[Chap. V.
formed a most extensive and delightful carpet to
tread on, as soft as the finest velvet.
On passing a subterranean cavern in the side of
the range of hills on our left, our guides pointed
it out as a curiosity, and we dismounted from
our horses to inspect i t j it was encrusted round
with the same kind of porous and blistered lava
which covers the whole surface of the country as
far as the eye could reach ; it penetrated about
twenty or thirty feet under ground, and was not
more than five or six feet h ig h ; it was not an
object worth noticing—indeed, caverns of this kind
are so little uncommon, that we passed several of
them during the d a y ; they only tended to show
that the whole surface of this part of the country
had suffered some tremendous coiwulsion. This
was further confirmed by a volcanic cone rising
out of a gentle ascent a little off our route; it
consisted of a small crater, whose sharp rocky
sides and top were vitrified by fire, from whence, and
from several other small craters, scattered about in
this neighbourhood, there must have been, at some
period or another, fearful eruptions, the surrounding
country to a great extent having been apparently
in a liquid state of melted stone.
The unusual circumstance of a vast field of
continuous lava (not merely a stream) that exists in
this part of Iceland, without any volcanic mountain
from whence it could have been thrown out, can
admit of no other explanation than th a t which the
succession of these small conical mounds appears to
afford. The one we visited was hollow, dark, and
d e ep ; the singular forms assumed by this lava may
he accounted for, by the very gentle slope—in
many places none at all—down w'hich it had to flow,
or, in other words, was propelled onwards by the
streams w’hich follow'ed it. In spots where it had
met with obstacles it has risen into blistered hillocks
of twisted lava, scoriae, slags, and pumice;
in other places, where it appears to have been diverted
from its course, it has assumed every form
of contorted and curled surfaces, putting on sometimes
the appearance of thick twisted ropes or
cables, and in some places were long chasms like
so many deep ruts, to the annoyance of our horses
which had to cross them.
In contemplating this continuous field of lava
and the numerous craters that run along the
feet of the Laugerfell hills in one wide belt,
a curious inquiry suggests itself: if it be gene-
ally admitted, that the internal fire which melts
the exploded materials he deep-seated in the
earth, how are they pushed up to the very summit
of the highest mountains, such as Chimbora<^o,
Pic of Teneriffe, BE tua, Stromboli, and Vesuvius?
One might almost be tempted to ask, did these
mountains exist before any eruptions took place,
or did the eruptions create them ? We are pretty
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