for my journal the preceding summer. What also tended in no small degree to relieve the monotony of my winter avocations, was the agreeable company of my countryman, Mr Hodgson. The acquaintance we had formed with one another on our journey to the Geysers now ripened into friendship; and our conversation, which at first principally turned on the wonders of nature, gradually ascended to the miracles of grace. We generally saw one another once a-day, and always spent one evening in the week together.

Reykiavik is unquestionably the worst place in which to spend the winter in Iceland. The tone of society is the lowest that can well be imagined. Being the resort of a number of foreigners, few of whom have had any education, and who frequent the island solely for purposes of gain, it not only presents a lamentable blank to the view of the religious observer, but is totally devoid of every source of intellectual gratification. The foreign residents generally idle away the short-lived day with the tobacco-pipe in their mouths, and spend the evening in playing at cards, and drinking punch. They have two or three balls in the course of the winter, and a play is sometimes acted by the principal inhabitants. To these purposes they appropriate the Court-house, and without ceremony take the benches out of the cathedral, to supply the want of seats. An instance has even been known of the same individual who performed one of the acts in a play till late on Saturday night, making his appearance the following morning in the pulpit, in the cha racter of a public teacher of religion !

The influence of such a state of society on the native Icelanders, in and about Reykiavik, is very apparent. Too many of them seem to imbibe the same spirit, and their "good manners" are evidently getting corrupted by the " evil communication" of the strangers by whom they are visited.

CHAP. X.

Journey through the Syssels of Borgarfiord, Myrar, Hnap padal, and Snæfellsness-Innraholm-Leyrá-Printing Office-Hvitârvellir -Staff holt-Hot Springs-Sheeppens-Volcano of Western Skardsheidi-Caves of Hytardal-Stadarhraun-Domestic Worship-Ale-wells-Elldborg, or Fortress of Fire-Stadarstad-Hot Spring of Lysuhol-Buda Volcano-Stappen-Ascent of Snæfell Yökul.

HAVING been convinced, from the facilities afforded me for ascertaining the scarcity of Bibles among the inhabitants, in the course of my journey last autumn, that the most ef fectual way to ensure the speedy distribution of the sacred Oracles, was to visit the different officers, both civil and ecclesiastical, and with them concert plans adapted to the local circumstances of their respective districts, I resolved to traverse, this summer (1815), such parts of the island as I had not yet visited; and, accordingly, about the beginning of May, I began to make preparations for my journey. It is true, the mountains were still covered with snow, and the roads wet, and almost impassable; and all my Icelandic friends endeavoured to persuade me that it was a month too early; but as I was heartily wearied of the long confinement, and it was necessary for me to be back at Reykiavik by the end of June, I determined to set off, and proceed by slow stages towards the west.

It was a matter, however, of no small difficulty to obtain horses. As noticed in the foregoing Chapter, the horses of burthen in Iceland are not taken into the house, or fed with hay, during the winter, but are left to shift for themselves, by scraping away the snow, and picking up any scanty re

mains of vegetation, or frequenting the beach at low water, and eating the sea-weed that is cast ashore. It follows, of course, that they are half starved, and are generally unfit for service before the middle of June. After having agreed with a young man from the north country to proceed with me, and provide me with horses, I had the disappointment to find that it was not in his power to stand to the agree ment, owing to the leanness of the animals; and I must have been detained some weeks, had not the Chief Justice Stephensen been kind enough to furnish me with horses from his estate on the opposite side of the bay.

On the 16th of May, having packed up all my baggage, provided myself with letters from Bishop Vidalin to the different Deans and others of the clergy that lay in my way, and commended myself to the special guidance and protection of Him in whose service I was engaged, I left Reykiavik about ten o'clock, in a six-oared boat, which I had engaged to convey me across the bay. Leaving the small islands in the vicinity of the town, we soon came to the point of Kialarness, which here juts out from the base of Mount Esian, and is remarkable for the remains of a Hof, or idolatrous temple, erected towards the close of the ninth century, and the farm of Esiuberg, where the first church was built by Örlyg Rapson, a convert of Patrick, Bishop of the Hebrides, and dedicated to St Columbus, the apostle of the Picts. *

We now entered the Whale Frith, and had the wind almost directly a-head; yet, by hard pulling, the boatmen managed to row the boat a considerable way up the south side of the bay, when, setting the sail, we steered directly across, and a little past two o'clock landed at Innraholm, the estate of the Chief Justice, where, agreeably to the kind orders of that gentleman, I was received with every mark of attention by his steward, and the necessary arrangements were made for the prosecution of my journey.

The farm is very pleasantly situated on a gently rising ground, on the north side of the bay, and separated by a • Olafsen and Povelsen, p. 75.

narrow tract of morass from the base of Akkrafiall, a mountain about 1500 feet in height, whose sides present a fine display of the numerous horizontal strata of which it is composed. In some places the debris covers a considerable extent of surface, but at others the beds are seen to a great depth. The appearance of the farm is vastly superior to that of the generality of Icelandic bear. Next to the beach, on two small eminences, are houses of unhewn stone, for drying the fish in, and preserving the fishing implements : a little to the right stands the church, a small but convenient place of worship. The dwelling-house is neatly constructed of wood, but surrounded with earthen walls, except in front, where there are three doors, two of which open into separate rooms, while that in the middle ushers you into the common passage, from which entrances are made into the different apartments. The first room a stranger is shewn into exhibits a choice library, containing many of the more important works on law, philosophy, theology, language, &c. The other rooms are neatly finished, and furnished with stoves, an article of luxury scarcely ever to be seen at an Icelandic farm. Behind the principal building are several out-houses for the servants, with stables, barns, &c. In front is a garden, defended by a high earthen wall, which was just begun to be dug; and another, at that time preparing for potatoes, is situated at the west end of the house. The tun is of considerable extent, and is almost entirely free from knolls, with a good exposure; yet the verdure had scarcely begun to appear. I was not a little interested to fall in here with a water-mill, of a very simple construction; being driven by a horizontal wheel, the axle of which runs through the mill-stones, and without the aid of any other machinery performs the work.

Both the steward and his wife were unremitting in their attentions, and did every thing in their power to render my stay comfortable.

May 17. Sending on the baggage-horses round the east end of the mountain, the steward and I rode round the other end to Gardè, where we met with a hearty welcome

from the clergyman. His parishioners are in general very poor, being chiefly dependent on the fishery, and though a great desire prevails among them to obtain copies of the Scriptures, there are few whose circumstances admit of their purchasing them. Having refreshed ourselves with a draught of excellent cream, the clergyman had the kindness to accompany us a considerable way to the west of the parsonage, through a number of dangerous bogs, which we should have found it impossible to cross, had it not been for his guidance, and the klaki, or frost, which still existed at no great depth. At the termination of this morass, we came to a high wall of trap rock, in many places not exceeding ten feet in breadth, having the sea on the one hand, and a low wet tract on the other. The road ran along the summit of the wall for some time, which gave us ample time to admire the barrier that has been thrown up against the fury of the waves. Passing some fishermen's huts, which were rudely constructed on the barren rocks, we came to a fine level tract, alternately presenting a surface of sand and coarse grass, over which we advanced with great celerity; but it was not long before we were again stopped in our career by swamps, that continued with little intermission for nearly two hours.

It was our intention to have rode across the inlet of the sea, called Leiru-vog, but we came too late for the ebb, and were obliged to ride a long way to the eastward; and, after crossing the Latâ and Leyra, we came, about two o'clock, to the farm which takes its name from the latter river, and is in the possession of Mr Scheving, the Sysselman of Borgarford. The houses pretty much resemble those of Innraholm, and were built by the Chief Justice when living at this place. The pavement consists of stones formed by the depositions of a hot spring in the vicinity, and are many of them very beautiful, exhibiting curious petrifactions of shrubs, mosses, &c. There is also a church at this farm, of a better appearance than many in the neighbouring pafishes.

We were here provided with an excellent dinner of boiled mutton and pan-cakes, served up by Mrs Scheving, who is