Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian NorthPfeiffer, Ida
History
Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North
Pfeiffer, Ida
Iceland -- Description and travel; Old Norse poetry -- History and criticism; Scandinavia -- Description and travel
They are situated in the angle of an immense valley at the foot of a
hill, behind which extends a chain of mountains. The valley is entirely
covered with grass, and the vegetation only decreases a little in the
immediate vicinity of the springs. Cottages are built every where in the
neighbourhood; the nearest to the springs are only about 700 to 800 paces
distant.
I counted twelve large basins with boiling and gushing springs; of
smaller ones there were many more.
Among the gushing springs the Strokker is the most remarkable. It boils
and bubbles with most extraordinary violence at a depth of about twenty
feet, shoots up suddenly, and projects its waters into the air. Its
eruptions sometimes last half an hour, and the column occasionally
ascends to a height of forty feet. I witnessed several of its eruptions;
but unfortunately not one of the largest. The highest I saw could not
have been above thirty feet, and did not last more than a quarter of an
hour. The Strokker is the only spring, except the Geyser, which has to
be approached with great caution. The eruptions sometimes succeed each
other quickly, and sometimes cease for a few hours, and are not preceded
by any sign. Another spring spouts constantly, but never higher than
three to four feet. A third one lies about four or five feet deep, in a
rather broad basin, and produces only a few little bubbles. But this
calmness is deceptive: it seldom lasts more than half a minute, rarely
two or three minutes; then the spring begins to bubble, to boil, and to
wave and spout to a height of two or three feet; without, however,
reaching the level of the basin. In some springs I heard boiling and
foaming like a gentle bellowing; but saw no water, sometimes not even
steam, rising.
Two of the most remarkable springs which can perhaps be found in the
world are situated immediately above the Geyser, in two openings, which
are separated by a wall of rock scarcely a foot wide. This partition
does not rise above the surface of the soil, but descends into the earth;
the water boils slowly, and has an equable, moderate discharge. The
beauty of these springs consists in their remarkable transparency. All
the varied forms and caves, the projecting peaks, and edges of rock, are
visible far down, until the eye is lost in the depths of darkness. But
the greatest beauty of the spring is the splendid colouring proceeding
from the rock; it is of the tenderest, most transparent, pale blue and
green, and resembles the reflection of a Bengal flame. But what is most
strange is, that this play of colour proceeds from the rock, and only
extends eight to ten inches from it, while the other water is colourless
as common water, only more transparent, and purer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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