breeze, assisted by the oars, soon carried us
away from the shore, and we enjoyed, as
we passed along, a fine view of the mountains
at the head of Hval-fiord, and even a
distant glimpse of Geitland-Jokul. At one
time, a large shark rose so near the boat as
to cause some little alarm; but the Etatsroed,
who was at the helm, quickly made signal
to the boatmen to pull more briskly, by
which means we soon saw the animal astern
of our vessel, where he continued some time
in sight, alternately plunging and rising to
the' surface of the water. A pleasant passage
of about twenty miles from Inderholme
brought us to the shores of Reikevig,
and I here learned that the vessel, which
we had observed the evening before entering
the Bay, was the Talbot sloop of
war, commanded by the Honorable Alexander
Jones. She had for some little time been
cruising off Iceland, in the course of which
she had made a landing on the south coast,
and had entered the bay of Havnfiord. From
this place the captain had proceeded without
loss of time to Reikevig harbor, that he
might have an opportunity of ascertaining
more correctly the facts connected with a
revolution in the government, of which he
had heard at the former place, but had
received only a short and unsatisfactory
account. The consequence of these enquiries
was his issuing orders, that the persons, principally
concerned in bringing about this
change of affairs, should with all possible
expedition proceed to England, where a full
account of all the transactions was to be laid
before the British government. From this
time, therefore, my researches in Iceland
may be regarded as nearly at an end ; and,
though various circumstances prevented the
sailing of our vessel until the twenty-fifth of
August, yet the daily, and sometimes hourly,
expectation of being called on board, prevented
my making any excursion to a distance
from Reikevig. Much of this time was spent
in short, but, from the general barrenness of
the soil, usually unproductive botanical walks
in the vicinity of Reikevig; and a portion,
also, in balls and festivities *, as well on board
* These entertainments were common, indeed, on
almost every day of the week, but were scarcely ever
omitted on a Sunday evening, a custom, I believe,
prevalent wheresoever the Lutheran Religion is esta