the beginning the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over all; then light was created, and day sprang out of darkness.

Now, after this long digression, I must return to my narrative.

After a scamper of some hours we saw mountains rising before us; the red charred top of Hlitharfjall became our way mark; presently the beautiful lake Myvatn, or Midge lake, opened before us, studded with countless lava islets; beyond was the sulphur range, yellow as though the sun ever shone on it; near us was Vindbelgr, a mountain perfectly resembling a Tyrolean cap.

After a troublesome scramble over an arm of fresh lava, over which the horses floundered and stumbled, past a pretty tarn cut off from the lake by an arm of lava (Plate X.), over a hill covered with the grass of Parnassus, we came down at a canter to the farm and church of Reykjahlith.