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above the morasses at the summit of the pass. It was near midnight when I sketched this scene, clouds eddied and whirled around the mountains, condensing on the snow; and the sun, shining through vapour, lighted the peak with a nebulous glow. We were the first to surmount the Öxnadals heithi

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this year, and the

MOUNTAIN IN OXNADALR.

track had been completely obliterated by the spring torrents. Long beds of shale rested loosely on the heads of rock walls, which sunk to a vast depth, their bases chafed by a roaring stream, which rolled past unseen in the gloom of the chasm it had torn for itself. The horses passed

these slopes trembling, and with the greatest caution, dislodging quantities of rubble and sand as they planted each foot, sending them in avalanches down the gorge.

In the marshes at the head of the passes are the sources of the Northrá and Öxnará, which flow respectively west and east, the former flowing into the Heradsvatn, which pours into the Skaga-fjord, and the latter joining the Hörgá, which enters the Eyja-fjord some miles north of Akureyri. The Öxnadal, down which we rode, is girded in by bluffs of basalt reaching to the snows, overleaped by magnificent waterfalls; through the gaps they have torn one obtains peeps of snowy cones and pyramids. The porkpie-shaped mountain top I engrave, was hastily scribbled down whilst I was in my saddle, as the clouds momentarily parted around it.

It was four o'clock in the morning when we reached Steinstathr, drenched to the skin by the passage of the Thverá (cross-stream), a fretful torrent which lay athwart our path.

The farmer, an M.P. for his district, received us warmly, though we had to rout him out of bed on our arrival. A bed was made for me, but Grímr had, I believe, to share one with the farmer and his wife.

We were not down to breakfast till two o'clock in the afternoon, and then we had an excellent repast off roast mutton.

As the sun was burning brightly in the sky, I retired behind a wall which sheltered me from the bitter wind, to bask in the unwonted warmth. It was pleasantly hot, but too much for Grímr, who lay for a little while beside me, and was then so overcome by the sun's power as to be indisposed for the rest of the day, and obliged to go to bed.

Steinstathr is prettily situated immediately under a jökull, which rises up in one start to the snows, and without buttresses. Opposite the farm is a range of singular rocks, several thousand feet high, with a saw-like edge, apparently quite sharp, so that the snow can never lie on them.

During the night a caravan belonging to a Danish merchant arrived, consisting of thirty horses, laden with wares from the station of Hófsós (pronounced Hopsoase), at which

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