It was fortunate that these waters contain but a very
small quantity of brimstone, otherwise we could scarcely have long
maintained our elevated position.
The rock from which these springs rise is formed of a reddish mass,
and the bed of the river into which the water flows is also
completely covered with little stones of the same colour.
On our way back we noticed, near a cottage, another remarkable
phenomenon. It was a basin, in whose depths the water boils and
bubbles violently; and near this basin are two unsightly holes, from
which columns of smoke periodically rise with a great noise. Whilst
this is going on, the basin fills itself more and more with water,
but never so much as to overflow, or to force a jet of water into
the air; then the steam and the noise cease in both cavities, and
the water in the reservoir sinks several feet.
This strange phenomenon generally lasts about a minute, and is
repeated so regularly, that a bet could almost be made, that the
rising and falling of the water, and the increased and lessened
noise of the steam, shall be seen and heard sixty or sixty-five
times within an hour.
In communication with this basin is another, situate at a distance
of about a hundred paces in a small hollow, and filled like the
former with boiling water. As the water in the upper basin
gradually sinks, and ceases to seethe, it begins to rise in the
lower one, and is at length forced two or three feet into the air;
then it falls again, and thus the phenomenon is continually repeated
in the upper and the lower basin alternately.
At the upper spring there is also a vapour-bath. This is formed by
a small chamber situate hard by the basin, built of stones and
roofed with turf. It is further provided with a small and narrow
entrance, which cannot be passed in an upright position. The floor
is composed of stone slabs, probably covering a hot spring, for they
are very warm. The person wishing to use this bath betakes himself
to this room, and carefully closes every cranny; a suffocating heat,
which induces violent perspiration over the whole frame, is thus
generated. The people, however, seldom avail themselves of this
bath.
On my return I had still to visit a basin with a jet of water, in a
fine meadow near the church; a low wall of stone has been erected
round this spring to prevent the cattle from scalding themselves if
they should approach too near in the ardour of grazing. Some eighty
paces off is to be seen the wool-bath erected by Snorri Sturluson.
It consists of a stone basin three or four feet in depth, and
eighteen or twenty in diameter. The approach is by a few steps
leading to a low stone bench, which runs round the basin. The water
is obtained from the neighbouring spring, but is of so high a
temperature that it is impossible to bathe without previously
cooling it. The bath stands in the open air, and no traces are left
of the building which once covered it. It is now used for clothes
and sheep's wool.
I had now seen all the interesting springs on this side of the
valley. Some columns of vapour, which may be observed from the
opposite end of the valley, proceed from thermal springs, that offer
no remarkable feature save their heat.
On our return the priest took me to the churchyard, which lay at
some distance from his dwelling, and showed me the principal graves.
Though I thought the sight very impressive, it was not calculated to
invigorate me, when I considered that I must pass the approaching
night alone in the church, amidst these resting-places of the
departed.
The mound above each grave is very high, and the greater part of
them are surmounted by a kind of wooden coffin, which at first sight
conveys the impression that the dead person is above ground. I
could not shake off a feeling of discomfort; and such is the power
of prejudice, that - I acknowledge my weakness - I was even induced to
beg that the priest would remove one of the covers. Though I knew
full well that the dead man was slumbering deep in the earth, and
not in this coffin, I felt a shudder pass over me as the lid was
removed, and I saw - as the priest had assured me I should do - merely
a tombstone with the usual inscription, which this coffin-like
covering is intended to protect against the rude storms of the
winter.
Close beside the entrance to the church is the mound beneath which
rest the bones of Snorri Sturluson, the celebrated poet; {39} over
this grave stands a small runic stone of the length of the mound
itself. This stone is said to have once been completely covered
with runic characters; but all trace of these has been swept away by
the storms of five hundred winters, against which the tomb had no
protecting coffin. The stone, too, is split throughout its entire
length into two pieces. The mound above the grave is often renewed,
so that the beholder could often fancy he saw a new-made grave. I
picked all the buttercups I could find growing on the grave, and
preserved them carefully in a book. Perhaps I may be able to give
pleasure to several of my countrywomen by offering them a floweret
from the grave of the greatest of Icelandic poets.
