dalr, and drilled a hole in the stone, so that, by looking through this, the eye might rest directly on the entrance to the glen. The opening is distinguishable enough from the point; but the slab, though it still stands, has been shaken out of the upright by some of the convulsions of the volcano, so that the hole does not point directly to the vale.

My intention was, to have examined this traditional dale, but the grass was not sufficiently grown to allow of the horses being kept more than a day in the neighbourhood, and it was absolutely necessary that we should have fine weather for the passage of Kaldidalr.

Thorir's vale receives its name from a Troll or mountain being who dwelt there; he is vaguely mentioned in the Gretla, but he is spoken of also in the Bárthar-Saga. In all probability, the Trolls of old Icelandic historical romance were nothing more than ruffians who lived in dens and caves of the earth, robbing bonders and preying on wayfarers. This is remarkably borne out by the fact of one of Grettir's friends, Hallmund, spoken of in the Gretla as a man whose hand was against every man, being named in the Bárthar-Saga as a Troll or evil being.

Several attempts have been made to rediscover Thorisdalr, but all have been unsuccessful. Messrs. Olafsen and Povelsen mention an account of the ascent of Geitland's Jökull by Bjärnarson and Helgi, two Icelandic ecclesiastics, but state that their journal was written in such a confused style that it was difficult to make anything of it. According to this account, they arrived towards evening, in delightful weather, at a large valley situated in the heart of Geitland's Jökull; it was of such depth that they could not distinguish whether it were covered with grass or not, and the descent to it was so steep that they were not able to go down, and consequently they returned. Messrs. Olafsen and Povelsen themselves effected an ascent of the glacier, but without discovering the mysterious vale, probably because they climbed the mountain from the Kalmanstúnga side, whilst the glen lies on that nearest to Skjaldbreith. Their account of the ascent is as follows: