402 Dr. Forchhammer on a [June, 



and 1784 from the Skaptaa-Jokkul, which destroyed such a great 

 part of the cultivated lands, except some small eruptions which 

 were said to have taken place in the interior, far from the inha- 

 bited part of the island, and which passed away without attracting 

 furthernotice,whenin December, 1821, a new crater was suddenly 

 formed on the £yafjeld-Jokkul, a mountain of which, among the 

 numerous volcanic eruptions, only a single one is mentioned, in 

 the year 1612, when a great part of the ice of the mountain 

 burst, and was thrown into the sea. 



The Eyafjeld-Jokkul (known among sailors under the name of 

 Cape Hekla) is the highest of all the mountains in Iceland ; and, 

 according to the last measurements, is 5666 feet high. It is the 

 southernmost of the chain of mountains in which the dreadful 

 eruptions in the middle of the last century took place, and at 

 about equal distances from the Kolla and Hekla. From 1024 to 

 1766, 24 eruptions are recorded to have occurred. That part of 

 the mountain where the crater was formed borders two sides 

 the cultivated land, which belongs to the hundred (Syssel) of 

 Rangarvalla, in the south part of the island. 



The following account is an extract of a letter from M. Bry- 

 niulo Sivertsen, Minister at Holt, in Eiafields-boigden, to the 

 Bishop of Iceland, M. Vidalin : — ** The real crater is about 

 five miles from my house at Holt. The fire made its way sud- 

 denly by throwing off' the thick mass of ice which scarcely ever 

 melts, and of which, one mass, 18 feet high, and 20 fathoms in 

 circumference, fell towards the north, and, therefore, fortunately 

 not over the village. At the same time, a number of stones of 

 different sizes slipped down the mountain accon;ipanied by a 

 noise like thunder; no real earthquake, however, was felt. 

 After this a prodigiously high column of flame rose from the 

 crater which illumined the whole country round so completely, 

 that the people in the house at Holt could see as perfectly at 

 night as m the day time. At the same time much ashes, stones, 

 gravel, and large half-melted pieces of the rock, were thrown 

 about, some of which amounted to the weight of 50 pounds. In 

 the following days, and until the new year commenced, a great 

 quantity of fine powder of pumice fell in the surrounding country 

 according to the direction of the wind, so that a thick bed of it 

 covered the fields. It resembled the falling of snow, and pene- 

 trated through all openings into the houses, where it exhaled an 

 unpleasant smell of sulphur. The eyes suffered extremely by this 

 dust. At Christmas, a violent storm from the South, raged ; it 

 rained hard, which produced the good effect of blowing and 

 washing away the ashes from the fields, so that they w ill do but 

 little harm. We think ourselves extremely fortunate that so 

 frightful a revolution in our immediate neighbourhood has pro- 

 duced no bad effects either on men or animals." 



Another extract of a letter from M. Terve Johansen, the Pro- 

 vost at Breidebolstad, about 18-i- miles to the west of the volca- 



