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once brought to my recollection, and illustrated that endearing part of the character of the Lord Jesus, "that Great Shepherd of the sheep;"-" and he calleth his own sheep by name." John x. 3.

Leaving Grimstad about ten o'clock in the forenoon of the 21st, we soon lost sight of vegetation, and again encountered a desert of stones and sand. In many places there was not the faintest impression of a track. The rocks and stones, which exhibited numerous proofs of their having been exposed to the action both of fire and water, lay thrown about in the strangest confusion, and the whole scene reechoed to Isaiah, xxxiv. 11; “And he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness;"* or Job xxx. 3. "a wilderness desolate and waste."+ I compared my situation to that of David, while in the wilderness of Judah. Like him, I was, both in a temporal and spiritual point of view," in a dry and thirsty land, in which there was no water;" and, though I read and meditated on the Scriptures alternately, still my heart accorded with his, in longing to enjoy renewed manifestations of the Divine power and glory in the sanctuary.

The day being hot, we were parched with thirst; but it was not till we had been repeatedly deceived by the appearance of vallies and brooks, that, about five o'clock in the afternoon, we came to a small river, where, as there was a little vegetation on its eastern bank, we stopped about half an hour to refresh the horses. Resuming our course, we came, in a short time, to a precipitous descent, which extricated us from the wildness of bleak and desolate mountains, and introduced us into a level country, where there

To the mere English reader, the beauty and force of this admirable passage are entirely lost. In the Hebrew there is an evident allusion to Genesis i. 2. where, in the first stage of its creation, this globe is said to have been 2) 177 tohu vabohu, "confusion and emptiness." Therefore, to stretch out upon any place the measuring-line of tohu, and the plummets of bohu, was to reduce it to a state of emptiness and confuson, similar to that of the original chaotic mass.

+ Heb. NI ANW shoah umshoah.

was a good deal of coarse grass, and being studded, in various places, with sheep, it presented a very agreeable relief to the eye. In the course of two hours more, we reached a mountain, which seemed to have been terribly revolutionized by water, the most enormous masses of compact stone being scattered all round its base. Skirting the east side of this mountain, and descending into a fertile valley, we arrived at a farm called Haukstad, where I pitched my tent; it being impossible to reach Hof in Vopnafiord, the place of my destination, that evening.

A little to the east of Grimstad is the division between the Nordlendinga-fiordungr, and Austfirdinga-fiordungr, or the northern and eastern quarters of the island. Here also Mulè Syssel begins, which was formerly divided into three parts, the north, middle, and south divisions, each of which had its own Sysselmand; but the inequality of the division was attended with several inconveniences; and, in the year 1779, the Syssel was divided into two equal parts, and placed under the direction of two Sysselmen, who divide the labour of collecting the taxes imposed on the whole Syssel.

*

Next morning I proceeded in a south-easterly direction ; and, crossing the east end of the mountain opposite to Haukstad, I descended into Hofsádal, across a number of dan gerous bogs, having a stupendous precipice of columnar rocks on my right, till I reached the river, whose northern bank I skirted for some time; and, about one o'clock, arrived at Hof, the residence of the very Reverend A. Thorsteinson, Dean of North Mulè Syssel. It is situated on an elevation, and commands a noble and extensive prospect. To the right, a long valley stretches into the interior, where it is bounded by very high mountains, covered with snow. In front, are the lofty mountains of Smörvatn and Krossavik; and to the left is the bay of Vopnafiord, on the north side of which lies the trading station of the same name. Hof is famous for its having been the seat of a heathen temple, whence the name is still retained; and the door of the church,

Olavii Oeconomisk Reise, p. 429.

which is certainly very old, is reported, by a tradition that may be traced upwards of four hundred years back, to be the identical door of the temple. Though the dwellinghouse bears no proportion, at present, to that erected at this place by Broddi Thorisson, at an early period of Icelandic history, it is more capacious than any Icelandic house I have seen; and the room into which I was shewn on my arrival, is equal to any in the best mercantile houses. The Dean is a tall, well-looking man, of about forty, easy and polite in his manners, and possesses a degree of intelligence and piety greatly superior to any I had yet met with on the island. Having read the letters of introduction which I delivered to him, he expressed, in the liveliest terms, the interest he felt in the circulation of the Sacred Oracles; his joy at the provision that had been made for Iceland; and his gratitude to God, whose kind providence had paved the way for the bestowment of this blessing upon her. Several years ago he had received, for distribution, two hundred copies of the New Testament, published in 1807, but they only went a little way in supplying the want; and he verily believed that, in the course of a few months, he could dispose of as many thousand copies in his Deanery. The desire of reading the Scriptures, he was happy to say, was universal; but hitherto the means of gratifying it were very circumscribed, owing to the scarcity of Bibles in this quarter of the island. The parish of Hof contains upwards of four hundred souls; yet there is only one parishioner, upwards of eight years of age, that cannot read, and this individual is prevented by a natural infirmity.

The longer I was in company with the Dean, and the wider scope we gave to the conversation, the more did we coalesce; and, like the disciples of old, " our hearts burned within us," while we talked of the wisdom and goodness displayed in the plan of the divine government; the love of the Son of God, in voluntarily becoming our substitute; the

* Hann var thâ hâlfthritugr födmum, oc threttan âlna breidr, oc threttan álna hâr. "It was then twenty-five fathoms in length, thirteen ells in breadth, and thirteen in height." Landnamabok, p. 383.

claims he has on our love and obedience, in consequence of that substitution; the excellence of his Gospel, and the pleasing prospects of the extension of his moral dominion, which are at present opened to the view of the church. Prevented, by his situation, from obtaining any information relative to the state of religion in other parts of the world, the accounts I had it in my power to communicate, were as "cold waters to a thirsty soul." The establishment of Bible Societies, in particular, he could not but regard with a kind of reverence, mingled with the most joyful admiration. In the course of the evening, we fixed the mode of supply for the northern division of Mulè Syssel; the Dean engaging to institute an immediate inquiry relative to the number of the poor, whose circumstances required that copies be given them gratis; as also, how many wish to purchase copies, either of the Bible or New Testament; and, on completing the investigation, to write to Copenhagen, by one of the autumn ships, for the quantity needed within his charge. His lady also, together with her sister, the widow of the Sysselman, who died lately in Leith, discovered superior intellectual attainments, and read with avidity the Danish account of the operations of the Bible Society, which I had given to the Dean.

Having made every necessary arrangement at this place, there was no occasion for my proceeding on to the factory of Vopnafiord. Its situation being central, renders it very convenient for the inhabitants of the northern part of the Syssel; yet the harbour is greatly inferior to some others, at no great distance, on the coast. The mountains behind Vopnafiord are very high; and one of them, in particular, is remarkable for its exhibition of surturbrand, in combination with basaltine pillars.

CHAP. V.

Journey through Mulè Syssels-Icelandic Psalm-bookBridge and Basket-Punishment for neglect of Education-Eskifiord-Holmar-Bewildered on Stapsheidè— Mountains of Breiddal-Visit Eydal-Berufiord-Factory of Diupavog-Circulating Libraries-Rich Minerals

-Hammarsfiord-Starmyra-Lonsheidi-Stafafell

Yökulsá i Lon.

On the 23d of August, about noon, I bade adieu to the kind and interesting family at Hof, and set off on the road to Eskifiord, accompanied by the Dean, who conducted me across the Hofsâ and Sunnudalsâ, two considerable rivers, which are, for the most part, supplied from the snow-mountains, and join a little below this place. Having skirted the south bank of the Sunnudalsá for some time, and passed a magnificent cataract, the path turned off to the left, and leading us across a soft swampy tract, brought us to a very steep and winding ascent, on the cast side of the Fossâ, or Cataract River. We were here obliged to dismount, and lead our horses up the mountain. As we ascended, I was every moment charmed with the finest cascades, down which a great quantity of water was poured with resistless fury; and, what tended to heighten their grandeur, was the immense depth at which they lay; the pools by which the most of them were received being upwards of a hundred feet below the brink of the gully along which we passed. In many places the road approached so close to the margin, that there was great danger of the horses missing a foot, and sliding into the abyss.

In the course of two hours we gained the summit of the ascent, and entered on a long dreary mountain-tract, called

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