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that it was one of his hobbies to enjoy the luxury of hot baths in the 
company of his friends and favourites, discussing politics, history, etc., 
and thus making of this primitive little bath place a miniature of an 
ancient Roman Bath Club. There is still existent an ominous verse, 
composed by one of his friends, as the conclusion of a conversation 
‘aking place at one of these Bath Club meetings. 
About 4 km. away from Reykjaholt, down the valley, there is an 
interesting freak of nature, called Arhver, This is a rock more than 2 
metres high, standing in the middle of a cold river and having at its 
top several boiling springs. 
ASBYRGI 
Asbyrgi is some 25 km. north of Dettifoss. It is a semi-circular 
formed cleft or ravine of great dimensions and, except on the north 
side, it is enclosed by very high vertical cliffs, having in the middle a 
large perpendicular rock or island, corresponding to the frog of a 
horse’s hoof. Hence the comparison of this place with a horse’s hoof 
and the poetic legend of its being the hoofmark of Sleipnir, the steed 
of the god Odinn. 
VOLCANOES 
Of Icelandic volcanoes the destructive M¢ Hekla is by far the most 
renowned and credited with eighteen eruptions since 1104; its last 
outbreak took place in 1845, but in 1878 and again in 1913 there 
were volcanic disturbances in its vicinity. 
M¢ Hekla has the altitude of 1446 metres above sea level. On a 
perfectly clear day the view from the top is one of the grandest and 
most varied to be found in the island; and owing to the renowned 
clearness of the Icelandic atmosphere, one can see mountains lying 
more than 150 km. away. Most of the glaciers in the country are 
visible and the south lowland lies at the feet of the spectator, with 
all its rivers, lakes, farms and mountains. The rugged lava all round 
the mountain and the two big craters at the top of it, give ample evi. 
dence of the fact that this is a mighty volcano. 
Askja is a crater of the immense dimension of more than 50 square 
km. It is encircled by a ring of mountains called Dyngjufjsil, situated 
near the eastern skirt of the large lava desert Odadahraun, in the in- 
terior of Iceland. It is chiefly renowned for its terrible eruption in 1875, 
In the last few years this crater has also had two or three minor eruptions. 
The craters of Mf Laki number over one hundred, extending in