putrid nature. The loss of cattle brought on a famine; and, to crown the whole, the small-pox made its appear ance a second time. Since that period no physical revolution has disturbed the tranquillity of Iceland, the volcanoes have ceased from their labours, and with the exception of one that emitted smoke about six or seven years ago, have remained in a quiescent state." 5. The spring of 1783 is described as having been remarkably mild. Vegetation had advanced so much that by the month of May there were prospects of an unusually bountiful harvest. A bluish mist was, however, noticed in the sky, and many persons were speculating concerning its cause. By the first of June there was a terrible earthquake, which was repeated daily for a week. On the eighth day a dark bank appeared in the air moving from the north. It was followed by showers of ashes that covered the ground to the thickness of an inch. Noises also were heard issuing from the mountains, like waterfalls, and the boiling of vast caldrons. For two days the bank remained stationary. On the third it rose higher in the air, and discovered columns of fire issuing out of the Jokuls, accompanied by frequent shocks of the earth. The Skaptaa had been very full the whole of the spring. On the ninth and tenth it rose still higher. On the eleventh it was dried up, and its bed filled with a torrent of boiling lava, that overflowed the banks, and bore destruction along with it. The farms it passed were overwhelmed, and rendered for ever incapable of cultivation. In this way it continued till the eighteenth, fresh streams rolling over the old; melting it in their passage, and forming one solid mass. On level ground the stream of lava was from twenty to thirty feet high. To escape its fury the peasants fled with their cattle to Afrettur, but safety was not to be found even there. The sheep, which had always been observed in Iceland to turn to the wind, were now unable to face its sulphurous streams, and many rushed. madly into the liquid lava and were destroyed. The lakes turned blue, and sometimes yellow. Their banks were strewed with fish killed by the ashes and brimstone that had flowed into them. The grass that grew where the ashes had fallen, poisoned nearly all the horses, cattle, and sheep, while thousands of the inhabitants died from plague and famine. 6. The most remarkable natural phenomenon in Iceland at the present time is the Geysers, or boiling springs. They are to be found on a slightly elevated table-land in the valley of Haukadal. In the small space of about twenty acres there are no less than 159, reckoning pools and jets. It is supposed that the whole of these twenty acres is a crust covering a boiler, and that these springs are the safety valves. The first object that the traveller notices is a shallow stream, fed by the overflowing of a pool of unfathomable depth. This stream has the power of incrusting whatever is left in its current. Even its bed has undergone this process, and might be mistaken for white cement. The pool from which it issues is filled to the brim with the clearest water imaginable, of a temperature bordering on boiling. Its sides expand as it deepens, leaving the impression that it is part of a vast caldron covered with a thin crust. 7. The principal fountain is the Great Geyser, which is at the extremity of the eminence. The basin resembles a shallow bowl, gradually sinking to the orifice of the pipe in the centre, where it reaches the depth of three feet. The diameter measures about fifty-six feet. It is, however, not quite circular, there being an indentation. in the circumference. The pipe is perfectly round, and about twelve feet across. more than sixty feet. Mr. Dillon saw two eruptions of this Geyser one was of more than ten minutes' duration, and projected a column, or rather pyramid, at least ninety feet high. The day was calm, and consequently the jet was not broken into parts. After raging with incredible fury, it at once burst, and, leaving the basin empty, deluged the outside with hot water, which running down in numberless rills, joined again in a stream at the foot of the Geyser. The depth is reckoned to be 8. The other very remarkable Geyser is called the Stokr, which means in Icelandic the piston of a churn. It is higher than the Great Geyser, but not so large. It has no basin. There is seen merely a round hole, about ten feet in diameter, with water boiling at a depth of fifteen feet. An eruption is sometimes effected by choking this hole with earth. Mr. Dillon and his two companions collected about a waggon-load of turf and peat. They put it round the edge of the hole, and, on a given signal, tumbled the whole of it into the pipe. For a second or two the boiling ceased, the water then suddenly rose to the top, and, darting through the air, formed a column about one hundred and twenty feet high. The turf was hurled out and lifted even higher than the water. The violence of the eruption exceeded that of the Great Geyser; but the column was much smaller in diameter. For thirty-five minutes it continued in an uninterrupted jet, tossing up large stones which were thrown at it, and casting them out like balls from a cannon. The column at first was as black as ink, but gradually it became paler; and during the latter half of its eruption, was as white as that of the Great Geyser. 9. The height of these two fountains has been estimated variously by different travellers. Some have given it at 340 feet, and others at 70. Sir John Stanley measured them with a sextant, and found the Great Geyser to be 96 feet and the Stokr 130. The eruptions seem always the same height, and it is believed have not varied for many years. * Lodore is the name of a mountain streamlet in the English lake district. |