140 
THE GEYSERS. 
of the country are not unfrequent. One hap¬ 
pened but a short time previous to the visit of 
Sir John Stanley, who conjectures, that this 
probably enlarged the cavities, communicating 
with the bottom of the pipe of the new Geyser; 
for it is to be remarked, that till then, (June, 
1789) that spring had not played for a con¬ 
siderable length of time with any degree of vio¬ 
lence*. A party of Horsewomen^, well dressed, 
and riding, some astride and some on the saddles 
of the country, who were passing the Geysers, 
* See Edinburgh Transactions , v. iii. p. 150. 
f These ladies with their long riding coats and their tall 
head-dresses had, at some distance from the spectator, very 
much the appearance of a little troop of horse soldiers.—An 
Icelandic lady’s saddle is totally unlike an English one, being 
furnished with a semicircular elevated back, like that which 
is attached to some of our old-fashioned chairs; so that a 
lady sits as much at her ease as the travellers in the passage 
of Quindiu in the Cordilera of the Andes, who are described 
by M. Humboldt as inhumanly riding in chairs strapped on the 
backs of their fellow men. Sitting sideways, therefore, the 
Icelandic women lean their backs against this support, and 
place their feet upon a small board, which is affixed to the 
saddle at a proper height by means of two straps. The back 
of the saddle is often richly ornamented with brass, carved 
or embossed into various figures: the girths, also, are fur¬ 
nished with rich silver buckles and with plates of the same 
metal, and the saddle-cloth frequently affords a beautiful spe¬ 
cimen of the abilities of the owner at working in tambour. 
