to the west of the river Hverfisfliot.

In

what I am now going to relate, it will be seen that the fire, to the eastward, has raged with a fury equal to that of the great western stream, and exhibits a spectacle equally melancholy and distressing.

The first scene was disclosed on the 28th of June, when a thick and black bank of sand and smoke, proceeding from the place of eruption, and driven by a strong breeze from the north north-west, towards Fliotshversi, caused such a frightful state of darkness over the whole of that district, as well as over the eastern part of Sida, that, even at noon, it was impossible in the houses to distinguish a sheet of white paper from the black walls. On the 14th previous, indeed, a degree of obscurity, equally uncommon, but not so terrific, was experienced in the middle of the day thoughout Sida: but it was only during the present interval of darkness that a number of red-hot flat stones, with enormous quantities of sand and ashes, which entirely burned up the grass in the pastures, fell upon the whole of Fliotshverfet, the two farms Nupstad and Raudabag only excepted.

These substances poisoned the earth and water, rendering them alike destructive both to man and cattle, and threatened to set fire to the houses themselves, whenever any of the stones and ashes happened to fall upon them.

Hverfisfliot

§ XIV.

On the 3rd of August a great disappears. smoke was, for the first time, ob served to arise from the Hverfisfliot, and the water was found to be excessively hot. This river, it may here be proper to remark, was equal in size to the Skaptaa, but infinitely more dangerous to travellers, in consequence of the rapidity of the current and the great insecurity of the ground. Its heat continued daily to increase, till, at the expiration of a few days, the waters were entirely dried up. This circumstance filled the inhabitants of the district with the greatest fear and consternation, who, already terrified at the mischief that had been sustained by their neighbors, after the drying up of the Skaptaa, anticipated similar misfortunes, on observing the disappearance of the Hverfisfliot. The result convinced them that their fears were

well grounded, and proved to them, that in this instance, also, the same phænomenon produced an equal or even a greater degree of danger.-Dreadful pillars of fire were seen rising at a great distance among the mountains in the north, on the morning of the 9th of August. They appeared to approach nearer each other, and at last to form, as it were, a wall or lofty bank upon the earth. Continual lightnings, with strong hollow sounds, somewhat resembling thunder, were also heard in the same direction. A foaming fire-stream now broke down into the channel of the Hverfisfliot, urging its course with incredible and matchless fury. The stream spread far and wide over the extensive tracts of sand, situated in the south, and in one single evening overflowed more than four miles of ground, in that direction from Orustuhol (a hill so named from duels having been formerly fought there), and entirely blocked up the road between Fliotsverfet and Sida.

Continual eruptions from the mountains increased the extent of the tracts of lava, so that, at the latter end of August, they

entirely over-ran the farms Eystradal and Thverardal. All the adjoining houses and the greater part of the enclosures were buried under the lava, so that the places where the buildings formerly stood are no longer visible. These latter eruptions, also, have done much damage to the farms Selialand and Thvera, and the inhabitants were entirely frightened away from the parish of Halfafells, although no houses were destroyed in these places.

The eastern fire-stream broke out at a much later period than the western one, and continued raging much longer, frequently at intervals bursting through the crust or surface, which had become indurated. It is even asserted that in February, 1784, a fresh eruption proceeded from the mountain, and caused the lava, in the eastern branch, to rise to such a considerable height as it now is.

§ XV.

So much for the progress of the fire, and the immediate destruction occasioned by it. Were I here to relate all the contradictory,

insignificant, ridiculous, and superstitious accounts that are reported of the eruptions, it would be both an useless and a tedious task, especially since the greater number of such accounts are the offspring of fear and ignorance. But two questions naturally present themselves to our minds, which are too closely connected with the subject to allow me to pass them over in silence.-The first

is, "whether the subterraneous Respecting the nature of the fire. fire is to be deemed only an eruption, or the earth itself is to be considered as ignited; or whether these two causes may not have operated together?" I am well aware that the greater part of those persons that were on the spot bring forward various arguments in order to prove that the earth itself was ignited, but the reasons they assign appear to me to be weak and in themselves highly contradictory. It is remarked, that before the liquid lava had over-run several of the places now burnt, fire had actually, here and there, broken through the soil. We are informed that the proprietor of the farm Botnar, in Medalland, had, on the first breaking out of the fire, collected eighty sheep and placed them, as