THE GEYSERS OF ICELAND.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVI, Issue 1207, 21 January 1859, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE GEYSERS OF ICELAND.

(Totht Editor of the Times.) Sir,— The following short account of a visit to the Great Geyser of Iceland may be interesting to your readers, as having beea accomplised by three young ladies, the first from Great Britain who have ever visited that remarkable spot, and the only female travellers, except Madame Ida Pfeiffer, who have ever undertaken and carried out that rigorous journey. I am, Sir, your obedient servant. A, S. B.

" Eeykjavik, Iceland, Aug. 27, ,— You will be surprised to hear that among my fellow-passengers from Leith to Iceland were three young Scotch ladies, with their brothers, going to that remote region of lava and ice, by way of an autumn excursion. I found Mr and the Misses Henderson, and Mr. and Miss Holms, most intelligent and agreeable companions, and on reaching Reykjavik willingly agreed to accompany them to the Geysers, although I had myself visited these wonderful hot springs only last year. " In consequence of my previous familiarity with Icelandic travelling, I was constituted the director of the party, which consisted of the three young ladies, the two gentlemen, myself, and two guides. We had 17 ponies, for all the travelling is done on horseback in Iceland, ■where there are no carriage roads and no vehicles of any kind. We took piovisions for five days, and having risen very early— at 4 o'clock— we left the steamer, and were on shore ready to start at 6 o'clock ; it was 7, however, bpfore we got away. The journey to the Little Geyser is about 30 miles, over terribly bad roads, nothing but lava rocks ; but we performed it in 8 hours. We stopped there for two hours, and saw a beautiful eruption, This hot spring spouts upon an average every three hours, and its action lasts about ten minutes. It condescended to put on its very best appearance for us, and threw jet after jet of boiling water 40 or 50 feet high, for at least a quarter of an hour. Since we had been so fortunate as to witness this beautiful phenomenon in perfection, almost immediately after our arrival at its locality, and having yet some three hours of daylight left, we determined to push on, instead of encamping at the Little Geyser, asour guides had hoped we would have done. Had the ladies complained of fatigue, or expressed any wish to halt, we should have done so, but they bravely voted for pushing on, and therefore we set off towaids the homestead of Oliosvatn, some 15 miles from the Little Geyser, the baggage bumping and shaking as the poor ponies scrambled over the rocky track, or plunged deep into the mud. Shouting and whipping them, away \^e went— stones rattling, mud flying in our faces, rain beating upon us ; but we accomplished the 15 miles in about three hours, and, halting, we pitched onr tent in a pouring rain, for E. had lent me the tent he and I were last injn Iceland. I had also taken with me my waterproof bed, blankets, and cover, and young Count Carl Trampe, the governor's son, had kindly lent us another, so we made our fair companions as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, while we gentlemen had rather a ■watery bed on the'damp ground. "When I was here last year, in June and July, there Was no night, however, now at the latter end of August, it became dark about 9 o'clock "We had no candlesticks, but, as " necessity is the mother of invention," we tied a double-bladed knife to the tentpole, and stuck the candles to each end. The ladies and ourselves retired to rest, of course in our travelling dresses. The night was vety severe, bitterly cold, and the rain pouring in such torrents that it even penetrated our tent, but the ladies bravely bore it all, and the gentlemen, though one had dark fears of rheumatism, got through the night pretty well. After a very early breakfast, we started betimes for the Great Geyser, and on the way encountered a broad river, over which we and our baggage were taken in a small insecure boat, while our ponies were made to swim across. It was 9 o'clock before we arrived at the Great Geyser, having ridden 45 miles the preceding day and 50 miles this one, over tbe loughest and most execrable of roads. We found a cup of tea very refreshing, and had no trouble to boil the water, which was obtained from one of the hot springs bubbling near. By throwing turf into the Strokr next morning, we had made it spout several times — but the Great Geyser, for whos e premonitory grumblings I had watched during the greater part of the night, still remained torpid. We were in despair lest the ladies, who had come so far to witness one, should have to depart without witnessing any of its eruptions ; but, just as we were reluctantly preparing to go, the Geyser grumbled and worked, and then favoured us with a most magnificent eruption, throwing its pure boiling water at least 80 feet high. The road or rather track, to Thingvalla — the place where the ancient Parliament, so to speak, of Iceland used to assemble in former days — was rendered worse even than usual by recent heavy falls of rain. We had to wade through at least a foot in depth of mud and water, but our sure footed ponies never made a false step ; one, however, fell on going down a steep and difficult pass. The young lady who rode it adroitly managed to slip off, and was speedily in the saddle again. We were completely drenched by the time we reached Thingvalla, and glad to take shelter in the little church, the night being too wet to pitch our tent. Oddly enough, churches are the only places of refuge for travellers in the interior of Iceland. The next day we returnod to Reykjavik, and o pretty sight we must have presented as we gdlloped towards the shore, bespat'ered, drenched, and covered with mud. " Madame id* Pfeiffer is the only lady who has ever before visited the Geysers, and those of our party were the first British ladies who have ever accomplished this feat ; and a feat it certainly is, for of all rough life, and all hard climbing, except, perhaps, in the extreme arctic regions, those of Iceland are the worst. " The evening alter the ladies returned from the Geysers, Countess Trampe, the Governor's lady, gave a ball in honour of them, at which there were present about 18 ladies and 20 gentlemen of Reykjavik, and we danced to the music of a large barrel organ. The Countess gave us a handsome supper, and when the party broke up, at 2 o'clock, Count Trampe made a flattering speech in French to the three Scotch ladies, and his son, Count Carl, a fine spirited youth, accompanied them to the shore. To wind up our adventures, the wind had risen during the night to a gale, and no shouting on our part could make the people on board the ship hear us, and send off a boat for us, therefore, though the surf was breaking heavily on the shingly beach, we were obliged to launch one of the little Icelandic boats, and we were jiearly drowned in getting tack to the steamer. "J. W. B.''