Chap. V.]
As I was employing myself in making the foregoing
sketch of the church, the clergyman, who
seemed to take a particular interest in what I was
doing, and apparently much pleased with my performance,
asked me to accompany him to a spot
from whence he assured me I should be able to get
a very fine view, worthy of my pencil; accordingly
we proceeded together to the place, which turned
out to be one of the chasms we had heard of as
running parallel with Almannagaiaa. It is not
more than two hundred yards from the church, and
was called by the priest Flossagaiaa, the meaning
of which he was no more able to explain than that
of the former.
The face of the country hereabouts has been
strangely torn asunder and disrupted. This deep
chasm was filled with water, to the height
perhaps of forty or fifty feet from the top ivhere
we stood; and my clerical guide pointed out how
very clear and transparent the water was ; telling
me that if I threw in a stone, its descent might be
traced to a very considerable depth, as it worked
its meandering way downwards, perhaps to the
depth of forty or fifty feet more. The fact was
certainly so, but I did not consider this effect in
the same curious point of view that the priest
seemed to do. I t is neither more nor less than
th is : when the eye is placed near to the surface of
the Avater, and perpendicular to it, the light is
reflected from the surface, and obscures all objects
r
i
beneath it; but when the eye is at a distance above
the surface, the rays of light Avhich have penetrated
the water will be refracted, and show clearly
objects at a great depth beloAV the surface. Seamen
are fully aAvare of this, and from the mast-head
will see rocks or reefs, or even shoals beloAV the
surface of the sea, Avhen those on deck can discover
nothing of them. In the present instance the dark
compact walls of lava Avhich contracted the dimensions
of the chasm might tend to increase
the effect.
The prospect from this spot, though not beautiful,
was romantically grand, notAvithstanding the
confused and hideous masses of lava strcAved around,
and the dismally barren appearance of all the surrounding
mountains. The Thingvalla-Vatn, which
is a grand expanse of Avater apparently from ten
to fifteen miles in length, and six or eight in width,
is here seen to great adv'antage; and two black-
looking islands, the probable creation of volcanic
fire, rise boldly out of the clear waters of the lake,
and are visited only, as far as I can learn, by some
thousands of water-birds and sea-fowl. Theirnames
are Sandey and Nesey, but what the meaning of the
words is, if any, I could not le a rn ; from hence too
there is an excellent view of the upper part of the high
wall of the chasm of Almannagaiaa. I expressed
my thanks to the clergyman as well as I Avas able
to do in indifferent Latin. We managed, however,
somehow or another to make ourselves under-
H 2