over forty miles, and we did that in eleven hours, which gave to next morning all the benefit of a good start, and left nothing whatever to complain of but the heat, on account of which some people invariably travel by night, there being scarcely any darkness at this time of year. No time had been lost upon that distance, although as a rule the people of Iceland fail quite to understand the value of it, and resemble society in the East by an extent of conversation the whole day, when there is apparently nothing whatever to discuss. The night was spent in a farmhouse rich in its quantity and quality of milk and cream, we having entered now within the boundary of human habitations, and left the desert for a land of pasture, which bore every appearance of prosperity, and was enlivened by the sight of people getting in their hay; this

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hay time" is their harvest, the one great crop of the country, in which their wealth consists. It may be as well to mention the name of this

farm (though not of much use to the general eader) was Laugardoelir, since by stopping here the first night we were able to arrive at (or very near to) the foot of Hecla on the second day, continuing our route along the banks of a great river without any variety hour after hour, until there came a chance of crossing it—in the way all rivers throughout Iceland, if of any considerable size, have to be crossed, by driving in the horses first, and following with every bit of baggage in a boat, while they swim to the shore opposite and we follow in pursuit, now and then cracking a whip; when fairly out of their depth and obliged to struggle hard against the river, we soon see nothing but their heads, which keep however in a group, and want no guiding where to go. In this country there are no bridges, and the rivers exceed those of great Britain in length, so they have always to be forded, in which case the horses feel their ground with very remarkable skill, never making a false step, even in water of a thick

white colour (of which these rivers generally are) and anything but transparent; while one has to give a horse his head and not attempt to guide him, or it will soon be over with both horse and man. The height of these horses may be from 11 to 13 hands, and their worth from 150 to 280 rix-dalers, from 177. to 31. sterling: a pack-horse will cost from 57. to 10l., but vary according to the year; a great exodus of horses took place this very season, several shiploads, each of 300 or 400 horses at once, left this country, no doubt for the mines in England. With regard to our journey, the afternoon of that second day found us after five and thirty miles (our horses being all the better for the water) at Storuvellir, a comfortable wooden house covered outside with sod, the dwelling of a Lutheran minister, in full view of the great Hecla, which next morning—if weather permitted-I, with the minister's son, Gudmundr, and second guide Einar Sæmundsson, had made out a plan to

ascend; the head guide, before mentioned, now declined, on the ground of it not being his business! because the horses took up all his care, for one reason; but no Icelander ever dared the ascent until shown the way by Sir Joseph Banks, or ever accomplished it until he came, and even now the oldest inhabitants appear to have superstitious notions concerning it.

So it happened the next morning at a little after ten, when the sun was shining brightly but obscured by clouds, that only the three of us got under way myself upon a horse generously offered by the worthy minister to give the other ones a rest, a cob in which he took great pride. An hour and a half brought us easily to Noefrholt, a farmhouse that will be the first to perish in the next violent eruption of this mountain, the last one having been in '45, but only of moderate extent, as Noetrholt is a dwelling-place of greater antiquity by far. At this At this spot there

appeared to be a very unnecessary delay, some

local guide was wanted who knew the mountain, and until he came the time was spent in sorting various old manuscripts on paper that were found within this lonely habitation; on which the family depended for whatever they would have in winter to occupy their minds. We ordered at the same time some coffee, which was ground and roasted for us on the spot, and proved so exhilarating that the present writer at once cleared a hedge in front of the house upon the strength of it, followed by Gudmundr in quick succession, who alighted at the same moment with all decorum and without altering his countenance.

Such as the reverence shown by Egyptians to the Nile, or felt by Germans for the Rhine, was the veneration manifested for Mount Hecla by this young man; it had always been opposite his home, and called out this very feeling in all he said or did, when anywhere within its neighbourhood. We began the ascent about twelve, by