yet they were soon relieved by an order, issued by the British cabinet, prohibiting all acts of hostility against Iceland and the rest of the Danish colonies in the Arctic Seas, and taking the inhabitants and their property under the special protection of Great Britain. Since 1815, a new regulation, issued by the court of Denmark, allows British ships to proceed to Iceland, on condition of their procuring a special license from Copenhagen.

Physical Features.] A country less inviting to the enterprise of adventurers than Iceland, can scarcely be imagined. Surrounded by stormy seas, the mountains covered with eternal snow, the barren plains devastated by volcanic fire, this island seems not to have been framed by nature for the habitation of man. The country in general is mountainous: but in some districts, particularly those extending from the S. W. to the N. W. coasts, nearly through the centre of the island, there are extensive plains, covered with herbage only near the sea, or where morasses have been formed. The highest mountains, some of them reaching an elevation of 6000 feet, are on the east and west sides of the island. They are in groups; and those called Jokuls, which are covered with perpetual snow, are chiefly, if not all, volcanic. Between the ridges of the mountains in the vicinity of the coasts are rich and beautiful vallies, in which the inhabitants have erected their dwellings; and many of the lower mountains are covered with coarse grass, which affords summer pasturage to the cattle. About two-sevenths of the whole island are capable of culture, but the population is extended only over a tract along the coast, of about 300 square miles. The whole of the interior, as far as has yet been explored, consists of a vast inhospitable desert, traversed in various directions by barren mountains, between which are immense tracts of lava and volcanic sand, with here and there a small spot scantily covered with vegetation.

Bays, Lakes, and Rivers.] The coast, except towards the south, is much indented by arms of the sea; but, with the exception of Havensfiord on the S. W., there is scarcely a safe winter-harbour. The Isafiorden on the N. W., the Hana-fiorden on the N., the Vapnafiorden on the E., and the Bridafiorden on the W., are the principal bays. There is a considerable number of lakes in different parts of the island, some of which are of great extent. The principal are those called Thingvallae Vatn, My Vatn, and Fiske Vatn. The first of these is about 10 miles long, and from 3 to 4 broad. The My Vatn is never known to freeze. The Dinpalon, on the peninsula of Snäfiälnäs, has high and low tides. There are many large rivers formed by the melting of the snow on the Jokuls; and they have all a turbid appearance; some of them being so white as to resemble milk diluted with water, have received the name of Huit-aae, or the White River.' Several emit a fœtid smell, particularly when they issue from the snow. Besides these large rivers, there are many smaller, the water of which is transparent. Along almost all the southern coast, eastward from Eyarbark, where the great river Elvas empties itself into the sea, there are extensive shoals, formed, no doubt, by the deposition of the rivers proceeding from the great range of Jokuls to the eastward of Mount Hecla.

Volcanoes.] Iceland, most probably, owes its origin to subterranean fire, the terrible effects of which are, at almost every step, still visible. Mountains of grit and ashes, immense tracts of lava, and beds of brimstone, are the melancholy records of numberless volcanic eruptions;

while tepid marshes, fountains of boiling water, with smoke and flame rising continually through the rifts of the ice-enveloped mountains, give fearful proofs that the mighty agent imprisoned below has abated but little of its activity.

Hecla.] Mount Hecla is famous among volcanic mountains, and, though not the highest, is pre-eminent among the mountains of Iceland, as having been a burning mountain at least since the year 1106, since which, more than twenty eruptions, one of them so late as 1818, have been recorded. For leagues round it nothing is to be seen but stones and lava, without the least particle of vegetation; and the very rocks of the mountain itself are fractured in every direction. But the destructive agency of volcanic fire has by no means been confined to Hecla-almost every mountain in the island either is, or has been a volcano; and, it is remarked by the inhabitants, that as the snow and ice seem to close over one crater, the devouring element forces for itself a passage at another. These eruptions here, as elsewhere, are always preceded and accompanied by tremendous noises issuing from the bowels of the earth, earthquakes, and sometimes by violent tempests. The destructive agency of the volcanoes in the interior is less felt, as the central districts of the island are totally uninhabited.

Geysers.] The greatest curiosities which Iceland presents are the springs of hot water, especially the magnificent and tremendous explosions of the Geysers. These extraordinary fountains are situate about 16 miles north of Skalholt, on the east side of a small ridge, separated from some high mountains by a narrow swamp. Besides the principal fountains, there are a great number of boiling springs, cavities full of hot water, and several from which steam issues. There are also some places full

of boiling mud, gray and red. The silicious depositions of the water of the great Geyser, have formed for it a basin 56 feet in diameter in one direction, and 46 in the other. In the centre of this basin is a cylindrical pipe or pit, ten feet in diameter. Through this pit, the hot water rises gradually, filling it and the basin, after which it runs over in small quantities. At intervals of some hours, when the basin is full, explosions are heard from below, like the firing of cannon at a distance; and at the same time, a tremulous motion of the ground is felt around the basin. Immediately the water rises in a mass from the pit, and sinking again, causes the water in the basin to be agitated and to overflow. Another and stronger propulsion follows, and clouds of vapour ascend; at length strong explosions take place, and large quantities of steam escaping, the water is thrown to a great height, generally from 30 to 90 feet. The steam coming in contact with the air is condensed into vapour, thick clouds of which are tossed and rolled one over another with great rapidity, the whole forming a very singular and magnificent exhibition. After continuing for some time, the explosions cease, when the basin and pipe are found empty. Bursts of steam sometimes take place when the water is rising, without any warning by subterraneous noise. These phenomena are evidently caused by the production and confinement of steam in cavities so formed that when the accumulation arrives at a certain point, the pressure of the water opposing its escape is overcome, and the water is thrown out before it. The New Geyser-as it was called by Sir John Stanley-is about 130 paces from the great one. It is an irregular shaped pit, nine feet in its greatest diameter. About 20 feet below the orifice-which is not surrounded by an accumulation of silicious

matter as the other-the water is seen in great agitation. At irregular intervals, the water is tossed out of the pit to a great height, followed by a prodigious rush of steam, accompanied with a roaring noise. The force is so great, that even when there is a good deal of wind, the vapour forms a perpendicular column, nearly 70 or 80 feet high; and when large stones are thrown into the pit, they are shivered to pieces, and thrown out to a height often far beyond that of the jet of vapour and water.17

Hot Springs.] The most curious of the springs in Iceland is the Tunguhver, in the valley of Reckholt. Among a great number of boiling springs, are two cavities within a yard of each other, from which the water spouts alternately. While from one the water is thrown about ten feet high in a narrow jet, the other cavity is full of water boiling violently. This jet continues about four minutes, and then subsides, when the water from the other immediately rises in a thicker column to the height of three or four feet. This continues about three minutes, when it sinks and the other rises, and so on alternately. It is difficult to imagine the structure of the cavities which occasion this irregular alteration, nor would it be easy to construct a piece of mechanism, of which steam is the prime mover, to imitate the phenomena. In the middle of the river, which runs through the valley of Reckholt, is a small rock, from the top of which hot springs issue. At Reckholt is a bath, which was constructed 600 years ago, by the famous Snorro Sturleson. It is 14 feet in diameter, and 6 feet deep, being supplied with hot water from a spring about a hundred yards distant, by means of a covered conduit which has been much damaged by an earthquake. There was also a spring of cold water brought to it, so that any desired temperature might be obtained.

Climate.] Though this island occupies a more southerly latitude, and presents, on the whole, a much greater extent of vegetation than the adjacent continent, it has nevertheless been unfortunately doomed to bear the repulsive name of Iceland, while the other has been favoured with the pleasing and animating appellation of Greenland. The imposition of these names was wholly arbitrary, according to the accidental circumstances of the individuals with whom they originated. Flocke, the third adventurer to Iceland, happening to ascend one of the mountains in the western peninsula, discovered a bay completely filled with Greenland ice, and therefore thought himself entitled to change the name given to the island by his predecessors, to that which it has ever since retained. The consequence has been, that the generality of those who inhabit more genial climes, have viewed it as equally inhospitable with the most rigid of the polar regions,-considering the natives as exposed to all the benumbing influence of relentless frosts, and perpetually immersed in ice or snow. This, however, is far from being the case. The climate is perhaps more unsettled, but it is very seldom that the cold is more intense than in the south of Scandinavia.18 In the course of the last

17 At the time when Mr. Hooker saw it, there was a greater quantity of water than when either Sir John Stanley or Sir George Mackenzie witnessed its eruptions. Indeed, what Mr. Hooker has described as a column of water, Sir George Mackenzie describes as one of vapour. When we consider the immense power of the agent which sets these grand works in play, it is by no means difficult to suppose frequent alterations in their movement and appearance. The destruction of a natural valve, or a slight change in the configuration of the subterraneous pipes and cavities, might occasion variations in the phenomena from time to time.

“At first,” says Dr. Henderson, "I confess I shuddered at the idea of spending

century, the winters of 1717, 1742, 1784, and 1792, were excessively cold; and the sea itself was frozen to such an extent, that a communication was kept up for some time on the ice between the coasts on some of the principal bays, as also between the different islands in the Bidafiorden. The keenest frost ever experienced in Iceland, was in the year 1348, when the ocean was congealed all round the island so as to admit of the inhabitants riding on horseback from one promontory to another on the ice. The longest day of summer, and the longest night of winter, last each of them a week in the extreme north. Storms and hurricanes occur as frequently here as in the Feroe Islands.

Aurora Borealis.] We cannot omit to notice the most striking aërial phenomenon exhibited by an Icelandic winter, viz. the aurora boreales, or northern lights, which are here seen in all their brilliancy and grandeur. I had an opportunity, says Dr. Henderson, of contemplating them almost every clear night the whole winter, sometimes shooting across the hemisphere in a straight line, and presenting to the view, for a whole evening, one vast steady stream of light; but more commonly they kept dancing and running about with amazing velocity, and a tremulous motion, exhibiting, as they advanced, some of the most beautiful curvated appearances. On gaining one point of the hemisphere, they generally collected as if to muster their forces, and then began again to branch out into numerous ranks, which struck off to the greatest distances from each other, as they passed the zenith, yet so as always to preserve the whole of the phenomena in an oval-shape, when they contracted nearly in the same way as they expanded; and after uniting in a common point, they either returned in the course of a few minutes, or were lost in a stream of light, which grew fainter and fainter, the nearer it approached the opposite side of the heavens. They are mostly of a dunnish yellow, yet often assuming mixtures of red and green. When they are particularly quick and vivid, a crackling noise is heard, resembling that which accompanies the escape of the sparks from an electrical machine.

a winter in Iceland; but what was my surprise, when I found the temperature of the atmosphere not only greater than that of the preceding winter in Denmark, but equal to that of the mildest I have lived either in Denmark or Sweden. In the month of November, the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer did not sink lower than 20o, and it was nearly as often above the freezing point as below it. On the 6th of December, with clear weather and a light breeze from the east-north-east, it sunk to 8o 30"; after which, especially towards the end of the year, the weather became remarkably mild, and continued in this state till nearly the middle of January, the thermometer for the most part between 34° and 40°. On the 10th and 11th of January it fell as low as 15° 30', but rose again in a short time, and continued much more frequently above than below the point of congelation, till the 7th of March, when we had a strong wind from the NNW., and the mercury which had stood the preceding day between 30° and 34°, sunk in the evening to 9o 30', at noon to 8o, and at nine o'clock in the evening, it fell as low as 4o 30', which was the strongest degree of frost we had the whole winter. The following evening it was at 6o; on the 9th it rose to 10°; on the 10th to 19o; and so on till the 13th, when it got again to 320, and continued for the most part above it for the whole of the month. On the 12th of April it fell to 19o, but otherwise kept varying between 320 and 52°. About the middle of May the atmosphere grew colder, occasioned, most probably, by the approach of some masses of Greenland ice, and on the 18th and several of the following days, the mercury was at 29. The quantity of snow that fell during the winter was very considerable, especially in the northern parts of the island, where many of the peasants were reduced to circumstances of great distress, by the total consumption of the fodder they had provided for their cattle. The atmosphere was on the whole rather clear and serene than darkened by mists, which is in a great measure to be ascribed to the prevalence of brisk land winds, to which the mountainous nature of the country is extremely favourable. It must at the same be allowed, that the winter of 1814 (that which Dr. Henderson passed in Iceland), as well as that which immediately preceded it, was considered by the Icelanders as uncommonly mild."

matter as the other-the water is seen in great agitation. At irregular intervals, the water is tossed out of the pit to a great height, followed by a prodigious rush of steam, accompanied with a roaring noise. The force is so great, that even when there is a good deal of wind, the vapour forms a perpendicular column, nearly 70 or 80 feet high; and when large stones are thrown into the pit, they are shivered to pieces, and thrown out to a height often far beyond that of the jet of vapour and water."

17

Hot Springs.] The most curious of the springs in Iceland is the Tunguhver, in the valley of Reckholt. Among a great number of boiling springs, are two cavities within a yard of each other, from which the water spouts alternately. While from one the water is thrown about ten feet high in a narrow jet, the other cavity is full of water boiling violently. This jet continues about four minutes, and then subsides, when the water from the other immediately rises in a thicker column to the height of three or four feet. This continues about three minutes, when it sinks and the other rises, and so on alternately. It is difficult to imagine the structure of the cavities which occasion this irregular alteration, nor would it be easy to construct a piece of mechanism, of which steam is the prime mover, to imitate the phenomena. In the middle of the river, which runs through the valley of Reckholt, is a small rock, from the top of which hot springs issue. At Reckholt is a bath, which was constructed 600 years ago, by the famous Snorro Sturleson. It is 14 feet in diameter, and 6 feet deep, being supplied with hot water from a spring about a hundred yards distant, by means of a covered conduit which has been much damaged by an earthquake. There was also a spring of cold water brought to it, so that any desired temperature might be obtained.

Climate.] Though this island occupies a more southerly latitude, and presents, on the whole, a much greater extent of vegetation than the adjacent continent, it has nevertheless been unfortunately doomed to bear the repulsive name of Iceland, while the other has been favoured with the pleasing and animating appellation of Greenland. The imposition of these names was wholly arbitrary, according to the accidental circumstances of the individuals with whom they originated. Flocke, the third adventurer to Iceland, happening to ascend one of the mountains in the western peninsula, discovered a bay completely filled with Greenland ice, and therefore thought himself entitled to change the name given to the island by his predecessors, to that which it has ever since retained. The consequence has been, that the generality of those who inhabit more genial climes, have viewed it as equally inhospitable with the most rigid of the polar regions,-considering the natives as exposed to all the benumbing influence of relentless frosts, and perpetually immersed in ice or snow. This, however, is far from being the case. The climate is perhaps more unsettled, but it is very seldom that the cold is more intense than in the south of Scandinavia, 18 In the course of the last

17 At the time when Mr. Hooker saw it, there was a greater quantity of water than when either Sir John Stanley or Sir George Mackenzie witnessed its eruptions. Indeed, what Mr. Hooker has described as a column of water, Sir George Mackenzie describes as one of vapour. When we consider the immense power of the agent which sets these grand works in play, it is by no means difficult to suppose frequent alterations in their movement and appearance. The destruction of a natural valve, or a slight change in the configuration of the subterraneous pipes and cavities, might occasion variations in the phenomena from time to time.

"At first," says Dr. Henderson, "I confess I shuddered at the idea of spending