change animals. Halts are frequent, where the ponies are considerately treated, and where pasturage is attractive. The ponies feed a little, are remounted, and the journey is continued. Pack ponies carry provisions, clothing and outfit. The guides are unusually intelligent men, many of them teachers during the winter, and are resolute, capable, resourceful and safe. They speak English and can thread the devious trails with certainty. In many instances local guides are necessary, as in the crossing of the more difficult rivers.
At last my arrangements were completed, and, with some hastily and not very discerningly purchased "canned goods" (they were English and Danish preparations), and some oil-skin clothes and a pair of loaned water-tight hoots, my small cavalcade of fine ponies departed for Thingvallir, up Austur street, bound for the distant Gullfoss. As a most unpractised horseman, I had felt apprehensive about my appearance on one of these jogging ponies, and from the ill-concealed mirth amongst the old women on their way to the public laundry on the outskirts of the town, my worst suspicions were justified. On my return to Reykjavik eight days later, I feel no compunctions in stating, I was unnoticed, an excellent testimonial to my improved horsemanship
