VII. ] MOUNT HECLA. 67 



could not inadvertently fling their stones into the eye of any 

 inquisitive genie who might be in the neighbourhood. 



After the usual hour's rest and change of horses, we galloped 

 away to the other side of the plain, and, doubling the further 

 horn of the semicircle, suddenly found ourselves in a district 

 as unlike the cinder mountains we had quitted as they had 

 differed from the volcanic scenery of the day before. On 

 the left lay a long rampart of green hills, opening up every 

 now and then into Scottish glens and gorges, while from 

 their roots to the horizon stretched a vast breadth of meadow- 

 land, watered by two or three rivers, that wound, and twisted, 

 and coiled about, like blue serpents. Here and there, white 

 volumes of vapour, that rose in endless wreaths from the 

 ground, told of mighty cauldrons at work beneath that moist 

 cool verdant carpet ; while large silvery lakes, and flat-topped 

 isolated hills, relieved the monotony of the level land, and 

 carried on the eye to where the three snowy peaks of Mount 

 Hecla shone cold and clear against the sky. 



Of course it was rather tantalizing to pass so near this 

 famous burning mountain without having an opportunity of 

 ascending it ; but the expedition would have taken up too 

 much time. In appearance Hecla differs very little from the 

 innumerable other volcanic hills with which the island is 

 studded. Its cone consists of a pyramid of stone and scoriae, 

 rising to the height of about five thousand feet, and welded 

 together by bands of molten matter which have issued from 

 its sides. From a.d. 1004 to 1766 there have been twenty- 

 three eruptions, occurring at intervals which have varied in 

 duration from six to seventy-six years. The one of 1766 

 was remarkably violent. It commenced on the 5th of April 

 by the appearance of a huge pillar of black sand mounting 

 slowly into the heavens, accompanied by subterranean thun- 

 ders, and all the other symptoms which precede volcanic dis- 

 turbances. Then a coronet of flame encircled the crater; 

 masses of red rock, pumice, and magnetic stones were flung 

 out with tremendous violence to an incredible distance, and 

 in such continuous multitudes as to resemble a swarm of 



