262 return to inderholme. 
almost made me forget the desert scenery which 
was on every side of us. That I might be able 
to say I had eaten my dinner in an Icelandic 
forest, the Amptman spread a cloth, and produced 
some rum and provisions that he had brought 
with him for the purpose, of which we partook, 
protected by the shade of the birch trees from the 
r&ys of the sun, though not from any heat which 
these rays would have afforded, for the cold was 
still very severe, and it w r as but a short time after 
our sylvan repast, before we had to ride a con¬ 
siderable length of way in the midst of a heavy fall 
of snow. On coming out from the wood and look¬ 
ing up to a part of Skardsheidi that was below even 
the height that we had crossed but a few days be¬ 
fore, we could clearly discover the currents of 
water which had run down the almost perpen¬ 
dicular parts of the mountain, to be.in a congealed 
state, and to form so many broad lines of solid ice, 
the appearance of which, upon the black face of the 
naked rock, was no less curious than interesting, at 
such a season of the year. As we approached the 
shore again, we came among a vast number of 
huge stones, scattered at various distances about a 
great plain, so much frequented by eagles, that at 
one view we remarked no less than five of these 
birds perched upon the rocks at a small distance 
from us, and so fearless were they of strangers that 
I was able to ride within thirty or forty yards of 
