When my guide surprised me
agreeably by the proposition to return to Struvellir at once. The
horses, he said, were sufficiently rested, and I could get a good
room there in the priest's house. I soon packed, and in a short
time we were again on horseback. The second time I came to the deep
Rangaa, I rode across fearlessly, and needed no protection at any
side. Such is man: danger only alarms him the first time; when he
has safely surmounted it once, he scarcely thinks of it the second
time, and wonders how he can have felt any fear.
I saw five little trees standing in a field near the stream. The
stems of these, which, considering the scarcity of trees in Iceland,
may be called remarkable phenomena, were crooked and knotty, but yet
six or seven feet high, and about four or five inches in diameter.
As my guide had foretold, I found a very comfortable room and a good
bed in the priest's house. Herr Horfuson is one of the best men I
have ever met with. He eagerly sought opportunities for giving me
pleasure, and to him I owe several fine minerals and an Icelandic
book of the year 1601. May God reward his kindness and benevolence!
July 1st.
We retraced our steps as far as the river Huitha, over which we
rowed, and then turned in another direction. Our journey led us
through beautiful valleys, many of them producing abundance of
grass; but unfortunately so much moss grew among it, that these
large plains were not available for pastures, and only afforded
comfort to travellers by their aspect of cheerfulness. They were
quite dry.
The valley in which Hjalmholm, our resting-place for this night, was
situated, is traversed by a stream of lava, which had, however, been
modest enough not to fill up the whole valley, but to leave a space
for the pretty stream Elvas, and for some fields and hillocks, on
which many cottages stood. It was one of the most populous valleys
I had seen in Iceland.
Hjalmholm is situated on a hill. In it lives the Sysselmann of the
Rangaar district, in a large and beautiful house such as I saw no
where in Iceland except in Reikjavik. He had gone to the capital of
the island as member of the Allthing; but his daughters received me
very hospitably and kindly.
We talked and chatted much; I tried to display my knowledge of the
Danish language before them, and must often have made use of curious
phrases, for the girls could not contain their laughter. But that
did not abash me; I laughed with them, applied to my dictionary,
which I carried with me, and chatted on. They seemed to gather no
very high idea of the beauty of my countrywomen from my personal
appearance; for which I humbly crave the forgiveness of my
countrywomen, assuring them that no one regrets the fact more than I
do. But dame Nature always treats people of my years very harshly,
and sets a bad example to youth of the respect due to age. Instead
of honouring us and giving us the preference, she patronises the
young folks, and every maiden of sixteen can turn up her nose at us
venerable matrons. Besides my natural disqualifications, the sharp
air and the violent storms to which I had been subjected had
disfigured my face very much. They had affected me more than the
burning heat of the East. I was very brown, my lips were cracked,
and my nose, alas, even began to rebel against its ugly colour. It
seemed anxious to possess a new, dazzling white, tender skin, and
was casting off the old one in little bits.
The only circumstance which reinstated me in the good opinion of the
young girls was, that having brushed my hair unusually far out of my
face, a white space became visible. The girls all cried out
simultaneously, quite surprised and delighted: "Hun er quit" (she
is white). I could not refrain from laughing, and bared my arm to
prove to them that I did not belong to the Arab race.
A great surprise was destined me in this house; for, as I was
ransacking the Sysselmann's book-case, I found Rotteck's Universal
History, a German Lexicon, and several poems and writings of German
poets.
July 2d.
The way from Kalmannstunga to Thingvalla leads over nothing but
lava, and the one to-day went entirely through marshes. As soon as
we had crossed one, another was before us. Lava seemed to form the
soil here, for little portions of this mineral rose like islands out
of the marshes.
The country already grew more open, and we gradually lost sight of
the glaciers. The high mountains on the left seemed like hills in
the distance, and the nearer ones were really hills. After riding
about nine miles we crossed the large stream of Elvas in a boat, and
then had to tread carefully across a very long, narrow bank, over a
meadow which was quite under water. If a traveller had met us on
this bank, I do not know what we should have done; to turn round
would have been as dangerous as to sink into the morass.
Fortunately one never meets any travellers in Iceland.
Beyond the dyke the road runs for some miles along the mountains and
hills, which all consist of lava, and are of a very dark, nearly
black colour. The stones on these hills were very loose; in the
plain below many colossal pieces were lying, which must have fallen
down; and many others threatened to fall every moment. We passed
the dangerous spot safely, without having had to witness such a
scene.
