The waters roar, she
says, with the utmost violence, and dashing wildly into the cavity, they
form falls on both sides of it, or shiver themselves to spray against the
projecting cliffs; at the extremity of the chasm, which is not far from
the bridge, the stream is precipitated in its whole breadth over rocks
from thirty to forty feet in height. "Our horses began to tremble, and
struggled to escape when we drew near the most furious part of the
torrent, where the noise was really deafening; and it was not without the
greatest difficulty we succeeded in making them obey the reins, and bear
us through the foaming waves by which the bridge was washed." Either the
scene has greatly altered since Madame Pfeiffer's visit, or her
imagination has considerably over-coloured its principal features. That
is, if we accept the accounts of recent travellers, and especially that
of Captain Burton, who has laboured so successfully to reduce the romance
of Icelandic travel to plain matter of fact.
[Great Geysir: page153.jpg]
The Geysirs lie within a comparatively limited area, and consist of
various specimens, differing considerably in magnitude. The basin of the
Great Geysir lies on a gentle elevation, about ten feet above the plain;
it measures about one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, while that of
the seething caldron is ten feet.
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