of which I had previously caught a distant
glimpse, sufficient to awaken my curiosity
and make me feel anxious to approach
i t ; to effect which it was necessary to cross
one or two rapid torrents, when, turning
round a projecting angle of the cliffy I had
suddenly a full view of a very magnificent
cataract, dashing its foaming waters with
tremendous roar over the highest part of
the precipice, whence they fell in an unbroken
sheet upon the rocky base, composed
of immense masses of most uncertain sizes,
all rounded and rendered perfectly smooth
by the force of the current, which, after
crossing the chasm in an obliquely winding
course, makes its boisterous way through a
most romantic opening in the eastern cliffy
and then soon unites with the more quiet
stream of the Oxeraa *, at about half a mile
from its confluence with Thingevalle-Vatn,
* I have, on my first visit to Thingevalle, mentioned
that it was the spot where the court of justice was held,
and that near it was the place of execution for criminals.
Since that was written, I am informed by Sir
Joseph Banks of a peculiar punishment formerly inflicted
upon women for the murder of their illegimate
children. 4 They are drowned,” says Sir Joseph, in hi*
At the distance of a few hundred yards from
this cascade lay some pieces of rock, which
had fallen from the cliff, in such a manner
as to enable me, though not without considerable
difficulty, to reach the summit,
where I had an opportunity of seeing the
stream which supplies the waterfall, as it
rolled rapidly, a deep and wide mountain-
torrent, through a nearly level bed of unproductive
rock. The upper surface of the cliff,
as far as I could see, both on this and the
opposite side *, may clearly be perceived to
journal, “ in a pool in the river, under a cascade; examples
of which are very scarce, but one happened in the
youth of the clergyman of Thingevalle, who was (in 1772)
fifty years of age. The criminal was tied up in a sack
which came over her head, and reached as far down as
the middle of her leg s; a rope was then fastened to her,
and held by an executioner on the opposite bank: after
standing an hour in that situation she was pulled into the
water, and kept under with a pole till she was dead.”
* From the summit of the eastern cliff there is, as
I have before remarked, a sudden declivity into the
great plain in which Thingevalle-vatn is situated,
and not only the surface of this is curled, and bears
the most striking marks of volcanic origin, but, as
Sir Joseph Banks was informed, the bottom of the
lake, also, exhibits the same appearance.—The fol