This River-Bed Is Broad And Somewhat Steep; It Consists Of Lava
Strata, And Is Divided Lengthwise In The Middle By A Cleft Eighteen
To Twenty Feet Deep, And Fifteen To Eighteen Feet Broad, Towards
Which The Bubbling And Surging Waters Rush, So That The Sound Is
Heard At Some Distance.
A little wooden bridge, which stands in the
middle of the stream, and over which the high waves constantly play,
leads over the chasm.
Any one not aware of the fact can hardly
explain this appearance to himself, nor understand the noise and
surging of the stream. The little bridge in the centre would be
taken for the ruins of a fallen bridge, and the chasm is not seen
from the shore, because the foaming waves overtop it. An
indescribable fear would seize upon the traveller when he beheld the
venturous guide ride into the stream, and was obliged to follow
without pity or mercy.
The priest of Thingvalla had prepared me for the scene, and had
advised me to WALK over the bridge; but as the water at this season
stood so high that the waves from both sides dashed two feet above
the bridge, I could not descend from my horse, and was obliged to
ride across.
The whole passage through the stream is so peculiar, that it must be
seen, and can scarcely be described. The water gushes and plays on
all sides with fearful force; it rushes into the chasm with
impetuous violence, forms waterfalls on both sides, and breaks
itself on the projecting rocks.
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