ceived, so deep, that in many places no bottom is to be found, and at the same time so clear, that, on throwing in a stone, its descent may be traced with the eye for a considerable length of time. We saw abundance of small fish swimming here, some of which we caught, and found to be the young of the Thingevalle trout; so that, although at a considerable distance from the lake, in all probability some of the subterraneous caves which abound, together with the chasms, all over this district communicate with it. A little herbage covers the intermediate spaces between the clefts, but the more common alpine Lichens and Mosses occupy the greater part of the surface. Dicranum purpureum astonished me by its size and abundance. In some of the caverns, among the drippings of the rock, several plants of Veronica fruticulosa were displaying their lovely blossoms, and, on the edge both of the caves and precipices, Polygonum viviparum grew in such profusion as to form thick tufts, several feet in diameter, and of great size. Cattle are often sent here to graze, but not without the annual loss of several, which fall into the holes and perish. The priest Egclosen had himself a narrow

escape from death, having one evening slipped into a chasm that was half filled with snow, where he remained till the next morning, when he was searched for, and, fortunately, discovered in time to save his life. On returning to the house, we found the women and girls milking the sheep, which were for this purpose enclosed in a large oblong foursided wall, made of lava and turf, in alternate layers, with a door for the admittance of the women, and a small square opening, just high enough to permit the sheep and lambs to be driven in: a still smaller one communicates with another little enclosure, into which, through this aperture, which is not large enough to admit the sheep, the lambs are put, whilst the mothers are milked; otherwise, they would be restless and unwilling to stand still. Many of these sheep afforded a quart of milk, of a rich quality, but that which comes of the second milking, is, by far, the best; for it is the custom here, having milked the whole flock, to begin again and milk them a second time. The cows are milked in the open ground, with their hind legs tied by means of a horse-hair line. From the milking-place, we visited the church, which stands

upon a little eminence, at a short distance from the minister's dwelling. It was of a simple construction; in form, an oblong quadrangle, with thick walls, leaning a little inwards, composed also of alternate layers of lava and turf. The roof was of turf, thickly covered with grass, and, from the top of this to the ground, the building was scarcely more than sixteen or eighteen feet high. The entrance end alone was of unpainted fir planks, placed vertically, with a small door of the same materials. I was surprised to find the body of the church crowded with large old wooden chests, instead of seats; but I soon understood that these not only answered the purpose of benches, but also contained the clothes of many of the congregation, who, as there was no lock on the door, had at all times free access to their wardrobes. The walls had no covering whatever, nor had the floor any pavement, except a few ill-shapen pieces of rock, which were either placed there intentionally, or, as seems most probable, had not been removed from their natural bed at the time of the building of the church. There was no regular ceiling: only a few loose planks, laid upon some beams, which crossed the church at about

the height of a man, held some old bibles, some chests, and the coffin of the minister, which he had made himself, and which, to judge from his aged look, he probably soon expected to occupy. The whole length of the church was not above thirty feet, and about six or eight of this was parted off by a kind of screen of open work (against which the pulpit was placed) for the purpose of containing the altar, a rude sort of table, on which were two brass candlesticks, and, over it, two extremely small glass windows, the only places that admitted light, except the door-way. Two large bells hung on the right-hand side of the church, at an equal height with the beams. I observed that the Icelanders pull off their

hats, on entering

their place of worship. We left our friend Egclosen to take his rest at Thingevalle; but, preferring to sleep in the tent myself, after being abundantly supplied with trout and milk, we returned to Almannegiaa. On walking to the north of the chasm, I met with a few scarce plants: among them were Carex atrata, extremely fine, Saxifraga rivularis, Veronica fruticulosa, Osmunda lunaria, Polypodium arvonicum, and Hypnum silesianum. I much regretted not being

able to spend more time here; but, as a visit to the Geysers was the principal object of my journey, I thought it best to accomplish that first, and, if there were leisure, to wait here a few days on my return: we therefore proposed, should the weather be suitable, to continue our route early in the morning.

Wednesday, July 12.

The morning proved fine, and we had scarcely breakfasted, when Egclosen and Thorlavsen (son to the priest of Thingevalle) called us to proceed on our journey. They both kindly offered to accompany me some way, that they might point out such objects as were most worth our attention. We stopped at Thingevalle, to take leave of the priest, and, having refreshed ourselves with some rich cream which he offered us, we then pursued our course in a south-easterly direction, among the innumerable cracks, rents, and hills of rugged lava, which rendered travelling extremely fatiguing for the horses, and by no means free from danger; for a false step, or a rolling stone, would infallibly have precipitated both the animal and his rider to