[10]“_Thorvald_, the Guileful, and _Winterlid_, the Scald, made a scurvy rime about _Thangbrand_, but he slew them both. _Thangbrand_ abode three winters in Iceland, and was the bane of men or ever he departed thence.” It is reported in Iceland that this Pool is the place where _Thangbrand_ christened his converts. Since it is authentic that he passed the time in Iceland at the home of _Hall_, which was in the southeast of Iceland, it is not likely that this is the real pool, although it is true that christenings took place in this pool at very early times. The Vikings did not take very kindly to the christening and the following facts will be of interest to those who dispute over the correct method of baptism. When the priests found that the Icelanders were the most stubborn of all the pagans of their experience about the rite of christening, the priests changed their tactics and performed their christenings in the warm pools adjacent to the hot springs. Their method of baptism in the eleventh century in Iceland may be inferred. The Saga references show that the _Mývatn_ region was an important place in the early days of colonization and in subsequent centuries and we reluctantly close the old annals so full of interest to the antiquarian and the historian, and turn again to a more general view of the _Mývatn_ of the present. The view from _Skútustaðir_ is remarkable and of great variety. In the foreground, the quiet lake, alive with water fowl and fringed with prosperous farms, presents a picture of pastoral peace and beauty; in the distance across the lake rise clouds of steam and sulfurous gases from the sizzling solfataras of _Námaskarð_, Sulfur-Pass; to the left rises the innocent looking peaks of _Krafla_, Creeping, and _Leirnúkr_, Mud-Peak, two famous volcanoes; to the right, the prominent feature in the landscape is _Hverfjall_, Hot-Spring-Mountain. _Hverfjall_ is a large circular crater of the explosion type. It stands 700 feet above the level of the plain and is 4875 feet in diameter across the top. It is four miles in circumference at the summit of the rim. The interior is a mass of fragments and crushed rubble. There is a large mound in the center composed of crumpled lava with angular edges. It is doubtful if lava ever flowed from this great crater, although there was said to have been an eruption in 1728. I found no evidence of such eruption, other than that of a violent upheaval of the crust due to internal explosions of a mighty character. A force beyond human comprehension or calculation thrust upwards this enormous mass and dropped the titanic fragments in the form of this circular wall 700 feet high here,— “Wide ruin spread the elements around, His havoc leagues on leagues you may descry.”