284 On the Volcanic Ifland thrown up 
smiles from the before-mentioned Grenadier’s Cap, the pofi- 
tions of thefe rocks will be 63° 32'45’’north latitude, and 
20° 2 50” weft longitude from the meridian of Paris. 
As I now proceeded to get a fight of thefe rocks, Captain 
Grove, who was on board my fhip, concluded, from his 
former obfervations, that we could be at no great diftance 
from them, having now quite loft fight of the Icelandic 
coaft; and the before-mentioned rocks, which lie to the 
fouth-weft from Iceland, though the weather was clear, 
being now fcarcely ‘difcernible. My companion, therefore, 
atked whether it was prudent to advance fo ftraight upon it, 
While we were talking on this fubje& the people called out, 
and immediately every eye was direéted to the fpot, where 
we faw before us the waves breaking over a rock. We int- 
mediately put about fhip, and heaved the lead, which was 
in readinefs, and found the depth twenty-fix, and foon after 
forty fathoms, but a little farther no ground was to be found 
with a line of a hundred fathoms. Some tallow had been 
put into the bottom of the lead, as ufual, to enable us to de- 
termine the nature of the bottom by the fubftances which 
adhered to it. By thefe means we obtained fimall fragments 
of ftone which were entirely lava, or of a volcanic nature. 
The rock is not large, and the water around it is exceedingly 
deep. Its height is exactly equal to that of the furface of the 
fea, or rather a little lower; and for that reafon it cannot be 
feen till one approaches very near to it, or when the waves 
break over it. 
The origin of the volcanic ifland, which was feen in this 
place in the year 1783, I explain 1 in the following manner:— 
The rock which now remains formed the crater, which at 
that period threw up flames and {moke; The large quantity 
of lava which iffued from it, being accumulated on the bot- 
tom of the fea around the crater, may at length have been 
raifed above the furface of the fea, and even to a confiderable 
height. But as this volcano lies in a part of the ocean where 
prodigious billows prevail, and roll over each other through- 
out a wide extent of fea, it is probable that fuch a finGure 
would foon be defrayed by their violence, efpecially as there 
is a great depth of water around it, in which it might eafily 
be 
