the stupendous precipices inspired us with a certain degree of terror, which, however, soon left us, and we spent nearly half an hour in surveying the deep chasms, running nearly parallel with the main one, almost below our feet. On the west side of the rent, at no great distance from its southern termination, it is met by another opening, partially filled with large masses of broken rock, down which the traveller must resolve to proceed. Binding up the bridles of our horses, we made them descend before us, while we contemplated with surprise the undaunted nimbleness with which they leaped from one step of this natural staircase to another. In our own descent, it was not without impressions of fear that we viewed the immensely huge pieces of rock that projected from the sides of the chasm, almost overhead, and which appeared to be but slenderly attached to the precipice. When we arrived at the bottom, we found ourselves situated in the midst of a fine green; and, after stopping once more to admire the wild and rugged grandeur of the scenery, we again mounted our steeds, and, reaching a pass in the eastern cliffs, which, owing to the sinking of the ground, are considerably lower, we made our egress with the utmost ease.

We now entered the Thingvalla, or Court Valley; and, crossing the river Öxerâ, by which it is divided, came about one o'clock to Thingvalla church, where we were kindly received, and resolved to await our baggage, which had proceeded by a more circuitous route. The pastor is an aged man of sixty-nine. His parish consists of twelve families; and though he could not give me any certain statement, yet he did not believe that there were more than two, or, at most, three of them that were in possession of a copy of the Bible. He promised to inform his parishioners of the supply that had come to the island. The church is very small, not much larger than that of Mossfell, and is filled with barrels, books, and chests, which serve the purpose of seats, and, on a shelf before the altar, is a coffin, which the clergyman has prepared for himself; and which, in all likelihood, he must soon occupy.

MAKING AND VIEW OF THE ALMANNAGIA FROM

Published by Waugh & bones Booksellers & Phanters Square Edinburgh 1970.

THING VALLA.

What renders Thingvalla the most remarkable, perhaps, of any spot to which importance is attached in the annals of Iceland, is its having been the seat of the Althing, or general assembly of the nation, for the period of nearly nine hundred years. In 928, when the Ulffiotian Code was received by the inhabitants, the supreme court of justice, which had been held for several years at a place called Hof, in the Kiosar district, was removed to this plain; and the public concerns of the people continued to be discussed, and public justice administered here, till the year 1800, when the dreadful convulsions which the vicinity had suffered from earthquakes, were made a pretext for the removal of the court to Reykiavik, where it is now held. Nor was it merely the seat of civil judicature. The consistory or ecclesiastical court, under the presidency of the Bishop of Skalholt, was also convened annually at this place; and numbers repaired to Thingvalla, who had no interest pending at either court, merely for the sake of meeting their friends. It accordingly holds a conspicuous place in all the Sagas or ancient traditionary accounts, and is peculiarly worthy of notice, on account of its being the spot where the Christian religion was publicly ac knowledged in the year 1000: A decision which was hastened by the following circumstance.While the heathen and those who professed Christianity were engaged in all the ardour of dispute, a messenger came running into the assembly with the intelligence, that subterraneous fire had broken out in the district of Ölfus, and that it threatened the mansion of the high priest Thoroddr. On hearing this, the heathen exclaimed: "Can it be matter of surprise that the gods should be angry at such speeches ?" To which Snorri Godi, an advocate of the Christians, replied by as pointed a question: "At what were the gods angry then, at the period when the very lava on which we now stand was burning?" The force of the argument was felt: the assembly adjourned for that day; and when they again met, an act was passed for the abolition of all public acts of idolatry, and the introduction of Christianity as the authorised religion.

Previous to the year 1690, the court was held in the open air, surrounded by a scenery, the wildest and most horrific of any in nature, and awfully calculated to add to the terrors of justice, and maintain the inviolability of the civil code. "It is," says Sir George Mackenzie, "a spot of singular wildness and desolation; on every side of which, appear the most tremendous effects of ancient convulsion and disorder; while nature now sleeps in a death-like silence amid the horrors she has formed." As the aged clergyman was unable to walk about with us himself, he begged we would allow his son to shew us the wonders of the place. We accordingly followed him a little to the north-west of the church, when we entered on a long and narrow tract of solid lava, covered with the richest vegetation, but completely separated from the rocks on both sides, by two parallel fissures, which, in most places, are upwards of forty fathoms in depth, and in some places no bottom can be found at all. They are filled with the most beautiful pellucid water, till within about sixty feet of the brink on which we stood. It was impossible for us to look down into the dreadful abyss on either side, without being sensible of the most disagreeable emotions; and when, with the terrors of our situation, we combined the idea of the awful period when the rocks rent and the mountains fell, we felt a desire to remove as quickly as possible to a safer and more agreeable scene. The place is called Lögbergit, or " the Law Mount;"+ and the ruins of the house occupied by the chief magistrate are still to be seen. A little below this, near the side of the river, we were shewn the spot, where, in ancient times, many a miserable wight was burned for witchcraft. On removing a little of the earth, we discovered the remains of burnt bones and

* Travels in Iceland, p. 318. 1st Edit.

+ The administration of public justice on certain hills was not only common throughout Scandinavia, but was also practised in Scotland, and different other nations. Hence, the term "Law" is still applied to many hills in Scotland, as Largolaw, Berrilaw, in Fifeshire, &c. We also meet with Dingwall in the north of Scotland, Tingwall in Shetland and the Isle of Man; all of which are manifestly the Icelandic Thingvalla-compound of Thing, a forum or court of justice, and valla, which signifies a field or plain.