at the bottom through many fathoms of water. The vivid green tints so often observed in Alpine lakes may be produced by vegetable dyes dissolved in the water, though chemical analysis has not detected them. Lakes, being the sources of some of the largest rivers, are of great importance for inland navigation as well as for irrigation; while, by their constant evaporation, they maintain the supply of humidity in the atmosphere so essential to vegetation, besides the embellishment a country derives from them.-MARY SOMERVILLE. THE SPRINGS OF RIVERS. SAY, then, where lurk the vast eternal springs, And all the dreadful mountains, wrapt in storm, Let the dire Andes, from the radiant line Deep, deep I hear them, labouring to get free! ONE of the most curious countries in the world is an island far north, called Iceland, the name of which tells very well what sort of country it is. Most part of the year there is winter, which is very severe, and the summer is uncertain as well as short. There are many highland rugged mountains covered with eternal ice and snow, down which frequently rushes the tremendous avalanche, carrying with it and burying in its fall, men, animals, houses, everything that offers an interruption to its impetuous course. But the strangest thing in regard to Iceland is, that though its surface is wasted and made desolate by extensive cold, yet under that surface, down in the interior of the earth, it is also the seat of fierce and ever-burning fire. Amidst ice and snow, the ground opens for the escape of boiling fountains which shoot up into the air with great force and to an astonishing height. The greatest of these is called the Geyser; it rushes from its prison in the earth with a roar like that of the sea when it is boisterous, and shoots up its hot streams into the air several hundred feet towards the heavens. One of the mountains called Hecla is a volcano, always burning, and during its frequent irruptions, showering fire and lava over its barren sides and down into the bleak plains beneath. Large hailstones are seen running along the ground, intermingled with coals of fire thrown from the burning mountain. The most astonishing and sublime phenomena of heat and cold are here seen side by side. One of those natural curiosities most striking to the traveller in Iceland is the Ilvervale, which means the "roaring mountain." Through a small opening in the rock, only three or four inches in width, there rushes a thick smoke with so loud a noise that a person, with a clear and strong voice, cannot make a shout be heard, even at the shortest distance from the place where he stands. When an attempt is made to fling in small stones at the opening, the violence of the gust which meets them drives them back to a great distance. The seas which surround this strange country cast up towards its shore great rocks of ice drifted from Greenland and the Frozen Ocean, still farther north; and on other parts of the coast an immense quantity of floating wood is cast ashore; there are ten or twelve different sorts of timber drifted in this manner by the sea to the coast of Iceland; and it is generally thought that they come from the great forests in America. Although Iceland may excite the wonder and astonishment of those travellers who quit their own homes to view the wonders of nature in foreign lands, yet few strangers will be tempted to remain, for the aspect of the country, however sublime, is bleak and desolate, and it produces but scanty food for the supply of its inhabitants. No corn will grow in Iceland, so that bread of any sort is considered a great delicacy; indeed, it is not from the island itself, but from the sea which surrounds it, that the Icelanders procure the principal food on which they subsist; even the sheep and cows are frequently in winter supported on fish; and if the winter be more severe than usual, are sometimes kept in life simply on the refuse of the fish used by the poor islanders. Dried fish, and different preparations of milk, are the principal articles of food. The potato has been introduced with difficulty, and few other vegetables flourish and come to perfection in this inhospitable region. Yet notwithstanding the bleakness of the climate, and the barrenness of the soil, the natives of Iceland are passionately attached to their country. During the long winter nights they meet together, and while engaged in preparing wool, knitting articles of dress, or making nets, one of the company reads aloud, out of old chronicles, the ancient history of Iceland, which at one time was more populous and flourishing than it now is. This amusement makes the people feel a great interest and pride in their country, and inspires them with an earnest curiosity to know all that relates to their forefathers, so that they are generally well skilled in all the ancient stories and traditions, both of themselves and the other modern nations with which their own history is connected. It is probable that, but for the influence of those traditions in attaching the Icelanders to their bleak and sterile country, it would ere this have been left destitute of human inhabitants, and given up to bears and seals, for which it seems to have been intended by nature, rather than the habitation of man. But, however little suited to attract as a permanent residence, it will always be an object of interest to the curious and the traveller, from the number and variety of those natural wonders which are here, and here only, to be seen, and from the extraordinary grandeur and sublimity of its external aspect.- Little Stories.' THE PATRIOT'S BOAST. As some lone miser, visiting his store, Where my worn soul, each wandering hope at rest, Still grants her bliss at labour's earnest call; Yet these each other's power so strong contest, GOLDSMITH. Architecture. "WE visited Staffa and Iona. The former is one of the most extraordinary places I ever beheld. It is a cathedral arch, scooped by the hand of Nature, equal in dimensions and in regularity to the most magnificent aisle of a Gothic cathedral. The sea rolls up to the extremity in most tremendous majesty, and with a voice like ten thousand giants shouting at once. It exceeded, in my mind, every description I had heard of it; or rather, the appearance of the cavern, composed entirely of basaltic pillars as high as the roof of a cathedral, and running deep into the rock, eternally swept by a deep and swelling sea, and paved as it were with ruddy marble, baffles all description. You can walk along the broken pillars, with some difficulty, and in some places with a little danger,' as far as the farthest extremity. Poats also can come in below when the sea is placid, which is seldom the case. I had become a sort of favourite with the Hebridean boatmen, I suppose from my anxiety about their old customs, and they were much pleased to see me get over the obstacles which stopped some of the party, so they took the whim of solemnly christening a great stone-seat at the mouth of the cavern, Clachan-an-Bairdh, or the Poet's Stone. It was consecrated with a pibroch, which the echoes rendered tremendous, and a glass of whiskey,2-not poured forth in the ancient mode of libation, but turned over the throats of the assistants. The head boatman, whose father had been himself a bard, made me a speech on the occasion; but as it was in Gaelic, I could only receive it as a silly beauty does a fine-spun compliment, bow and say nothing. When this fun was over (in which, strange as it may seem, the men were quite serious), we went to Íona, where there are some ancient and curious monuments. From this |