We then ascended the adjoining mountain, and rode full two hours on the high plain.

The plain itself was monotonous, as it was only covered with lava-stones and moss, but the prospect into the valley was varied and beautiful.

Vale and sea were spread before me, and I saw the Westmann Islands, with their beautiful hills, which the envious clouds had concealed from me on the Hecla, lying in the distance.
Below me stood some houses in the port-town, Eierbach, and near them the waters of the Elvas flow into the sea.
At the end of this mountain-level a valley was situated, which was also filled with lava, but with that jagged black lava which presents such a beautiful appearance.

Immense streams crossed it from all sides, so that it almost resembled a black lake separated from the sea by a chain of equally black mountains.
We descended into this sombre vale through piles of lava and fields of snow, and went on through valleys and chasms, over fields of lava, plains of meadow-land, past dark mountains and hills, till we reached the chief station of my Icelandic journey, the town of Reikjavik.
The whole country between Reikum and Reikjavik, a distance of 45 to 50 miles, is, for the most part, uninhabited.

Here and there, in the fields of lava, stand little pyramids of the same substance, which serve as landmarks; and there are two houses built for such persons as are obliged to travel during the winter.