27 through the lava desert except a track—the product of the hoofs of a hundred generations of ponies, sometimes worn into a deep ditch or hollow way, and sometimes on the boggy ground, branching into a dozen little grooves just large enough for their small feet It needs practice to choose the best line. We found it merry riding in the pure light air ; the loose ponies rattled on before, constantly one or another straying off after some fancy of its own, and having to be chased back by the drivers, who dash up and down cracking their whips, shouting the while This made the cavalcade lively, and the way had to be very bad indeed before we were reduced to a walking pace. We came to a deep ravine, wild, horrid, and frightful, but the ponies jumped over the seams without stopping, and trotted up-hill and down-hill, forded rivers, and went unflinch- ingly through seemingly impassable places. After a few hours in the saddle, possible dangers resulting in death are laughed at. Certainly, many of the chasms are but fifty feet deep, but if you do fall over a precipice it does not matter much how far to a few thousand feet. “It is enough,” as Mercutio says. There are no measured distances in travel here. They go by time, and tell you it is so many hours’ ride, or so many days’ journey to such a place. After four hours’ riding, we reached a solitary “ caravansary in the desert,” and we resolved to patronise it. The “ hotel ” was one storey high ; it had but one room, walls of lava, and no roof or furniture. We sat on wet stones and lunched, whilst our ponies contemplated the beauties of the mineralogical specimens that covered the ground. During the journey, we came to several green spots, where the horses usually rested for a short time to have a feed of grass. Sometime after, we saw in the distance some green mounds, rising a few feet from the ground. Henderson tells us, when travelling one dark night, he was puzzled by a height that rose before him, but applying his whip to his horse, he obliged him to mount it, and did not discover his situation till one of the fore feet of the animal sunk into a hole, which, on alighting, he found to be the chimney of a house. We found these mounds to be a farmhouse, for the Icelander is under a great disadvantage in building. There may be lime in the country, but

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