and calm, through bush and bog, brake and brier, and over fields of Iceland lava. The Reykir springs are nearly a hundred in number, and cover some fifty acres-a tract nearly as large as the Geysers occupy. These springs also comprise every variety of hot, warm, spouting, and mud springs. The springs here that spout, are more regular than the Geysers, but do not perform on so extensive a scale. They don't bore with so big an auger; haven't the calibre, nor the capital to do business on. They are very beautiful; but, to be appreciated fully should be seen before going to the Geysers. The spouting ones are intermittent, giving their eruptions at regular periods. I found, by consulting my watch, that the largest one commenced an eruption once in three hours and sixteen minutes. Each eruption continues about half an hour. This spring, or Geyser, is like a well, about five feet in diameter. It has been nearly filled up, by persons throwing large stones into it. When I arrived, it was not in an eruption, and down among the stones I could see the hot water, boiling violently. It was on the top of a rise or knoll of ground, and I could see that the water had made an aperture, and escaped through the petrified wall of the well; and appeared on the surface of the ground, a little way down the knoll, making a fair-sized brook. No water ran over the top of the well, except when in action. At the time of an eruption, it rushed suddenly, without any warning, up through the stones, separating into a great many streams. There it continued playing beautifully, much like an artificial fountain, for nearly half an hour. The noise could be heard for half a mile, or more. The first time it played, after my arrival, was near midnight, after I had got to sleep. Hearing the roar and rush of water, I was instantly awakened, and ran to the church window, and looked out. There it was throwing up its broad, white, foamy jets, about a quarter of a mile from me. There being no darkness here, at this season, sights and shows appear to about as good advantage in the Iceland BOILING FOUNTAINS AND GEYSERS. 141 I watched it from my window, I saw twilight as in the noonday sun. till it settled down, and gradually sunk into the earth. it in eruption twice the next morning, before I left. Its height was scarcely forty feet, but it would be a grand addition to the artificial fountains and warm baths in one of our cities. Wonder if the Icelanders would sell it? Guess not; it is one of the "lions" of the country; and if their curiosities were gone, there would be nothing to attract foreigners hither. If a stretch of the imagination could make a spring moveable property, one would hardly think of carrying off Mount Hekla or Skaptar Jokull. This Geyser is near the foot of a range of hills, the same as the Geysers in the north. The brook of hot water from this, ran near half a mile before it emptied into a cold stream that flowed past. One of the prettiest fountain-springs in the world is near the bank of this cold brook, at the foot of a very steep ridge, near half a mile from the large Geyser. The basin itself was ten or fifteen feet across, and shaped somewhat like the half of an oyster, or rather a clam-shell. The side next the hill was far the deepest, sinking into a kind of well three or four feet in diameter, where the water came out. The direction of the well was slanting or diagonal, the opening coming outward from the hill. The brow of the hill hung partly over the spring, so that in an eruption the water could not rise perpendicularly, but was forced out at an angle of thirty or forty degrees with the ground. It did not throw the water more than ten or twelve feet high, and fifteen or twenty feet outwardly. This spring makes up for its lack of size and grandeur, in the frequency of its eruptions, and the beauty of the incrustations and petrifactions in and around it. All the bottom of the spring is a mass of petrifaction, and nearly as white as the purest marble. After an eruption, the water would gradually recede from the basin, and sink down into the earth, nearly all disappearing, so that the water could just be seen down the aperture of the spring. Then it would at once commence rising gradually; and in three or four minutes it would get to spouting, and continue going till the basin was full, and run over considerably. After three or four minutes it would gradually stop, and sink back again. A whole round of performance, rising up, blowing off, and sinking down again, occupied about fifteen minutes. With a hammer that the guide brought me, I broke up some beautiful incrustations to bring home. The samples of these petrifactions are not unlike some found in the limestone caves of Virginia and Kentucky. The mud-springs here are very curious. Some of them are like large and sputtering cauldrons of black pudding. Again, some of them are seen gurgling away down in the earth; and, attracted by the noise and the steam, I would go and look down a hole, and see it sputtering and boiling, apparently pure clay, in a semi-liquid state. The clays here are very beautiful, and a great variety of colours, as I had found them at the Geysers. In many places near the springs-particularly near the mud-springs-the clay is soft and hot, often dangerously so. Visiters sometimes get into a soft place, and sink into it, getting their feet and legs dreadfully scalded. In these places it is boiling hot. What a terrible fate for a man to sink down here out of sight! Nero accompanied me from the house up to the Geyser, and when he came to the brook of hot water that ran from it, he stopped and gave a howl. Poor Nero! he knew it was hot and would scald his feet, and it was too wide for him to jump it. So I took him up in my arms and carried him across. He seemed to appreciate the favour perfectly. The poor dog did not know but he had escaped being drowned in the rivers, or roasted in Mount Hekla, to come here and be boiled in the Reykir springs. Good old Nero! many a long league we've travelled together, and you have got so you scarcely know whether like Iceland or your your Yankee master best. I rather think you like the one best for the time being who gives you the most boiled bacon, and fresh milk. you A CHURL. 143 CHAPTER XVII. "By water shall he die, and take his end." HAVING Seen the Reykir springs, I prepared to leave. I paid the man the usual sum for the privilege of sleeping in the parish church, and for the grass for our horses, and milk for ourselves. He was evidently dissatisfied; returned no thanks, and did not offer his hand as a token of satisfaction. From his demeanour now, and more from some circumstances hereafter to be related, I think him a bad man. He was of a much darker complexion than the most of Icelanders, and a morose, churlish-looking fellow. Perhaps, from the fact that he was the landlord of the Reykir springs-a "fashionable watering-place"-he had grown worldly, and considered a stay on his premises worth more than it is at most caravanseras. He saddled his horse, however, and prepared to accompany us; probably, though, as a favour to the guide, rather than to me, as he would not like to forfeit his future custom. The guide rode ahead with the pack-horses, and I went a little way to the right to see some hot and warm springs a part of the great family here, that I had not seen the night before. There were two, similar to two that I had seen at the Geysers, large and deep; perhaps twenty feet across, and entirely full of hot water, so clear that I could see perfectly plain to the bottom-about thirty or thirty-five feet, as near as I could judge. These springs did not discharge a very great quantity of water; but there they were, level, full, and hot enough to boil a dinner, and there they had been in that state, probably, "Amid the flux of many thousand years, A little way off-perhaps twelve rods-was a cold spring, and between that and the hot ones was one of tepid water. "Mine host" rode out near me, to call my attention to this tepid spring. It was more like a well, about ten feet across at the top of the water, which was below the surface of the ground some six or eight feet. I got off my horse, and with some caution went down the steep, sloping side of the well, and felt the water. It was about blood heat, and no steam escaped from it. The water was pitchy black, and showed no bottom, appearing of unfathomable depth. The Icelander also went down the bank, and felt the water; and while he did so, his feet gave way, and down he went into the horrible-looking pool. As he sank, he turned his face towards me with a look of terror and fear more horrible than I ever saw on a man's countenance before. May I never be a witness to another such sight! His death seemed inevitable. To my utmost astonishment, he floated. To go in after him was out of the question, and would only have resulted in drowning us both. He floated over on his back, his face just out of water, and reached his hands imploringly towards me. I stretched my whip to him; and as he caught the end of the lash, I pulled him slowly towards the bank, then grasped his hand, and got him out. The man was drunk! It was brandy that threw him into the water, and no doubt 'twas brandy that kept him afloat. Not being very fond of water, I think 'twould be very difficult to drown an Icelander. Certainly this one did not show the "alacrity in sinking" that Falstaff did. He pulled off his coat, and wrung the water out of it; and then, in his wet clothes, mounted his horse, and we rode on after the guide, who by this time was a long way ahead, crossing the green meadows. To the left, towards the river Hvitá and the sea, it was level; and on the right, ranges of hills and mountains. In the course of six or eight miles, we arrived at the little town and church of Hjalli (he-aht-li). It was Sunday, and the people for many miles around were assembling for worship. Every one came on horse |