KREISEVIG. 
199 
entirely of Bolus * of various colors; among 
which, however, red was the predominant one; 
a bluish gray, also, was extremely abundant, 
and we met with yellow and yellowish white in 
smaller patches; all of them extremely soft and 
unctuous to the touch. These boles of different 
colors, although not separated from one another 
by the intervention of any other mineral sub¬ 
stance, were in general unmixed, and, by digging 
to the depth of a foot, we were enabled to see 
them lying in separate strata, each color being 
kept quite distinct from the other. In Iceland 
the only bolus that the natives make any use of 
is the red, which mixes with oil, and is frequently 
employed by people of higher condition to color 
the wooden doors and entrances of their houses. 
I have also seen tables painted with this ingre¬ 
dient, which looked extremely well. From these 
beds of bolus we proceeded towards a fountain of 
considerable dimensions some way up the side of 
a mountain, passing, as we went along, nume¬ 
rous sothers of less importance, most of them 
environed by bolus and sulphur. Of the latter 
* It may be well to observe that Bolus is described by mi- 
neralogical writers as a viscid earth, less coherent and more 
friable than clay, more readily uniting with water, and more 
freely subsiding from it. It is soft and unctuous to the 
touch, adheres to the tongue, and by degrees melts in the 
mouth, impressing a slight sense of astringency. 
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