THE ISLAND. 18 



belief. With a widespread destruction of the land, the 

 depths of the sea were invaded, and the fish (the Ice- 

 landers' chief means of subsistence) driven from the shore. 

 The flames broke out even through the waves in the line 

 of movement, and the sea was covered with pumice for 

 150 miles. 



A thick canopy hung over the island for a year, and 

 the winds carried the ashes over Europe, Africa, and 

 America. The very sun was darkened, and showed only 

 as a ball of fire, while frightful hurricanes, hail-storms, 

 thunder and lightning added their horrors, and famine 

 and pestilence still further reduced the number of those 

 who survived the catastrophe. 



The great lava streams are inconceivably wild. A 

 sight of one is a sufficient reward for crossing the ocean. 

 A more complete " abomination of desolation ' cannot 

 else be found. 



To describe such a stream as like a billowy sea arrested 

 in its wildest frenzy and turned into stone, would give 

 but a faint notion of the fretted turbulent twistings, deep 

 rents and chasms, threatening pinnacles, and overhanging 

 crests of dull cindery lava, which, ghost-like, stretch to 

 the horizon. 



Sometimes extraordinary swirls in the rock show how 

 the viscous mass was moved while it cooled. Large 

 corrugated surfaces thus frequently occur, and occa- 

 sionally they even assume patterns like a tesselated 

 pavement. 



Sometimes you pass over broad domes that ring to the 



