MOUNT HECLA,

IN ICELAND.

[See Plate, No. 14.]

Still pressing on beneath Tornea's lake,
And Hecla flaming through a waste of snow,
And farthest Greenland, to the Pole itself,
Where, falling gradual, life at length goes out,
The Muse expands her solitary flight;
And hov'ring o'er the wide stupenduous scene,
Beholds new scenes beneath another sky.
Throned in his palace of cerulean ice,
Here winter holds his unrejoicing court,
And through his airy hall the loud misrule
Of driving tempest is for ever heard;

Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath;
Here arms his winds with all subduing frost,

Moulds his fierce hail, and treasures up his snows.

ON proceeding along the southern coast of Iceland, and at an inconsiderable distance from Skaalholt, this mountain, with its three summits, presents itself to the view. Its height is five thousand feet, or nearly a mile above the level of the sea. It is not a promontory, but lies about four miles inland. It is neither so elevated nor so picturesque as several of the surrounding Icelandic mountains; but has been more noticed than many other volcanoes of an equal extent, partly through the frequency of its eruptions, and partly from its situation, which exposes it to the view of many ships sailing to Greenland and North AmerThe surrounding territory has been so devastated by these eruptions, that it has been deserted.

ica.

Vast regions dreary, bleak, and bare!
There on an icy mountain's height,
Seen only by the Moon's pale light,
Stern Winter rears his giant form,

His robe a mist, his life a storm:
His frown the shiv'ring nations fly,

And, hid for half the year, in smoky caverns lie.

The natives asserted that it was impossible to ascend the mountain, on account of the great number of dangerous bogs, which according to them, are constantly emitting sulphureous flames, and exhaling smoke; while the

more elevated summit in the centre is covered with boiling springs and large craters, which continually propel fire and smoke. To the south and west the environs present the most afflicting results of frequent eruptions, the finest part of the territory being covered by torrents of melted stone, sand, ashes, and other volcanic matter; notwithstanding which, between the sinuosities of the lava in different parts, some portion of meadows, walls, and broken hedges may be observed. The devastation is still greater on the north and east sides, which present dreadful traces of the ruin of the country and its habitations. Neither plants nor grass are to be met with to the extent of two leagues round the mountain, in consequence of the soil being covered with stones and lava; and in some parts, where the subterraneous fire has broken out a second time, or where the matter which was not entirely consumed has again become ignited, the fire has contributed to form small red and black hillocks and eminences, from scoriæ, pumice-stones, and ashes. The nearer the mountain the larger are these hillocks, and there are some of them, the summits of which form a circular hollow, whence the subterraneous fire ejects the matter. On approaching Hecla "the ground becomes almost impassable, particularly near the higher branches of lava thrown from the volcano. Round the latter is a mountain of lava, consisting of large fused stones, from forty to seventy feet high, and in the form of a rampart or wall. These stones are detached, and chiefly covered with moss; while between them are very deep holes, so that the ascent on the western side requires great circumspection. The rocks are completely reduced to pumice, dispersed in thin horizontal layers, and fractured in every direction, from which some idea may be formed of the intensity of the fire that has acted on them.

There Winter, armed with terrors here unknown,
Sits absolute on his unshaken throne;

Piles up his stores amidst the frozen waste,
And bids the mountains he has built stand fast,
Beckons the legions of his storms away

From happier scenes to make the land a prey:
Proclaims the soil a conquest he has won,
And scorns to share it with the distant sun.

Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Solander, Dr. James Lind, of

Edinburgh, and Dr. Van Troil, a Swede, were the earliest adventurous travellers who ascended to the summit of Mount Hecla. This was in 1772; and the attempt was facilitated by a preceding eruption in 1766, which had greatly diminished the steepness and difficulty of the ascent. On their first landing, they found a tract of land sixty or seventy miles in extent, entirely ruined by lava, which appeared to have been in a state of complete liquefaction. To accomplish their undertaking, they had to travel from three hundred to three hundred and sixty miles over uninterrupted tracts of lava. In ascending, they were obliged to quit their horses at the first opening from which the fire had burst :—a spot, which they describe as presenting lofty glazed walls and high glazed cliffs, differing from any thing they had ever seen before. At another opening above, they fancied they discerned the effects of boiling water; and not far from thence, the mountain, with the exception of some bare spots, was covered with snow. This difference of aspect they soon perceived to be occasioned by the hot vapour ascending from the mountain. The higher they proceeded, the larger these spots became; and, about two hundred yards below the summit, a hole about a yard and a half in diameter, was observed, whence issued so hot a stream, that they could not measure the degree of heat with a thermometer. The cold now began to be very intense. Fahrenheit's thermometer, which at the foot of the mountain was at 54, fell to 24; while the wind became so violent, that they were sometimes obliged to lie down, from a dread of being blown into the most dreadful precipices. On the summit itself they experienced, at one and the same time, a high degree of heat and cold; for, in the air, Fahrenheit's thermometer constantly stood at 24, but when placed on the ground, it rose to 153.

Messrs. Olafsen and Povelsen, two naturalists, whose travels in Iceland were undertaken by order of his Danish Majesty, after a fatiguing journey up several small slopes, which occurred at intervals, and seven of which they had to pass, at length reached the summit of Mount Hecla at midnight. It was as light as at noon day, so that they had a view of an immense extent, but could perceive nothing but ice: neither fissures, streams of water, boiling springs, smoke, nor fire, were apparent. They surveyed the gla