had affected me more than the burning
heat of the East. I was very brown, my lips were cracked, and my nose,
alas, even began to rebel against its ugly colour. It seemed anxious to
possess a new, dazzling white, tender skin, and was casting off the old
one in little bits.

The only circumstance which reinstated me in the good opinion of the
young girls was, that having brushed my hair unusually far out of my
face, a white space became visible. The girls all cried out
simultaneously, quite surprised and delighted: "Hun er quit" (she is
white). I could not refrain from laughing, and bared my arm to prove to
them that I did not belong to the Arab race.

A great surprise was destined me in this house; for, as I was ransacking
the Sysselmann's book-case, I found Rotteck's Universal History, a German
Lexicon, and several poems and writings of German poets.

July 2d.

The way from Kalmannstunga to Thingvalla leads over nothing but lava, and
the one to-day went entirely through marshes. As soon as we had crossed
one, another was before us. Lava seemed to form the soil here, for
little portions of this mineral rose like islands out of the marshes.

The country already grew more open, and we gradually lost sight of the
glaciers. The high mountains on the left seemed like hills in the
distance, and the nearer ones were really hills. After riding about nine
miles we crossed the large stream of Elvas in a boat, and then had to
tread carefully across a very long, narrow bank, over a meadow which was
quite under water. If a traveller had met us on this bank, I do not know
what we should have done; to turn round would have been as dangerous as
to sink into the morass. Fortunately one never meets any travellers in
Iceland.

Beyond the dyke the road runs for some miles along the mountains and
hills, which all consist of lava, and are of a very dark, nearly black
colour. The stones on these hills were very loose; in the plain below
many colossal pieces were lying, which must have fallen down; and many
others threatened to fall every moment. We passed the dangerous spot
safely, without having had to witness such a scene.

I often heard a hollow sound among these hills; I at first took it for
distant thunder, and examined the horizon to discover the approaching
storm. But when I saw neither clouds nor lightning, I perceived that I
must seek the origin of