84 
ALMANNEGIAA. 
and scarcely a blade of grass, to clothe the sur¬ 
rounding rocks. Having reached the North¬ 
eastern extremity of the lake* our guide told us 
we were shortly coming to the pass of Alman¬ 
negiaa, which I had heard much of, as one of 
the greatest curiosities in Iceland. We already 
found the ground broken into a number of great 
openings, of various length and width; some so 
deep, that the darkness prevented our seeing the 
bottom, which in others was concealed by ice 
and snow. On a sudden we came to the brink 
of a great precipice, down which we looked into 
Almannegiaa, a monstrous chasm, extending al¬ 
most as far as we could see, in a direct line, 
nearly north and south: through this our road lay. 
A smaller opening branches off in a south-west 
direction, and, a great number of large pieces of 
rock having fallen into it, the natives, without 
any assistance from art, make it serve as an 
entrance to the great chasm. Here, however, 
we were obliged to have all the luggage, even 
the saddles, taken off the horses, and carried on 
the shoulders of our people. The horses' were 
then driven down between the great stones which 
composed the descent. A more rugged pass # 
can hardly be conceived. As we descended by 
* > 
* ff Ce cheniin est aussi dangereux que difficile; il y a une 
“ infinite de degres tallies dans le roc., par ou les homines 
