JOURNEY TO BORGAFIQRD. 219 
several grasses and other plants appeared in the 
places that were free from snow, and at a great 
elevation Geum rivale, which is found in the flat 
meadows of Norfolk, was no less abundant than 
its alpine neighbors, Veronica fruticulosa and 
Arabis alpina . In some hollows of the rock, 
that were filled with the water of the torrent, I 
met for the first time in my life with the Harle¬ 
quin duck (Anas histrionica), which, from what 
I could learn, does not seem to be a scarce bird 
in Iceland. A very serpentine course, in con¬ 
sequence of the steepness of the hill, at length led 
us into a rather extensive level tract of country, 
bounded on all sides by black and lofty moun¬ 
tains. For some way near the banks of a wide 
stream in the centre of this, a tolerable pasture 
was afforded for our horses, and we rested our¬ 
selves awhile at a dwelling called Meuraivatl; a 
thing the more necessary, as a dreary mountain 
ride lay before us, and we were told it would not 
be in our power to meet with grass again till we 
had got round the head of Hval-jiord (the bay of 
whales). The steep and barren sides of Rene - 
waltehauls afforded nothing interesting, but from 
the summit the distant view of snow mountains 
in the more northern part of the island was 
most grand. Here we rode over a bed of rock, 
curled on the surface, which, though cracked 
in a few places with deep fissures, had the ap- 
