But A
Peasant Who Had Followed Us From One Of The Neighbouring Cottages,
And Had Probably Guessed My Anxiety And My Fear, Took Me By The Hand
And Constituted Himself My Cicerone.
He had unfortunately, it being
Sunday, paid too great a devotion to the brandy-bottle, so that he
staggered
Rather than walked, and I hesitated to trust myself to the
guidance of this man, not knowing whether he had reason enough left
to distinguish how far we might with safety venture. My guide, who
had accompanied me from Reikjavik, assured me indeed that I might
trust him in spite of his intoxication, and that he would himself go
with us to translate the peasant's Icelandic jargon into Danish; but
nevertheless I followed with great trepidation.
He led me to the margin of the basin of the great Geyser, which lies
on the top of a gentle elevation of about ten feet, and contains the
outer and the inner basins. The diameter of the outer basin may be
about thirty feet; that of the inner one six to seven feet. Both
were filled to the brim, the water was pure as crystal, but boiled
and bubbled only slightly. We soon left this spot; for when the
basins are quite filled with water it is very dangerous to approach
them, as they may empty themselves any moment by an eruption. We
therefore went to inspect the other springs.
My unsteady guide pointed those out which we might unhesitatingly
approach, and warned me from the others.
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