filled up this channel to the brink, but overflowed to a considerable extent.

The ashes from the eruption covered the whole Island, and spread far beyond it; 'empoisoning,' says our Author, whatever could satisfy the hunger or quench the thirst of man and beast. Famine and petilence were the consequence: a considerable proportion of the people, and a vast number of the cattle and horses, perished; and the condition of the inhabitants bears, at the present time, melancholy traces of the effects of the awful visitation. A recent traveller, we recollect, mentions as one of these effects, a greater degree of gravity in the character of the people, and a prevailing aversion to all gay amusements. We will acknowledge that though we cannot wish such a sublime preaching as this in Iceland, might be addressed to the people of one of these more southern countries, to impress on them a sense of the majesty of the Almighty, and a loathing of many of their frivolous pursuits,--we should be delighted to see such a mournful result from the gentler modes of Divine admonition.

We might almost regret that it could not comport with either the leading object of our Author's expedition, or the necessity of haste imposed by the decline of the brief season allowed to travellers in Iceland, to divert so far inland as to be able to make a slight survey and description of some portion of this unparalleled assemblage of the "vials of wrath." But there is to a considerable degree a general sameness in the visible character of volcanos; and the lavas and devastation of the region over which he had to pursue his journey, most impressively illustrated, by the distant effects, the tremendous capacity of the destroyer-Fire.

- Amidst so much evil invested with sublimity, he had, at one place, a spectacle of evil in its most wretched and revolting character, in the appearance of the inhabitants, very few indeed, of one of the four hospitals established in the Island for incurable lepers. The description of the disease, in its complete state, is most frightful. The leprosy in Iceland is judged to be identical with that of the East, which has such a prominence among the plagues described in the Bible, and which has in former ages been one of the most dreaded scourges of Europe, now happily, in a great measure, exempted from it. Its having a considerable number of victims in the south and west quarters of this northern island, is ascribed to the inhabitants of these parts being mostly employed in fishing, the rancidity of their food, their wet woollen clothes, an insalubrious air, and their not 'paying due attention to habits of cleanliness.'

It was but for a short time, however, that our Author's attention was suffered to be withdrawn from visions of magnificent Vol. X. N.S.

Q

solemnity. He soon came on the ground lying between the sea and the Kotlugiâ Yokul, another of the most memorable agents in the history of Iceland, which records eight eruptions of this mountain; the last, which was contemporary with the great earthquake at Lisbon, was by far the most dreadful. A column of flame, so high as to be seen at the distance of a hundred and eighty miles, might seem, to a poetic or superstitious imagination, to express up to the sky the terrible exultation of the subterraneous power which was venting its rage through three apertures almost close together. The immense floods of hot water, which the volcano alternately emitted, bore down vast masses of ice, with rocks, earth, and sand, destroying a large tract of the country, and driving into the sea such an enormous accumulation of these materials, that it was filled to the distance of more than fifteen miles; and in some places where formerly it was 'forty fathoms deep, the tops of the newly-deposited rocks were · now seen towering above the water.'

Scarcely less peril than that of the passage of the Breidamark torrent, awaited the Traveller in the fording of two powerful rivers: one of them, a quarter of a mile wide, and of impetuous current, bore away a few days afterwards, two travellers and their horses, the one to the sea, the other to a sand bank, whence, in consequence of his horse attracting the attention of persons on the land, he was by their assistance, with difficulty recovered. At the other river, Dr. H.'s first venturous attempt was foiled; and he was reduced to pass a rainy and gloomy night, alone, unsheltered, under the open sky. It is gratifying to hear him tell, that the gloom around him, aggravated, as it might naturally be supposed to be, by the anticipation of the next hazardous experiment, did not in any degree penetrate to his mind, which was animated to a state of high delight and confidence, by thoughts of the Almighty Preserver and Redeemer;-a fact serving to shew that religion saves a great expense of philosophy and laboriously sustained heroism. It should occur to the English reader, who always finds a commodious bridge or boat to carry him over any considerable stream he wants to pass, or an inn, probably, at no great distance if an extraordinary flood should compel him to wait, that he cannot well form a competent idea of such a situation as that in which our Author was placed, in this and several other instances; or of the pleasure which he must have felt in the morning, on finding the torrent somewhat fallen, and a friendly peasant, who had over night in vain attempted to ride through it in order to become his guide, again advancing to meet him for this kind and valuable service.

But there was no deliverance, had he wished it, from the presence of the monuments of the triumphant operations of fire. His road lay near the basis of the Solheima and Eyafialla Yokuls,

the latter of which is estimated at the height of 5,500 feet. Both are volcanoes, though not recently in action. Of the former it is related, that it was thrown, at the time of the last eruption of Kotlugiâ, into such violent convulsions, that it rose and fell by turns, and was at last raised so high that it appeared double its 'former size.' The statement is given on the authority of Povelsen, and most probably partakes somewhat of the exaggeration incident to the terrified minds of the reporting contemporaries.

On the road towards Oddè,-a place of literary celebrity, from the residence and seminary of Sæmund, the editor of the Edda, and several worthy successors, he was appropriately accompanied by a peasant who had a question in theology for our Author to discuss, and was able to give him a long detail of English history of the time of Cromwell. The view of Mount Hekla from Odde, greatly disappointed an imagination early accustomed to shape it in a form of magnitude and magnificence worthy to stand representative and chief of all the volcanic tribe in Iceland.

In prosecuting his journey over a wide and desolate region of fractured lavas, with craters here and there, he was very naturally surprised to meet on so dead and ghastly a field a fine herd of rein-deer, which were only one portion of the flourishing posterity of three that were introduced from Lapland in 1770. He safely reached his winter station, Reykiavik, on the 20th of September, after an absence of fifty-eight days, and perform'ing a journey of more than 1200 British miles.'

At Reykiavik, he passed the winter of eight months, without ever, excepting once, going further than a quarter of a mile from his lodgings. A good supply of books which he had brought from Copenhagen, the frequent society of a sensible Englishman, with whom he had accidentally become acquainted, and the composition of his journal from his travelling notes, helped his patience under the tedious confinement. It was unfortunate with respect to social resources, that the arrangements connected with the object of his sojourn, should have assigned him such a place for so long an abode. He says,

Reykiavik is unquestionably the worst place in which to spend the winter in Iceland. The tone of society is the lowest that can well be imagined. Being the resort of a number of foreigners, few of whom have had any education, and who frequent the island solely for purposes of gain, it not only presents a lamentable blank to the view of the religious observer, but is totally devoid of every source of intellectual gratification. The foreign residents generally idle away the short-lived day with the tobacco pipe in their mouths, and spend the evening in playing at cards and drinking punch. They have two or three balls in the course of the winter, and a play is sometimes acted by the principal inhabitants. To these purposes they appropriate the Court-house," and without ceremony take the benches out of the

cathedral, to supply the want of seats. An instance has even been known of the same individual, who performed one of the acts in a play till late on Saturday night, making his appearance on the following morning in the pulpit, in the character of a teacher of religion!

The influence of such a state of society on the native Icelanders, in and about Reykiavik, is very apparent. Too many of them seem to imbibe the same spirit, and their "good manners" are evidently getting corrupted by the "evil communications of the strangers by whom they are visited.'

English charity could not refuse its contribution in aid of this improvement. Our government has sent to reside at Reykiavik, in an official capacity, a notorious character'*, to use the vulgar term, at whose appointment Dr. Henderson expresses, in private, his wonder and indignation. The choice of Iceland, exactly Iceland, the least contaminated part, excepting Pitcairn's island, of the whole human world, as a receptacle for the refuse of English or Irish morality, does certainly indicate a very singular association of ideas.

How much it were to be wished that this one corrupted spot of so favoured a region could be bounded by some moral barrier, equivalent to what is sometimes drawn round a city where the plague is raging, to preclude its influence from acting on a people whose general state of understanding, and conscience, and practical habits, as described by our Author, cannot be contemplated without the most animated delight, mingled with such an apprehensiveness for its permanence, as would lead us to invoke for its guardians an unmitigated continuance of their poverty, and even a repetition of their earthquakes and eruptions, rather than it should be lost, or impaired. But we will hope, that their being at length put in ample possession, for the first time, of the Holy Scriptures, will be effectual for even more than the preservation of their present moral condition, without a severe co-operation of these formidable auxiliaries to the discipline.

In the picture of this enviable mental and moral condition, great prominence is given to the mode of passing the long evenings of winter. The whole family, including the servants, are assembled in the principal room, where the lamp is lighted at three or four o'clock in the afternoon. Each takes in hand some kind of work, excepting one, who is reader to the company. The reader is frequently interrupted, either by the head, or 'some of the more intelligent members of the family, who make ' remarks on various parts of the story, and propose questions, with a view to exercise the ingenuity of the children and ser'vants.' The books are the sagas, or such other histories as can be obtained on the island. These, from the extreme scarcity of printed books, are often manuscripts copied by the industry of the parties themselves, who very commonly write a hand of great

* Reynolds.

beauty. Dr. H. earnestly hopes, that books of a more instructive order will be furnished to them, in requital of the benefit which the learned of Europe have received from the ancient labours of the Icelanders.' Already the historical books of Scripture, have in some families superseded this favourite lore.

At the conclusion of the evening labours, which are frequently continued till near midnight, the family join in singing a psalm or two; after which a chapter from some book of devotion is read, if the family be not in possession of a Bible; but when this sacred book exists, it is preferred to every other. A prayer is also read by the head of the family, and the exercise concludes with a psalm. Their morning devotions are conducted in a similar manner, at the lamp. When the Icelander awakes, he does not salute any person that may have slept in the room with him, but hastens to the door, and lifting his eyes toward heaven, adores Him, who made the heavens and the earth, the author and preserver of his being, and the source of every blessing. He then returns into the house, and salutes every one he meets, with "God grant you a good day."

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It is to be mentioned as a striking peculiarity of the general mental and religious cultivation of these islanders, that it is but in a very trifling degree that they are indebted for it to schools, or any kind of public institutions for education. It is substantially owing to the diligent care universally exercised by the parents in improving the minds of their children; assisted in a small degree indeed by catechetical examinations now and then publicly held by the clergymen in their parishes. Amidst the amortification of contrasting such a moral economy with the vaunted state of our own country, it is impossible not to exult that anywhere society and human nature should nationally stand so high.

At the middle of May, 1815, our Author set out on his tour of the western coast, in spite of representations against travelling so early in the season. He had much difficulty to obtain horses in any tolerable condition for the service; for all the horses, except perhaps some favourite saddle-horse, are turned out at the beginning of winter, to subsist as they can, till its termination, by scraping away the snow, and picking up any scanty remains of vegetation, or frequenting the beach at low water,

and eating the sea-weed that is cast ashore.' They are consequently reduced to so miserable a state of leanness and weakness, as to be unfit for service till a little refreshed by the return of spring; nor till then, is there any practicable travelling to require their being summoned back to their labours. This denial of all but the most poor and precarious subsistence would seem very hard if it were not a matter of necessity. The whole stock of the better kind of hay, is required for the cattle; which are kept in the house during the winter, after having