As long as the
water only filled the inner basin it boiled violently; but the
higher it rose in the outer one, the less it boiled, and nearly
ceased when the basin was filled: it only threw little bubbles here
and there.
After a lapse of two hours - it was just noon - the basin was filled
nearly to the brim; and while I stood beside it the water began
again to bubble violently, and to emit the hollow sounds. I had
scarcely time to retreat, for the pillars of water rose immediately.
This time they spouted during the noise, and were more bulky than
those of the first explosion, which might proceed from their not
rising so high, and therefore remaining more compact. Their height
may have been from forty to fifty feet. The basins this time
remained nearly as full after the eruption as before.
I had now seen two eruptions of the Geyser, and felt amply
compensated for my persevering patience and watchfulness. But I was
destined to be more fortunate, and to experience its explosions in
all their variety. The spring spouted again at seven o'clock in the
evening, ascended higher than at noon, and brought up some stones,
which looked like black spots and points in the white frothy water-
column. And during the third night it presented itself under
another phase: the water rose in dreadful, quickly-succeeding
waves, without throwing rays; the basin overflowed violently, and
generated such a mass of steam as is rarely seen. 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. I never
heard a greater noise than I have mentioned, and never felt any
trembling of the earth, although I paid the greatest attention to
every little circumstance, and held my head to the ground during an
eruption.
It is singular how many people repeat every thing they hear from
others - how some, with an over-excited imagination, seem to see,
hear, and feel things which do not exist; and how others, again,
tell the most unblushing falsehoods. I met an example of this in
Reikjavik, in the house of the apothecary Moller, in the person of
an officer of a French frigate, who asserted that he had "ridden to
the very edge of the crater of Mount Vesuvius." He probably did not
anticipate meeting any one in Reikjavik who had also been to the
crater of Vesuvius. Nothing irritates me so much as such falsehoods
and boastings; and I could not therefore resist asking him how he
had managed that feat. I told him that I had been there, and feared
danger as little as he could do; but that I had been compelled to
descend from my donkey near the top of the mountain, and let my feet
carry me the remainder of the journey. He seemed rather
embarrassed, and pretended he had meant to say NEARLY to the crater;
but I feel convinced he will tell this story so often that he will
at last believe it himself.
I hope I do not weary my readers by dwelling so long on the subject
of the Geyser. I will now vary the subject by relating a few
circumstances that came under my notice, which, though trifling in
themselves, were yet very significant. The most unimportant facts
of an almost unknown country are often interesting, and are often
most conclusive evidences of the general character of the nation.
I have already spoken of my intoxicated guide. It is yet
inexplicable to me how he could have conducted me so safely in such
a semi-conscious state; and had he not been the only one, I should
certainly not have trusted myself to his guidance.
Of the want of cleanliness of the Icelanders, no one who has not
witnessed it can have any idea; and if I attempted to describe some
of their nauseous habits, I might fill volumes. They seem to have
no feeling of propriety, and I must, in this respect, rank them as
far inferior to the Bedouins and Arabs - even to the Greenlanders. I
can, therefore, not conceive how this nation could once have been
distinguished for wealth, bravery, and civilisation.
On this day I proceeded on my journey about twenty-eight miles
farther to Skalholt.
For the first five miles we retraced our former road; then we turned
to the left and traversed the beautiful long valley in which the
Geyser is situated.
