126 
THE GEYSERS. 
formed of a loosely laminated rock, whose strata 
seemed to lie in almost every direction, but 
chiefly vertically. There was no appearance 
whatever of any part of the hill having been in 
a state of fusion. Many of the strata were still 
in their original bed, and the pieces which had 
fallen from them had their edges very sharply 
defined, and had broken oflp in laminae, of about 
an inch in thickness. The stone is extremely 
hard and compact, of a rusty brown color, in 
some specimens more inclining to grey, and 
with a perfectly smooth and flat surface. Sir 
John Stanley supposes that its substance is chiefly 
argillaceous, and that, like every other stone in 
the island, it has undergone some change by 
fire. I met with nothing remarkable on the 
summit, where there is a considerable extent of 
flat surface, almost covered with Trichostomum 
canescens', intermixed with the Lichen islan - 
dicus; and from each extremity of this plain 
arises a conical eminence, unequal in height, 
of the same nature as the rock it springs from, 
and producing no plants that are not to be seen 
equally abundant in various other parts of the 
country. The most scarce were Trichostomum 
ellipticum , which grows in tolerable plenty upon 
the dry rocks, and Andraca Rothii , which, though 
it has been found in but few countries, is very 
abundant in Iceland. The top of Laugerfell 
