ness of the Icelanders, no one who has not
witnessed it can have any idea; and if I attempted to describe some of
their nauseous habits, I might fill volumes. They seem to have no
feeling of propriety, and I must, in this respect, rank them as far
inferior to the Bedouins and Arabs--even to the Greenlanders. I can,
therefore, not conceive how this nation could once have been
distinguished for wealth, bravery, and civilisation.

On this day I proceeded on my journey about twenty-eight miles farther to
Skalholt.

For the first five miles we retraced our former road; then we turned to
the left and traversed the beautiful long valley in which the Geyser is
situated. For many miles we could see its clouds of steam rising to the
sky. The roads were tolerable only when they passed along the sides of
hills and mountains; in the plains they were generally marshy and full of
water. We sometimes lost all traces of a road, and only pushed on
towards the quarter in which the place of our destination was situated;
and feared withal to sink at every pace into the soft and unresisting
soil.

I found the indolence of the Icelandic peasants quite unpardonable. All
the valleys through which we passed were large morasses richly overgrown
with grass. If the single parishes would unite to dig trenches and drain
the soil, they would have the finest meadows. This is proved near the
many precipices where the water has an outlet; in these spots the grass
grows most luxuriantly, and daisies and herbs flourish there, and even
wild clover. A few cottages are generally congregated on these oases.

Before arriving at the village of Thorfastadir, we already perceived
Hecla surrounded by the beautiful jokuls.

I arrived at Thorfastadir while a funeral was going on. As I entered the
church the mourners were busily seeking courage and consolation in the
brandy-bottle. The law commands, indeed, that this be not done in the
church; but if every one obeyed the law, what need would there be of
judges? The Icelanders must think so, else they would discontinue the
unseemly practice.

When the priest came, a psalm or a prayer--I could not tell which it was,
being Icelandic--was so earnestly shouted by peasants under the
leadership of the priest and elders, that the good people waxed quite
warm and out of breath. Then the priest placed himself before the
coffin, which, for want of room, had been laid on the backs of the seats,
and with a very