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.
I often heard a hollow sound among these hills; I at first took it
for distant thunder, and examined the horizon to discover the
approaching storm. But when I saw neither clouds nor lightning, I
perceived that I must seek the origin of the sounds nearer, and that
they proceeded from the falling portions of rock.
