ses have a
considerable weight to bear in empty boxes alone, so that very little
real luggage can be taken. The weight which a horse has to carry during
a long journey should never exceed 150lbs.

It is impossible to remember how many times our baggage had to be
repacked during a day's journey. The great pieces of turf would never
stay in their places, and every moment something was wrong. Nothing less
than a miracle, however, can prevail on an Icelander to depart from his
regular routine. His ancestors packed in such and such a manner, and so
he must pack also. {35}

We had a journey of above forty miles before us the first day, and yet,
on account of the damaged saddle, we could not start before eight o'clock
in the morning.

The first twelve or fourteen miles of our journey lay through the great
valley in which Reikjavik is situated; the valley contains many low
hills, some of which we had to climb. Several rivers, chief among which
was the Laxselv, opposed our progress, but at this season of the year
they could be crossed on horseback without danger. Nearly all the
valleys through which we passed to-day were covered with lava, but
nevertheless offered many beautiful spots.

Many of the hills we passed seemed to me to be extinct volcanoes; the
whole upper portion was covered with colossal slabs of lava, as though
the crater had been choked up with them. Lava of the same description
and colour, but in smaller pieces, lay strewed around.

For the first twelve or fourteen miles the sea is visible from the brow
of every successive hill. The country is also pretty generally
inhabited; but afterwards a distance of nearly thirty miles is passed, on
which there is not a human habitation. The traveller journeys from one
valley into another, and in the midst of these hill-girt deserts sees a
single small hut, erected for the convenience of those who, in the
winter, cannot accomplish the long distance in one day, and must take up
their quarters for the night in the valley. No one must, however, rashly
hope to find here a human being in the shape of a host. The little house
is quite uninhabited, and consists only of a single apartment with four
naked walls. The visitor must depend on the accommodation he carries
with him.

The plains through which we travelled to-day were covered throughout with
one and the same kind of lava. It occurs in masses, and also in smaller
stones, is not very porous, of a light grey