ALMANNEGIAA.
wall, above an hundred feet in height, black
and craggy, with here and there a little
vegetation, and a stunted birch, which took
root among the ledges of the rock : it was
on the lofty summit of this that our priest
told us criminals used to be executed * : on
the opposite side, and at about the distance
of twenty yards, rose another wall, equally
perpendicular, and more craggy, but not
half the height of the former, yet, probab’y,
in consequence of its being less exposed to
the rays of the sun, covered with a more
abundant vegetation, especially of moss
(Trichostomum canescens) and Saxifrages :
about a hundred yards from us in front, a
little bend, in the direction of the chasm
appeared to shut us in by a lofty precipice:
behind us was the pass or entrance to the
chasm, which I have just described, and by
the side of it a continuation to the souths
ward of the high walls of the chasm ; but
the passage was almost choaked up by a
* ° n lf!°king in(0 the French «lition of Povelsen and
O afsens Travels, I find the above place mentioned as
bû h e r t 6 8 d’°Ù r ° n bûcher, les victimes condamnPéersé dâp Üêatrite ^brûlé es« *pnos ulre
pripie de sorcelerie. ” Torn. v. p. 363.
vast number of loose pieces of rock, which
had fallen from the precipices above. However,
we had now no time to examine the
place more; for it was necessary to pay 'our
respects to the priest of Thingevalle, who
lived scarcely a mile from the place. We
therefore left our luggage and tents in charge
of the guides, and, going northward in the
chasm, came to a little opening on the east
side, through which we had to pass. Having
reached this, we looked down into an immense
plain, which was every where intersected by
rents in the earth, as far as the eye could
reach, crossing each other in various directions,
though most of them were torn from
north to south : three in particular seemed
to extend, in uninterrupted lines, the whole
width of the plain, and were terminated on
one side by the lake Thingevalle. Immediately
below us was the river Oxeraa, and,
just on the other side, in the midst of this
most extraordinary country, are situated the
church and parsonage of Thingevalle *. The
verdure upon these buildings, iand the unusual
* This place takes its name from the word Althing, or
the seat of the court of justice, which was once there,
but was before that time, according to Povelsen and