which, however, red was the predominant
one: a bluish grey, also, was extremely
abundant, and we met with yellow and yellowish
white in smaller patches; all of them
extremely soft and unctuous to the touch.
The boles of different colors, although not
divided from one another by the intervention
of any other mineral substance, were
in general unmixed, and, by digging to the
depth of a foot, we were enabled to see them
lying in separate strata, each color being
kept quite distinct from the other. .In Iceland
the only bolus that the natives make
any use of is the red, which mixes with
oil, and is frequently employed by people of
higher condition to color the wooden doors
and the entrances of their houses. I have also
seen tables painted with this ingredient,
which, in this country, where paint of any
kind is scarcely ever seen, seemed to me
to look extremely well. From these beds
of bolus we proceeded towards a fountain
of considerable dimensions some way up the
side of a mountain, passing, as we went
along, numerous others of less importance,
most of them environed by bolus and sulphur.
Of the latter substance, the spring,
that we were now approaching, produced
the greatest quantity, and the finest specimens,
I believe, in the island. We rode
some way, till the softness of the earth beneath
caused the horses to sink too deep to
render it prudent to continue that mode any
longer, and we therefore left our steeds, proceeding
onwards, as far as it was by any
means safe to venture, with the utmost caution.
The appearance of the surface is often
very deceitful; for, when it seems most
firm, a thin indurated crust of crystallized
sulphur * and bolus not uncommonly con-
* Volcanic soils in many parts of the world produce
sulphur in greater or less quantities. I have not, however,
read of its being found any where in such abundance
as in the province of Satzuma, in Japan. “ It is
dug up,” says Kaempfer, in his history of that singular
country, “ in a small island, which, from the great
plenty it affords of this substance, is ealled Iwogasima,
or the Sulphur Island. It is not above an hundred
years since the natives first ventured thither. It was
thought before that time to be wholly inaccessible, and
by reason of the thick smoke, which was observed continually
to arise from it, and of the several spectres, and
other frightful uncommon apparitions, people fancied
to see there chiefly in the night, it was believed to be a
dwelling-place of devils, till at last a resolute and courageous
man offered himself, and obtained leave accord