A few small lakes were
still to be crossed; and at length, at six o'clock in the evening,
we reached our destination.
With the exception of a morsel of bread and cheese, I had eaten
nothing since the morning; still I could not spare time to make
coffee, but at once dismounted, summoned my guide, and commenced my
pilgrimage to the smoking mountains. At the outset our way lay
across swampy places and meadow lands; but soon we had to climb the
mountains themselves, a task rendered extremely difficult by the
elastic, yielding soil, in which every footstep imprinted itself
deeply, suggesting to the traveller the unpleasant possibility of
his sinking through, - a contingency rendered any thing but agreeable
by the neighbourhood of the boiling springs. At length I gained the
summit, and saw around me numerous basins filled with boiling water,
while on all sides, from hill and valley, columns of vapour rose out
of numberless clefts in the rocks. From a cleft in one rock in
particular a mighty column of vapour whirled into the air. On the
windward side I could approach this place very closely. The ground
was only lukewarm in some places, and I could hold my hand for
several moments to the gaps from which steam issued. No trace of a
crater was to be seen. The bubbling and hissing of the steam, added
to the noise of the wind, occasioned such a deafening clamour, that
I was very glad to feel firmer ground beneath my feet, and to leave
the place in haste. It really seemed as if the interior of the
mountain had been a boiling caldron. The prospect from these
mountains is very fine. Numerous valleys and mountains innumerable
offered themselves to my view, and I could even discern the isolated
black rock past which I had ridden five or six hours previously.
I now commenced my descent into the valley; at a few hundred paces
the bubbling and hissing were already inaudible. I supposed that I
had seen every thing worthy of notice; but much that was remarkable
still remained. I particularly noticed a basin some five or six
feet in diameter, filled with boiling mud. This mud has quite the
appearance of fine clay dissolved in water; its colour was a light
grey.
From another basin, hardly two feet in diameter, a mighty column of
steam shot continually into the air with so much force and noise
that I started back half stunned, and could have fancied the vault
of heaven would burst. This basin is situated in a corner of the
valley, closely shut in on three sides by hills. In the
neighbourhood many hot springs gushed forth; but I saw no columns of
water, and my guide assured me that such a phenomenon was never
witnessed here.
There is more danger in passing these spots than even in traversing
the mountains. In spite of the greatest precautions, I frequently
sank in above the ankles, and would then draw back with a start, and
find my foot covered with hot mud. From the place where I had
broken through, steam and hot mud, or boiling water, rose into the
air.
Though my guide, who walked before me, carefully probed the ground
with his stick, he several times sank through half-way to the knee.
These men are, however, so much accustomed to contingencies of this
kind that they take little account of them. My guide would quietly
repair to the next spring and cleanse his clothes from mud. As I
was covered with it to above the ankles, I thought it best to follow
his example.
For excursions like these it is best to come provided with a few
boards, five or six feet in length, with which to cover the most
dangerous places.
At nine o'clock in the evening, but yet in the full glare of the
sun, we arrived at Krisuvik. I now took time to look at this place,
which I found to consist of a small church and a few miserable huts.
I crept into one of these dens; it was so dark that a considerable
time elapsed before I could distinguish objects, the light was only
admitted through a very small aperture. I found in this hut a few
persons who were suffering from the eruption called "lepra," a
disease but too commonly met with in Iceland. Their hands and faces
were completely covered with this eruption; if it spreads over the
whole body the patient languishes slowly away, and is lost without
remedy.
Churches are in this country not only used for purposes of public
worship, but also serve as magazines for provisions, clothes, &c.,
and as inns for travellers. I do not suppose that a parallel
instance of desecration could be met with even among the most
uncivilised nations. I was assured, indeed, that these abuses were
about to be remedied. A reform of this kind ought to have been
carried out long ago; and even now the matter seems to remain an
open point; for wherever I came the church was placed at my disposal
for the night, and every where I found a store of fish, tallow, and
other equally odoriferous substances.
The little chapel at Krisuvik is only twenty-two feet long by ten
broad; on my arrival it was hastily prepared for my reception.
Saddles, ropes, clothes, hats, and other articles which lay
scattered about, were hastily flung into a corner; mattresses and
some nice soft pillows soon appeared, and a very tolerable bed was
prepared for me on a large chest in which the vestments of the
priest, the coverings of the altar, &c., were deposited.
