[88] “Kleifar” is a local name in West Iceland, from Kleif, a ridge of cliffs or shelves in a mountain-side (Cleasby).
[89] Professor Tyndall (loc. cit.) tells us that the “two first gases cannot exist amicably together. In Iceland they wage incessant war, mutually decompose each other, and scatter their sulphur over the steaming fields. In this way the true solfataras of the island are formed.” He derives the vapour of sulphur in nature from the action of heat upon certain sulphur compounds.
[90] I have denied the existence of this diagonal.—R. F. B.
[91] The Journal shows how great this mistake is.—R.F.B.
[92] The description is prodigiously exaggerated.—R.F.B.
[93] Mr Judd, examining Western Scotland, opines that the felspathic (acid) rocks have been erupted from the Eocene volcanoes, and the augitic (basic) from those of the Miocene age. In Iceland, however, both seem to have been discharged by the Post-tertiary, as well as by the Tertiary epochs.
[94] “He” (Gunnar Hámundarson) “was eulogised by many poets after his death,” said an Icelander, with unthinking satire. The last poem is the “Gunnarshólmr,” by Jonas Hallgrímsson, a poet who, being loved of the gods, died young.
[95] The Romans were naked below the knee: the pillars of Trajan and Antonine show Teutonic captives wearing a dress much resembling that of our peasants and sailors.
[96] Often written Reykium (for Reykjum), dative plural of second declension. As has been seen, the word enters into a multitude of Icelandic proper names.
[97] The four higher are (S.E.) Öræfajökull (6426 English feet); (W.) Snæfell (5964); Eyjafjallajökull (5593) to south, and Herðubreið (5447) to north-east. Stanley (repeated by Dillon) assigned to Hekla 4300; Sir J. Banks, with a Ramsden’s Barometer, 5000. Gunnlaugsson gives 5108, but here he is very defective, wanting a separate and enlarged plan. The direct distance from the summit to the sea is usually laid down at thirty miles; measured upon the map, the “bee-line” would be twenty-seven geographical miles.