in the island. Geitl^nd and Blaa-fel Jôkul
tower over the rest in the southern quarter,
where Hecla, also, is situated, more remarkable
for the frequency of its eruptions than for
its height, which is only about five thousand
feet. The western quarter of the island contains,
among other vast mountains, Snoefel
Jôkul *, well known to all navigators along
that coast, more by its vicinity, to thé
sea, than its great elevation; and Boula,
conspicuous for its singularly conicalforrn.
Lange and Hofs-Jôkul ■ are the loftiest in
the northern division of the country ; and
in the eastern Klofa, Skaptar, and Torf
Jôkul, the latter esteemed the most stupén-
dous in the whole island.
Rivers and fresh-water lakes abound ; the
latter of very considerable extent and well
* Snoeful Jôkul, which I have in the course of my
Journal, stated, upon the authority of Eggert Olafsen,
to be seven thousand feet in elevation, has been ascertained
by Sir George Mackenzie to be only four
thousand five hundred and fifty eight feet high. His
observation is also confirmed by the calculations of the
two Danish officers who are employed in su rv ey in g the
coasts.
supplied with fish; the former, though of
sufficient width in many instances to admit
of navigation, are too much obstructed by
locks and shallows to be employed to this
important object. The bays and harbors are
both numerous and safe, though their entrances
are but little known, except by those
who are frequently in the habit of visiting
the coasts. :
The annals of the island describe the
Country, than which nothing can possibly
be now more bare, as having been once covered
with impervious forests; and the quantity
of bog-Wood and surturbrand which i?$
continually dug up affords the most decisive
proof in favour of the truth of such assertion.
Even now, too, the name remains,
though the reality has long ceased to do so,
and places are called forests that produce
only a few miserable and stunted birches.
All attempts of recent times to cultivate
even the most hardy trees have proved ineffectual,
so that for his necessary supply of
wood the Icelander is obliged wholly to depend
upon importation from Norway, ex-
ceptmg only what he gets from the northern