Henderson and his party appear to have had much more wading to do than Olafsen, walking in one instance through a long tract of water up to the knees.  In the deeper recesses of the cave, apparently in the part where the earlier explorers had found the reticulated ice, they found the whole floor of the passage covered with thick ice, with so steep a dip that they sat down and slid forward by their own weight—­a most undignified proceeding for a grave gentleman on a mission from the Bible Society.  On holding their torches close to the floor, they saw down to a depth of 7 or 8 feet, the ice being as clear as crystal.  ’The roof and sides of the cave were decorated with most superb icicles, crystallised in every possible form, many of which rivalled in minuteness the finest zeolites; while from the icy floor rose pillars of the same substance, assuming all the curious and phantastic shapes imaginable, mocking the proudest specimens of art, and counterfeiting many well-known objects of animated nature.  Many of them were upwards of 4 feet high, generally sharpened at the extremity, and about 2 feet in thickness.  A more brilliant scene perhaps never presented itself to the human eye, nor was it easy for us to divest ourselves of the idea that we actually beheld one of the fairy scenes depicted in Eastern fable.  The light of the torches rendered it peculiarly enchanting.’

Captain Forbes found much ice on the floor, but he did not enjoy the cold and wet, and seems to have ascended by the last opening in the roof, mentioned by Olafsen, before reaching the cavern where the more beautiful parts of the ice-decoration were found by his predecessors.  The two engravings of the interior of the cave given in his book are copied from the magnificent lithographs of Paul Gaimard,[110] but much of the effect has been lost in the process of copying.

Mr. Baring Gould mentions this cavern in his book on Iceland, and believes that its interest has been much overrated.  He seems to have visited the cave, but makes no allusion to the existence of ice.[111]

Mr. E.T.  Holland visited the Surtshellir in the course of his tour in Iceland, in 1861, and an account of his visit is given in the first volume of ’Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers.’[112] After following in Olafsen’s steps for some time, the party reached a cave whose floor was composed of very clear ice, apparently of great thickness, for they could not see the lava beneath it.  The walking on this smooth ice-floor Mr. Holland describes as being delightful, the whole sloping considerably downwards.  ‘In five minutes,’ he continues, ’we reached the most beautiful fairy grotto imaginable.  From the crystal floor of ice rose up group after group of transparent icy pillars, while from the glittering roof most brilliant icy pendants hung down to meet them.  Columns and arches of ice were ranged along the crystalline walls ...  I never saw a more brilliant scene; and indeed it would be difficult to imagine anything more fairy-like.  The pillars were many of them of great size, tapering to a point as they rose.  The largest were at least 8 feet high, and 6 feet in circumference at their base.  The stalactites were on an equally grand scale.  Through this lovely ice-grotto we walked for nearly ten minutes.’