coming to the pass of Almannegiaa, which
I had heard much of, as one of the greatest
curiosities in Iceland. We already found
the ground broken into a number of great
openings, of various length and width ; some
so deep, that the darkness prevented our
seeing the bottom, which in others was concealed
by ice and snow. On a sudden we
came to the brink of a frightful precipice,
down which we looked into Almannegiaa, a
monstrous chasm, extending almost as far as
we could see, in a direct line, nearly east
and west: through this our road lay. A
smaller opening branches off in a south-east
direction, and, a ' great number of large
pieces of rock having fallen into it, the natives,
without any assistance from art, make
it serve as an entrance to the other. Here,
however, we were obliged to have all the luggage,
even the saddles, taken off our steeds,
and carried on the shoulders of our people.
The horses were then driven down between
the great stones which composed the descent.
A more rugged pass* can hardly be con-
* " Ce chemin est aussi dangereux que difficile ; il
y a une infinité de degrés taillés dans le roc, par Où lès