shewed their white summits. In the south
the morass was extended almost to the coast,
and looked like a great sea, having three or
four rather lofty, but completely insulated,
mountains, with flat summits, rising from its
bosom. I t was my custom, during my stay
in this place, to cook my provisions in one
or other of the boiling-springs; and, accordin
g ^ a quarter of a sheep was this day put
into the Geyser, and Jacob left to watch it,
holding it fastened to a piece of cord, so that,
as often as it was thrown out by the force of
the water (which very frequently happened),
he might readily and without difficulty drag
it in again. The poor fellow, who was unacquainted
with the nature of these springs,
was a good deal surprised, when, at the time he
thought the meat nearly cooked sufficiently,
he observed the water in an instant sink
down, and entirely disappear ; not rising
again till towards evening. This disappointment
therefore obliged us to have recourse to
another spring, and we found, that, in all, it
required twenty minutes to perform the operation
properly. It must be remembered,
however, that the quarter of an Icelandic
sheep is very small, perhaps not weighing
more than six pounds, and is, moreover,
extremely lean. I do not apprehend that
longer time would have been necessary to o
have cooked it in an-English kitchen; for the
hot-springs in Iceland, at least such of their
waters as are exposed to the air, are never
of a greater heat than 212° of Fahrenheit:
so that, when I hear travellers speaking of
having boiled their eggs in two minutes in
such springs, or of having cooked their meat
in a proportionably short space of time, without
presuming to doubt the fact, I must
be allowed to suspect that their victuals
would not have been dressed to my taste.
The next eruption of the Geyser, which took
place at half past nine, was a very magnificent
one, and was preceded by more numerous
shocks of the ground and louder subterraneous
noises, than I had yet witnessed.
The whole height to which the greatest jet
reached could not be so little as a hundred feet.
I t must be observed, however, that I had no
instruments with me for measuring elevations, *
and therefore, could only judge by my eye;
Jacob and myself watching at the same time,
and each giving his estimate. The difference
between us was but trifling, and I always