six or seven feet. I could therefore again descend into the
basin, and bid farewell to the Geyser at the very brink of the crater,
which, of course, I did.

I had now been three nights and two days in the immediate vicinity of the
Geyser, and had witnessed five eruptions, of which two were of the most
considerable that had ever been known. But I can assure my readers that
I did not find every thing as I had anticipated it according to the
descriptions and accounts I had read. I never heard a greater noise than
I have mentioned, and never felt any trembling of the earth, although I
paid the greatest attention to every little circumstance, and held my
head to the ground during an eruption.

It is singular how many people repeat every thing they hear from
others--how some, with an over-excited imagination, seem to see, hear,
and feel things which do not exist; and how others, again, tell the most
unblushing falsehoods. I met an example of this in Reikjavik, in the
house of the apothecary Moller, in the person of an officer of a French
frigate, who asserted that he had "ridden to the very edge of the crater
of Mount Vesuvius." He probably did not anticipate meeting any one in
Reikjavik who had also been to the crater of Vesuvius. Nothing irritates
me so much as such falsehoods and boastings; and I could not therefore
resist asking him how he had managed that feat. I told him that I had
been there, and feared danger as little as he could do; but that I had
been compelled to descend from my donkey near the top of the mountain,
and let my feet carry me the remainder of the journey. He seemed rather
embarrassed, and pretended he had meant to say _nearly_ to the crater;
but I feel convinced he will tell this story so often that he will at
last believe it himself.

I hope I do not weary my readers by dwelling so long on the subject of
the Geyser. I will now vary the subject by relating a few circumstances
that came under my notice, which, though trifling in themselves, were yet
very significant. The most unimportant facts of an almost unknown
country are often interesting, and are often most conclusive evidences of
the general character of the nation.

I have already spoken of my intoxicated guide. It is yet inexplicable to
me how he could have conducted me so safely in such a semi-conscious
state; and had he not been the only one, I should certainly not have
trusted myself to his guidance.

Of the want of cleanli