Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1960, Page 22

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
This bath, which has survived the ravages of nearly 600 years,
without requiring any reparation, is doubtless, next to the Heivis-
kringla, the proudest specimen of Snorro’s ingenuity, and forms a
nobler monument than any which the most zealous of his admirers
could have erected to his memory. It is perfectly circular in form, about
fifteen feet in diameter, and is constructed of hewn stones which fit
each other in the most exact manner, and have been joined together
by a fine cement of bolus, and other matter found in the neighbour-
hood. The floor is paved with the same kind of tophaceous stone which
composes the wall, and a stone bench, capable of containing upwards
of thirty persons, surrounds the inside of the bath. The water is sup-
plied from a hot spouting fountain, called Scribla, which is situated
about 500 feet in a northerly direction, in a hot morass, where numer-
ous boiling springs make their appearance. It is conveyed by means
of a subterraneous aqueduct, constructed of stones, which are cemen-
ted together in the same way as those which form the bath. In the
year 1733, this conduit was deranged by an earthquake, and again
repaired by the Reverend Dean Finn Jonson, afterwards bishop of
Skalholt; but it has since been broken at different places. On reach-
ing the bason, the hot water is admitted through a small aperture,
and when a sufficient quantity has been received, the orifice is closed
up with a stone, and the water runs in its common channel down the
valley. There is another opening at the bottom of the bason through
which the water is suffered to run out, and the bath is by this means
rendered perfectly clean.
In most of the descriptions we have of this famous bath, it has been
affirmed, that a supply of cold water is likewise brought to the bason
for the purpose of reducing the temperature; but the statement is
inaccurate, as there does not exist any cold water in the vicinity, nor
can any other be obtained for economical or domestic purposes than
what is brought from the hot springs. Those who avail themselves of
it have to wait till the water in the bason has sufficiently cooled, when
they descend by a flight of steps, and may have any depth they choose,
not exceeding four feet. As the floor recedes from the centre it gradu-
ally becomes shallower, and close to the bench it is not deeper than
to admit of children standing in it. In former times, it was customary
for the whole family, without distinction of age or sex, to go to the
bath together, and in some parts of the island it is practised at this
day.