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principal among the few Danish merchants at that
place, my ulterior object being to proceed from
thence on a visit to the Sulphur Mines of Krusivik.
This gentleman is noted as the boldest and fastest
rider in the country, so that I had the consolation
of knowing at least that, late as it Avas, Ave Avere not
likely to be long in reaching the end of our
journey. After we Avere once fairly started, I soon
found that he Avas fully entitled to this distinction,
for it Avas quite surprising Avith Avhat rapidity he
trotted and galloped OA'er the rough tracts of lava,
familiar enough to him, but not very pleasant to
one not accustomed to such rough riding: h oAv -
ever I Avas obliged to folloAv as Avell as I could, and
it fortunately happened that I Avas Avell mounted
myself, one of the Danish gentlemen having very
kindly lent me his OAvn horse, Avhich Avas far superior
to the generality of the Iceland animals, and
Avell adapted to perform the journey. It Avas dusk
when Ave started, and nothing could be more dreary
than our ride during this interval, but soon after
one'o’clock the day began to daAvn.
Our route led us through an extensive and
barren tract of lava, and Ave passed at the head of
two or three inlets of the sea, the farthest of Avhich
forms the bay of Havnefiord. Our approach to
this|^spot Avas through one of the most desolate
regions I ever beheld—indeed, it would be quite
impossible to picture to the imagination anything
more rugged, more forbidding, or more barren of all
appearance of vegetable life— animal life being quite
out of the question—than the face of the country
was here, covered over Avith immense masses
of irregular la\'a rocks, by which the traveller,
at every step he takes, finds himself intercepted,
and turned aside out of his direct path. These
detached masses, closely bordering on each other,
rise out of Avhat, in Iceland, may be called a
plane surface, to the height of ten, fifteen, or
tAventy feet, and even higher. They form, in fact,
a complete labyrinth of laA’a rocks, and so circuitous
are the paths carried zigzag among and
around them, that, havnng Avitnessed their intricacies,
I can well conceive the truth of the story told
by Sir George Mackenzie of one of his party, Avho
having laid doAvn his great coat, and accidentally
Avalked on a very short distance without it, was
unable to retrace a single step in the right direction,
and failed in his attempts to recover it,
although he had not proceeded two hundred yards
from the spot Avhere it Avas deposited.
There was no appearance here of anything like
a stream of lava, or what the natives call steen-aa
(Stone-river.) These irregular and shapeless
masses, which had evidently once been Avholly oi
partially in a state of fr^sion, mostly indeed cellular
and blistered in every part, seemed to haA'e been
upheaved out of the ground on the very spot they
occupied ; they Avere “ Avithout form and void, or