loud and rushing noise, like that arising from the fall of a great cascade, immediately at my feet. On putting aside the canvass of iny tent, to observe what could have occasioned it, I saw within a hundred yards of me a column of water rising perpendicularly into the air, from the place just mentioned, to a vast height; but what this height might he, I was so overpowered by my feelings, that I did not, for some time, think of endeavouring to ascertain. In my first impulse I hastened only to look for my portfolio, that I might attempt, at least, to represent upon paper what no words could possibly give an adequate idea of; but in this I found myself nearly as much at a loss as if I had taken my pen for the purpose of describing it, and I was obliged to satisfy myself with very little more than the outline and proportional dimensions of this most magnificent fountain. There was, however sufficient time allowed me to make observations; for, during the space of an hour and half, an interrupted column of water was continually spouted out to the elevation of one hundred and fifty feet, with but little variation, and in a body of seventeen feet in its widest diameter; and this was thrown up with such force and rapidity, that the column continued to nearly the very summit as compact in body, and as regular in width and shape, as when it first issued from the pipe; a few feet only of the upper part breaking into spray, which was forced by a light wind on one side, so as to fall upon the ground at the distance of some paces from the aperture. The breeze also, at times, carried the immense volumes of steam that accompanied the eruption to one side of the column of water, which was thus left open to full view, and we could clearly see

1811.

its base partly surrounded by foam, caused by the column's striking against a projecting piece of rock, near the mouth of the crater; but thence to the upper part, nothing broke the regularly perpendicular line of the sides of the water-spout, and the sun shining upon it rendered it in some points of view of a dazzling brightness. Standing with our backs to the sun, and looking into the mouth of the pipe, we enjoyed the sight of a most brilliant assemblage of all the colours of the rainbow, caused by the decomposi tion of the solar rays passing through the shower of drops that was falling between us and the crater. After the water had risen to the vast height above described, I ventured to stand in the midst of the thickest of the shower of spray; where I remained till my clothes were all wetted through, but still scarcely felt that the water was warmer than my own temperature. On the other, side of the spout, the columu was so undivided, that, though upon the very brink of the crater, within a few inches of the water, I was neither wetted nor had I a fear of being scalded by any falling drops. Stones of the largest size that I could find, and great masses of the siliceous rock, which we threw into the crafer, were instantly ejected by the force of the water; and though the latter were of so solid a nature, as to require very hard blows from a large hammer, when I wanted to procure specimens, they were, nevertheless, by the violence of the explosion, shivered into small pieces, and carried up with amazing rapidity to the full height of, and frequently higher than, the summit of the spout. One piece of a light porous stone was cast at least twice as high as the water, and falling in the direction of the column, was met by it, and H a second

a second time forced up to a great height in the air. The spring, after having continued for an hour and a half spouting its waters in so lofty a column, and with such amazing force, experienced an evident diminution in its strength: and, during the space of the succeeding half hour, the height of the spout varied, as we supposed, from twenty to fifty feet; the fountain gradually becoming more and more exhausted, and sometimes remaining still for a few minutes, after which it again feebly raised its waters to the height of not more than from two to ten feet, till, at the expiration of two hours and a half from the commencement of the eruption, it ceased to play, and the water sunk into the pipe to the depth of about twenty feet, and there continued to boil for some time.

I had no hesitation

in pronouncing this to be, what is called by Sir John Stanley, the New Geyser; although the shape and dimensions of the crater differ somewhat from the description given by that gentleman. But, after a lapse of twenty years, it is not to be expected that, with two such powerful agents as fire and water, constantly operating, a spot like this should be suffered to remain without any alteration. The outline of the aperture is an irregular oval, seventeen feet long and nine feet in width; on only one side of which there is a rim or elevated margin, about five or six feet in length and one foot high; but the ends of this are ragged, as if it had formerly been continued the whole way round the crater, and it is therefore probably a portion of the same wall, which Sir John Stanley describes as nearly surrounding the basin at the time he was there, and as being two feet high. The well is formed by no means with the almost mathemati

cal accuracy of that of the Geyser, but is extremely irregular in its figure, and descends in rather a sloping direction; its surface being composed of a siliceous crust, of a deep greyish brown colour, worn smooth by the continued friction of the water. For several yards, in one direction, in the neighbourhood, where the water flows off in a shallow stream, the bed of this is composed of a thin white covering, of a siliceous deposit. During the eruption of the new Geyser, I could not perceive that it in any way affected the neighbouring springs. I remarked no particular sinking of the water in any, nor did I observe that any boiled more violently than usual. The Geyser, which was filled almost to the rim of the basin, previous to the eruption of the new Geyser, from which it is distant about four hundred yards or more, remained, as nearly as possible, in the same state of fulness during, and after, the eruption. Sir John Stanley also observed the same circumstance, so that in all probability their subter. raneous streams are quite independ ent of each other. We were informed by the people living in the neighbourhood, that in the spring of last year (1808), a violent shock of an earthquake was felt, which made an aperture for another hot spring, and caused the whole of them to cease flowing for fifteen days. The ground, at that time, appeared to be lified up some teet; a house was thrown down, and all the cattle which were at pasture ran home to the dwellings of their mas ters, and showed symptoms of the greatest terror. Earthquakes in this quarter of the country are not unfrequent. One happened but a short time previous to the visit of Sir John Stanley, who conjectures that this probably enlarged the cavities, communicating

municating 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 considerable length of time with any degree of violence. A party of horsewomen, well dressed, and riding, some astride, and some on the saddles of the country, who were passing the Geysers, and directing their course towards Haukardal, reminded me, that service was about to be performed at the church of that place this morning, and therefore, as I saw no probability of a second eruption of the new Geyser immediately taking place, I resolved to leave it, and bear an Icelandic sermon. Accompanied by Jacob and my guide, I crossed a swamp which lay between us and the church; but, previously to entering it, we called upon an old lady, a rich farmer, who lives in the immediate vicinity, and whose hospitality is celebrated by Sir John Stanley. She was eighty-five years of age, and still enjoyed good health, though her faculties were much impaired, so that she scarcely recollected the visit of my countryman. A young man, however, whom she had adopted as her son, remembered him well. Her house, at this time, scarcely deserves the praises which Sir John has given it; for it was as dirty as any I had yet entered, and the closeness of the bed-room, into which we were ushered, was far from pleasant, and, I should suppose, equally far from wholesonic. Yet in these confined rooms, where the external air is scarcely admitted, do the natives spend their time during the long winters, except, indeed, such of it as is necessarily employed in looking after their cattle; and here, too, by excluding the air, and by means of thick walls and a roof of turf, they are enabled to live

without a fire in their sitting room throughout the year. I heard the riches of the inhabitant of Haukardal much talked of; they consisted of ten cows, five rams, and about an hundred sheep. An Icelandic churchyard is often in part inclosed by a rade wall of stone or turf, and the area, excepting only as much as is occupied by the building, is thinly sprinkled over with elevated banks of the green sod, which, alone, serve to mark the burial-places of the natives. This 'spot, previous to the arrival of the minister, on a sabbath, affords a most interesting spectacle. Numerous parties of men, women, and children, who had come on horseback, and in their best apparel, were continually saluting each other; and any person, that had been absent from the place of worship for a more than usual length of time, either through illness or any other cause, was kissed by the whole congregation. As they were little accustomed to see strangers, they all flocked around us, presenting us with milk and cream from the neighbouring farm, and asking us an hundred questions. Many were surprised at our having come so far for the sake of seeing the Geysers, which they are accustomed to look at with the utmost indifference.— The dress of the female children was like that of their parents, and some of them had even an equal number of silver ornaments; most of them wore the fuldur, but some of the younger ones had, instead of it, small caps of black velvet or cloth, which fit close to the head, and are tied under the chin, ornamented with gold lace, and frequently terminated by a silver gilt knob. Caps like this used formerly to be much more generally worn by the children than they are at present; and it is to be remarked, that not H 2

only

only the cap, but the faldur also, when the wearer is on a journey, is carefully wrapped round with two or more chequered silk handkerchiefs, being preserved with the greatest care, as constituting a part of their dress, of which the Icelanders are particularly proud. Beföre the commencement of service, the priest read prayers to a woman after child-birth, who was sitting on a low stool at the church door: and this short ceremony was concluded by his laying his hands on her as she knelt. During the whole time the woman seemed very much affected, and some who were standing round were extremely attentive. The church which (like most others in the island, fronted the west) was similar to the one at Thingevalle, but more commodious, in having benches instead of chests to sit upon. At the time I entered, the priest was at the altar, dressed in a long black gown of wadmal, buttoned from top to bottom in the front, black worsted stockings, and seal-skin shoes: his hair was hanging down a great length, reaching to his shoulders. The women and young children alone sit in the body of the church, the men being ranged round the altar, near which, also, was reserved a place for Jacob and me. It is these latter only that sing, if that monotonous and inharmonious noise which I heard on entering may be called singing, where every one strained his throat to the utmost, and gave out at the same time a most powerful effluvium of tobacco juice, which, mixing with the natural fish-like smell of the natives, rendered my stay among them, in such a confined place, by no means agree able. As soon as the singing had 'ceased, one of the congregation put upon the priest a white surplice of unbleached linen, and over that a

robe, on which was coarsely embroidered a large figure of a cross. He then chanted some prayers from a book, which, with more singing, performed sometimes sitting and sometimes standing, lasted about half an hour. Upon the altar lay a large snuff-box, a cup, and plate of silver, with a bottle of white wine, and a box of red wafers, not at all differing from such as are used in other countries to seal letters with. Of the first mentioned of these articles the priest made frequent use; with the rest he prepared, during the time of singing, for performing the ceremony of the sacrament. He then ascended the pulpit, and, after repeating a few more prayers, delivered, in rather a quick but impressive manner, a sermon of about half an hour's length, after which the sacrament was administered to the congregation, kneeling at the altar; to the men first, and then to the women; the priest putting a wafer and some wine into the mouth of every individual, and repeating at the same time a short prayer. This ceremony terminated the service, except the blessing and salutation, which were bestowed separately upon every one of the congregation, as well male as female. As soon as the whole was concluded, the priest spoke to us, apparently much pleased at seeing strangers in his church: and, on hearing that we were about to set off for Skalholt in our way to Hecla, he begged that we would call at his house, which lay in the road, and would permit him to accompany us to that place, which we thankfully promised to do. Between the church of Haukardal and the hill Laugarfell, the morass abounded in the beautiful little Ranunculus lapponieus in full flower, while in the drier parts grew Carex Bellardi, forming a considerable

a considerable portion of the herbage. At the northern foot of Laugarfell the minute Konigia islandica was in great profusion and perfection, as was also Eriophorum Capitatum of Schrader, a species lately discovered in Sweden. On my return to the tents, I found both the

Geyser and the new Geyser in pretty nearly the same state of fulness as when I left them, and they conti, nued so till about eight o'clock, when there was an extremely fine eruption of the former. The day had been clear but cold, with the thermometer at 41°."

“TH

HE gates of Hamburgh are shut as early as in a garrison town, being never open later than four o'clock in winter, and half past nine in the middle of summer: it is therefore necessary to arrive in this city during the day. This prac tice is adopted to prevent the merchants from residing constantly in their country-houses. Altona being scarcely an English mile from Hamburgh, workmen, journeymen, &c. would pass the whole of Sunday at or in the neighbourhood of that town, every thing being cheaper in the Danish territories than in Hamburgh, and consequently houses would let at a much lower rate, and be a great disadvantage to householders, a considerable part of whose riches consist in the exorbitant profits they make by letting apart

ments.

"Hamburgh is very dirty, and almost always damp. The streets are ill paved, narrow, and in many parts made still more inconvenient by the houses projecting forward. The latter are built both of brick and wood, and the generality have pointed roofs, forming a triangle in iront. The walls are thick, the win

dows narrow, and so very numerous, with so small a space between them, that those belonging to the lower class might very well be mistaken for manufactories. This indeed is frequen ly the case in other parts of Germany.

"The city is lighted by 1473 reflecting lamps, which are not sufficiently numerous for the size of the town; people of fortune, however, and rich merchants (the number of whom is very considerable) always place two additional ones at their doors. The inhabitants of Hamburgh do not amount to more than one hundred and ten thousand, near twelve thousand of whom are Jews. We indeed heard, during our residence in that city, that it contained above one hundred and thirty thousand; but our informants either wished to deceive us, or were deceived themselves.

"The only public walk within the gates is a kind of mall between rows of trees, on the edge of a large bason, formed by the river Alster, called Binnen Alster. This is much longer than it is represented to be by Mr. de Reisbeck, since it requires more than three quarters of

an