OR, Scenes in Iceland; BEING A DESCRIPTION OF HITHERTO UNKNOWN REGIONS. BY WILLIAM LORD WATTS. London: LONGMANS AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW. 1876. LONDON: PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, ST. JOHN’S SQUARE AND WHITEFRIARS STREET. THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO HIS ICELANDIC FRIENDS BY W. L. WATTS....

Having traversed several parts of Iceland concerning which nothing has hitherto been known, I have ventured to publish the few following pages, giving an account of my journey across the Vatna Jökull, and my visit to the volcanoes in the North of Iceland. W. L. W....

London, Longmans & C o . Edw d . Weller, Litho. Red Lion Square....

Iceland again! Reykjavík again! Here I am upon the same errand as in 1871 and 1874—foolhardiness and folly as it is denounced by some at home. I fancy I can see some of my worthy countrymen at ten o’clock in the morning, clad in dressing-gown and slippers, breakfast half finished, and a copy of some journal that has condescended to take notice of my little expedition in his hand. Umph! he says, 5,000 square miles of uninhabited country, a howling wilderness, nothing but volcanoes, ice, and snow—

It may now be as well to take a retrospective view of Iceland to determine the opinion we have formed of the Icelanders themselves, and sum up the leading physical features and characteristics of the country. Iceland, apart from its historical and literary fame, which it is not our purpose to consider, is of especial interest to the geologist and the physical geographer. It lies almost at the northern extremity of the great volcanic line which skirts the extreme west of the Old World, extending