tormy
nights, when it is said they are seen plunging about in the water.
Hoarse cries are heard through the gusts of the tempest; and solitary
travelers on their journey retreat in dismay, lest they should be
dragged into the treacherous abode of these ghostly old Norsemen.

Not long after our unpleasant adventure we ascended an eminence or
dividing ridge of lava, from which we had a fine view of the Lake of
Thingvalla. Descending by a series of narrow defiles, we reached a
sandy canyon winding for several miles nearly parallel with the shores
of the lake. The sides of the hills now began to exhibit a scanty
vegetation, and sometimes we crossed a moist patch of pasture covered
with a fine grass of most brilliant and beautiful green. A few huts,
with sod walls or fences around the arable patches in the vicinity,
were to be seen from time to time, but in general the country was very
thinly populated. Flocks of sheep, and occasionally a few horses,
grazed on the hill-sides.

The great trouble of our lives in the neighborhood of these
settlements was a little dog belonging to my guide. Brusa was his
name, and the management of our loose horses was his legitimate
occupation. A bright, lively, officious little fellow was Brusa, very
much like a wolf in appearance, and not unlike a human being in
certain traits of his character. Montaigne says that great fault was
found with him, when he was mayor of his native town, because he was
always satisfied to let things go along smoothly; and though the
citizens admitted that they had never been so free from trouble, they
could not see the use of a mayor who never issued any ordinances or
created any public commotion. Our little dog was of precisely the
same way of thinking. He could see no use in holding office in our
train without doing something, whether necessary or not. So, when the
horses were going along all right, he felt it incumbent upon him to
give chase to the sheep. Stealing away quietly, so that Zoega might
not see him at the start, he would suddenly dart off after the poor
animals, with his shaggy hair all erect, and never stop barking,
snapping, and biting their legs till they were scattered over miles of
territory. He was particularly severe upon the cowardly ewes and
lambs, actually driving them frantic with terror; but the old rams
that stood to make fight he always passed with quiet disdain. It was
in vain Zoega would hold up, and utter the most fearful cries and