The wind
accidentally blew it to the spot where I stood, and it enveloped me
so closely that I could scarcely see a few feet off. But I
perceived neither smell nor oppression, merely a slight degree of
warmth.
June 28th.
As I had now seen the Geyser play so often and so beautifully, I
ordered my horses for nine o'clock this morning, to continue my
journey. I made the more haste to leave, as a Dutch prince was
expected, who had lately arrived at Reikjavik, with a large retinue,
in a splendid man-of-war.
I had the luck to see another eruption before my departure at half-
past eight o'clock; and this one was nearly as beautiful as the
first. This time also the outer basin was entirely emptied, and the
inner one to a depth of six or seven feet. I could therefore again
descend into the basin, and bid farewell to the Geyser at the very
brink of the crater, which, of course, I did.
I had now been three nights and two days in the immediate vicinity
of the Geyser, and had witnessed five eruptions, of which two were
of the most considerable that had ever been known. But I can assure
my readers that I did not find every thing as I had anticipated it
according to the descriptions and accounts I had read.
