90 JOURNEY TO THE GEYSERS.
full-sized walnut, which they were cooking
m the spring for their dinner, and which
they offered me. I had carried with me
some eider-ducks’ eggs, for the purpose of
trying how long it would take to boil them
hard, and I found they required ten minutes,
whilst lying in a part of the water
where the thermometer rose to 200°.
Saturday, After a stormy night of wind and
y 8' rain, the weather cleared up about nine
o’clock, and, being furnished with horses,
tents, &c., and a guide, by the Stiftsampt-
man, I set out for the Geysers, which I
proposed visiting before I went into Borga-
fiord. This I was the more anxious to do,
as it seemed probable, from the many unlucky
events which happened, and were
inimical to the trading between the Icelanders
and the English, that we should not
make any long stay, and Mr. Phelps was
very particular in desiring me to come back
at the expiration of a fortnight at latest,
lest the vessel should be ready for sea; for
that there was no prospect of my getting to
England this year, if I did not return with
the Margaret and Anne; since the Flora,
a ship of Mr. Phelps’, whose arrival he exJOURNEY
TO THE GEYSERS. 91
pected soon after our own, was not yet
come, and no other British vessel was expected.
Three horses were loaded with
tents, provisions, &c., and a fourth was a
relay. These were fastened to each other
in a line, by a rope of twisted horse-hair,
tied at one end to the tail of the first horse,
and, at the other, to the under jaw of that
which was next to i t ; and so on with the rest.
My guide rode before, holding a line, fastened
to the mouth of the first luggage-
horse, so that they all followed exactly the
same track, and, so accustomed are these
horses to this mode of travelling, that, even
when they are not tied, they will still keep
following each other, to the great annoyance
of any person who may happen to be riding
them, and may wish to go a little faster
than the rest, or to leave the regular line.
A man from the ship, of the name of Jacob,
who, although a German by birth, understood
sufficient of Danish to act as interpreter
between me and an Icelander, who
spoke that language, rode a sixth horse, and
I a seventh; yet, even these, numerous as
they may appear for one person, were found
pot sufficient for our journey. There is,