mattress from these unhealthy people.
I laid myself down boldly, and pretended sleepiness, in order to deliver
myself from the curiosity of my entertainers. They retired to their
room, and so I was alone and undisturbed. But yet I could not sleep; the
cold wind, blowing in upon me through the air-holes, chilled and wetted
as I already was, kept me awake against my will. I had also another
misfortune to endure. As often as I attempted to sit upright on my
luxurious couch, my head would receive a severe concussion. I had
forgotten the poles which are fixed across each of these antechambers,
for the purpose of hanging up fish to dry, &c. Unfortunately I could not
bear this arrangement in mind until after I had received half a dozen
salutations of this description.

June 21st.

At length the morning so long sighed for came; the rain had indeed
ceased; but the clouds still hung about the mountains, and promised a
speedy fall; I nevertheless resolved rather to submit myself to the fury
of the elements than to remain longer in my present quarters, and so
ordered the horses to be saddled.

Before my departure roast lamb and butter were offered me. I thanked my
entertainers; but refrained from tasting any thing, excusing myself on
the plea of not feeling hungry, which was in reality the case; for if I
only looked at the dirty people who surrounded me, my appetite vanished
instantly. So long as my stock of bread and cheese lasted, I kept to it,
and ate nothing else.

Taking leave of my good hosts, we continued our journey to Reikjavik, by
the same road on which I had travelled on my journey hither. This had
not been my original plan on starting from Reikjavik; I had intended to
proceed from Thingvalla directly to the Geyser, to Hecla, &c.; but the
horses were already exhausted, and the weather so dreadfully bad, without
prospect of speedy amendment, that I preferred returning to Reikjavik,
and waiting for better times in my pleasant little room at the house of
the good baker.

We rode on as well as we could amidst ceaseless storms of wind and rain.
The most disagreeable circumstance of all was our being obliged to spend
the hours devoted to rest in the open air, under a by no means cloudless
sky, as during our whole day's journey we saw not a single hut, save the
solitary one in the lava desert, which serves as a resting-place for
travellers during the