the vehement eruptions of the boiling springs, determined
on paying a visit to this extraordinary island, in which
he was accompanied by Messrs. Wright, Baine, and
some others. On his return he addressed two letters to
Dr. Black, wdiich were published in the “ Transactions
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,” containing an
account of the Geysers and the Reykuin Springs, which,
for clearness and accuracy of description, and elegance
of language, has not been surpassed, if equalled, either
before or since, and only leaves us to regret that
he had confined the publication of his observations
to a single object—interesting as it is—the boiling
springs of Iceland; and that he had not thought fit
to favour the world with a full account of his travels,
and remarks on other points regarding this highly-
interesting island. I ought, however, to be the last to
complain on this score, as, by his not having done so,
it has been my good fortune to profit; for, with
the greatest kindness and liberality. Sir John Stanley
has not only favoured me with extracts from the MS.
Journals of his intelligent companions, and his own
drawings on a most interesting part of Iceland—the basaltic
coast of Stappen-hafn and the Snsefell Yokul, from
whence, we were driven by stress of weather, and could
not obtain a landing,—but has permitted me to make
what use of them I pleased, of which kind permission
I have fully availed myself, as the reader will see, as far
as regards that part of the island. My disappointment
was certainly great in being obliged to abandon this spot,
at the moment we were on the point of stepping a-shore;
but the reader will suffer no disappointment. Sir John
Stanley having enabled me to supply an hiatus, far
better filled up than a successful landing would probably
have enabled me to do.
At the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, Mr,
Hooker, a young gentleman then distinguished as a
botanist, and now known as ranking among the first
of botanists and natural historians in general, embarked
in 1809 on board a merchant ship, the “ Margaret and
Anne,” at Gravesend, after three days’ notice. During
his stay in Iceland he had made considerable collections
in natural history, particularly in botany, which, with
his papers, were unfortunately destroyed by the ship
taking fire in which he was returning to England. Yet
notwithstanding this irreparable loss of his collections
and of his notes, Mr. Hooker, from his recollections,
has given to the public a volume replete with valuable
information, containing a more complete account of
Icelandic plants than is to be met with in any other
English author, except in the work of Sir George
Mackenzie, into which the “ Flora” of Mr. Hooker
is copied, while a few new plants are transferred from
Sir George’s into Mr. Hooker’s list.
In the following year Sir George Stewart Mackenzie,
impressed with the importance which the study of mineralogy
had of late years acquired, and with the intimate
connexion it held with geological science, considered the
examination of Iceland to be particularly desirable, and