BORGAFIORD. 
239 
seen, and the whole district wore an aspect of 
comfort that seemed to bespeak a greater degree 
of wealth than is to be met with in any other 
part of the island. On our left was a bay, or 
rather arm of the sea, called Borgar-jiord, from 
which the neighboring country takes its name. 
At Leera , we stopped at an excellent house, 
belonging to a sysselman, who had married a 
sister of the Tatsroed, and who would not suffer 
us to depart without setting before us some 
coffee, roast mutton, rum, and claret, and forcing 
us to partake of his hospitality; neither could 
we prevent him from accompanying us on our 
way till we had reached a difficult pass upon a 
mountain, through which he observed that the 
Tatsroed, however well acquainted with the 
such plants I endeavored to make out a list, but I can, 
at this time, only call to mind, with any degree of certainty, 
some of the class Cryptogcimia, which I was particular in ex¬ 
amining on the spot, and which I have already taken notice 
of in two or three places. It may be observed, that a higher 
degree of temperature in the air extends but for a few yards 
at any time, in consequence of the steam, and when this latter 
ascends perpendicularly, the ground receives none of its in¬ 
fluence. But how pernicious must be the effect of a westerly 
breeze, wafting the heated vapor upon the young and tender 
plant, when followed, as is often the case, almost im¬ 
mediately, by a wind from the east, that drives the steam in 
another direction, and chills with frost what had been the 
day before exposed to so much heat! 
