiim , which covered a 
great part of the lava, and filled up the inter¬ 
stices of it, only rendered walking among it more 
difficult; for it was impossible to see whether 
it concealed a deep hole or a piece of lava, which 
would give way under my feet; and consequently, 
