forming a direct line with that of the stream.
Yet still the smoke was not so dense in this
situation, as that was which arose towards
Skarptargluifret, for this latter was at a very-
great distance distinguishable from the other,
and we were consequently enabled to trace
the exact course of the whole channel of the
Skaptaa to the northward, as far as the torrent
of fire had filled and overflowed it. It
was impossible to think of crossing the
stream of lava at this place; for even on the
plain we had found it so excessively hot,
that on three preceding trials, we had been
under the necessity of returning with the
greatest rapidity, to avoid being burnt; and,
if such were the case in a level spot, how
much greater must the heat have been in the
river itself, where the lava lay, without any
exaggeration, from four to five hundred feet
deep. The quantity of smoke, too, was a certain
mark of the vast heat of the mass before
us; and to the difficulty of proceeding in consequence
of this impediment, was to be added
another, arising from the waters which had
accumulated, both in the lava itself, and on
its western side, by the stoppage of the
great rivers Skaptaa, Sydri, Efri-Ofaera, and
Hrossatuna, together with several lesser
streams. The eastern branch or arm of the
lava was precisely in the same condition; the
river Hverfisfliot being there stopped and
entirely choked up.
But as neither the exhausted state of our
own strength, nor that of our wearied and
famished horses, would allow of our taking
an exact survey of the whole western extent
of the valley, I changed my route in the
afternoon, and turned off from Hellisaa, taking
the shortest road to the eastward past
Geirlandshraun; and, at length, at one
o’clock in the morning of the 18th of July,
regained my tent in safety, between Prest-
bakke and Mordtunga, on the Siden.
fxx.
Length an d The extent of country destroyed,
breadth of
th e lava, together with the progress of the fire,
is thus, as I hope, sufficiently and circumstantially
described. It will here be proper to
remark that the western current of kva in
its longest or narrow arm out of the valley,
does not exceed six Danish (or about twenty-
four English) miles, in length, even includ