turf. It is further provided with a small and narrow entrance, which
cannot be passed in an upright position. The floor is composed of stone
slabs, probably covering a hot spring, for they are very warm. The
person wishing to use this bath betakes himself to this room, and
carefully closes every cranny; a suffocating heat, which induces violent
perspiration over the whole frame, is thus generated. The people,
however, seldom avail themselves of this bath.

On my return I had still to visit a basin with a jet of water, in a fine
meadow near the church; a low wall of stone has been erected round this
spring to prevent the cattle from scalding themselves if they should
approach too near in the ardour of grazing. Some eighty paces off is to
be seen the wool-bath erected by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a
stone basin three or four feet in depth, and eighteen or twenty in
diameter. The approach is by a few steps leading to a low stone bench,
which runs round the basin. The water is obtained from the neighbouring
spring, but is of so high a temperature that it is impossible to bathe
without previously cooling it. The bath stands in the open air, and no
traces are left of the building which once covered it. It is now used
for clothes and sheep's wool.

I had now seen all the interesting springs on this side of the valley.
Some columns of vapour, which may be observed from the opposite end of
the valley, proceed from thermal springs, that offer no remarkable
feature save their heat.

On our return the priest took me to the churchyard, which lay at some
distance from his dwelling, and showed me the principal graves. Though I
thought the sight very impressive, it was not calculated to invigorate
me, when I considered that I must pass the approaching night alone in the
church, amidst these resting-places of the departed.

The mound above each grave is very high, and the greater part of them are
surmounted by a kind of wooden coffin, which at first sight conveys the
impression that the dead person is above ground. I could not shake off a
feeling of discomfort; and such is the power of prejudice, that--I
acknowledge my weakness--I was even induced to beg that the priest would
remove one of the covers. Though I knew full well that the dead man was
slumbering deep in the earth, and not in this coffin, I felt a shudder
pass over me as the lid was removed, and I saw--as the priest had assured
me I should do--merely a t