282 ICELAND: ITS HISTORY AND INHABITANTS. 



The Solheima Glacier seemed to rise and sink violently. It sometimes 

 seemed to be raised double its height from the ground. 



Eruptions of a magnitude unparalleled on earth in historic times 

 took place from a chain of 100 craters, 20 miles long, about the Valley 

 of Varmsirdalur, near the sources of the Skapta, to the northeast 

 of Myrdalsjokull. The lava covered an area of 220 square miles, 

 and the volume of lava ejected is estimated by Lyell, in his Princi- 

 ples of Geology, to be equal to that of Mont Blanc. Thoroddsen 

 puts it at 15 million cubic meters. The eruption lasted from June, 

 1783, to January, 1784. The greatest length of the lava stream, 

 which passes down the channel of the Skapta and reaches Hnausar 

 in Medalland, is 47 miles, greatest breadth 15 miles; the length of 

 the second lava stream in the channel of Hverfisfljot is over 40 miles, 

 breadth 9 to 10 miles. In places it fills valleys and chasms of a 

 depth up to 600 feet, yet its average depth here is only 20 to 30 

 feet. It is said that 37 farms were destroyed and 400 people lost 

 their shelter. Famine and scorbutic diseases raged, and animals 

 died in great numbers; 9,336 persons perished, about one-fifth of 

 the population. The loss of horses is reported to have been 28,013, 

 or 77 per cent of all horses in Iceland; that of cattle 11,461, or 53 

 per cent; and that of sheep 190,488, or 82 per cent. The mass of 

 matter ejected is computed at 50,000 million cubic yards. 



Along the borders of Vatnajokull volcanic eruptions have often 

 taken place. Its greatest volcano is Oraefajcikull, which has broken 

 out three or four times with formidable glacier slips. In the middle 

 of the fourteenth century — the annals disagree as to the date — the 

 ice covering the top of the mountain rushed down in a violent tor- 

 rent toward the sea, bearing along with it so much of stones, sand, 

 and detritus that a sheet of water having a depth of 180 feet was 

 changed into a dry, sand}^ beach. Five fertile districts were totally 

 laid waste. Forty farms and two churches were swept away out to 

 sea, with all that was in them, in a few hours. Pumice and ashes 

 were carried into the north and west of Iceland 200 to 300 miles. 



Its third or fourth eruption took place from August 3, 1727, to 

 May 25, 1728, from five to six rifts in the glacier. The people had 

 to camp out, and walked about with tubs on their heads, as the air 

 was filled with burning embers. 



The lava desert, Odiioahraun, which is 1,700 square miles in extent, 

 has many craters, mostly unexplored, except those of the Dyngjufjoll, 

 the largest volcano in Iceland, 4,500 feet in height, east of the center 

 of the desert. These mountains inclose a circular valley or crater, 

 Askja (the basket), 25 square miles in area, a vast crater, 17 miles 

 inner, 24 outer circumference — a mountain built up by innumerable 

 lava flows and upheavals to 3,800 feet, or 2,300 feet above Odac^ah- 

 raun. Its bottom is 3,100 to 3,500 feet above sea level, inclining east- 



