most of the farms in this district are in the greatest danger; and so imminent is the peril to which Kirkebai-cloister is stated to have been exposed, even during the last year, from the drift-sand, that in case of its being annually revisited by similar misfortunes, it will in the course of a very short period become uninhabitable. When I travelled through this district, in the month of July last, the grass, in a great part of the enclosed pastures, was covered with sand, and large heaps of drifted sand lay between the houses, as well as scattered over the adjacent country. Phænomena the fire. § XXV. Some of the The principal phænomena attendattending ing this eruption have been already described. The thick smoke which by day issued from those districts that had been burnt, and at night appeared like a flame of fire, was still to be perceived in the month of March last, arising here and there from the lava. Since that period, however, the smoke alone has appeared. Whilst lying in my tent at Kudafliot, I noticed, not without wonder, the innumerable columns of smoke rising from the current of lava between Skaptartunga and Landbrot. These were particularly visible in three places towards the north, among the mountains; and I learned during my journey, that the most westerly arose from the channel of the Skaptaa, the eastern from the Hverfisfliot, and the middle ones from the source of the fire, and the district adjoining it. Beyond Skal our attention was excited by a very thick column, far surpassing all the others, which from this spot were to be seen rising by thousands, almost in a direct line with the burnt district towards the east, in forms innumerable and the most agreeable to the eye. Large bodies of smoke, together with some smaller columns, were issuing in various places from the eastern lava, near Fliotshverfet; but the smoke broke out in the greatest quantity between Nupar and Selialand, and also between Eystridal and Tholvardal, where the channel of the river had formerly been, and where, indeed, it might still be traced from the bay quite up to the place at which the river was first choked by the lava. Below this place the smoke appears to increase, contrary to what . might be expected, that it would here be diminished by the confined waters of the Skaptaa, Ofærur, and other rivers and brooks but the same circumstance was to be observed in the eastern branch, from the place where the Hverfisfliot is stopped up. The channel of the Skaptaa was particularly to be distinguished, as was that of the Hrossatunas, wherever the bed was filled by the lava. For a considerable distance above the farm of Skaptardal and beyond Næs, which was already burnt, there was in many places no smoke, and in other spots so little as scarcely to be perceptible; but below these places pillars of smoke were every where discernible along the whole of the southern current of the lava, but principally around Skalarstapi, where they were really dreadful. It is indeed asserted by several persons that this quantity has much increased since last spring, on which account many people entertained great fears lest a new eruption should take place. When in company with Mr. Levetzen and others, I performed a journey on the 26th of July, from Mörk to Siden, we turned off to go to Skalarfiall, a spot which afforded us a prospect equally pleasant and extraordinary; for we stood here upon the top of a very high mountain, which on the south side was entirely covered with grass. Here and there among the rocks some remains of the farm-house and church of Skal were still visible. From this place, which commands a very extensive view, we could see the whole mass of lava stretching over Siden and the Medallandet, and also a part of the western branch towards Skaptartunga. So extensive was the portion of lava towards the south, that the eye could not distinguish its boundary from that of the superincumbent clouds, in which its utmost extremity appeared to lose itself. As to the lava, it was every where of a coalblack hue. In its progress along the channel of the Skaptaa, as well as along several of its arms and auxiliary streams, it had formed itself into a number of lofty hills, running in a direction from east to west, and appearing from our elevated situation like a flight of steps. From each of these currents were rising in greater or less number, columns of smoke of different degrees of density, which appeared where we were standing to reach even to the clouds, exhibiting thousands of fantastic shapes. The black ground of the lava was to be seen between the lighter columns of smoke, which were, at a considerable height in the atmosphere, collected together into one thick bank of clouds, of a white or yellowish tinge, intermixed with shades of a deeper cast. To the south-west of this place was just discernible the upper part of the insulated and steep mountain of Skalarstapi, rearing its summit above all the surrounding lava, though at the same time almost enveloped in the dreadful smoke that was ascending on every part of it. The streams that issued from the rock poured down its sides, and added to the indescribable beauties of this enchanting scene, the effect of which was still farther increased by the view of the burnt farmhouse of Hollt. At Dalbae, in Landbrotet, which is likewise consumed, we remarked that one of the numerous eminences, shaped like a ball (which are so common in this neighborhood out of the reach of the fire, and which shew evident marks of having been in a state of conflagration at former periods), first began to smoke during the |