252 THE WORLD. 



act called Stapafoss, filling up a profound abyss which the water 

 had been hollowing out for ages. On the 3rd of August another 

 tiood of lava was poured forth which flowing in an entirely new 

 direction, as all the other channels were choked up, filled the bed 

 uf the river Hverfisfliot, occasioning great destruction of property 

 and life. The eruption continued for about two years, and eleven 

 years afterwards when Mr. Paulson visited the island, he found 

 columns of smoke still rising from parts of the lava, and several 

 rents filled with hot water. Iceland at this time contained about 

 50,000 inhabitants, more than 9000 of whom perished during 

 these eruptions, besides vast numbers of cattle; and twenty villa- 

 ges were destroyed, not enumerating those inundated by 'water. 

 The great loss of life was owing not only to the vast amount of 

 noxious gasses emitted, but to the famine caused by the showers 

 of ashes throughout the island, and the desertion of the coasts by 

 the fish. The two branches of lava which flowed during this 

 eruption, in opposite directions, were, the one fifty, the other forty 

 miles in length, and their average depth 100 feet. The extreme 

 breadth of the current which filled the bed of the river Skapta, 

 was twelve miles, the extreme breadth of the other was about 

 seven miles. The eruptions of Hecla, six of which hare occurred 

 in one century, seern now to be suspendad, but the whole island 

 presents abundant evidence of volcanic action. We have already 

 alluded to the phenomena of the Geysers, or hot springs; beside 

 these there are no less than six volcanic vents, emitting flame 

 and smoke. The island of Nyoe thrown up just bdfore the great 

 eruption of Skapta Jokul, is by no means the only instance of a 

 volcanic island occurring at a recent period. In the year 1831, a 

 volcanic island arose in the Mediterranean, about thirty miles off 

 the south-west coast of Sicily, in a spot which had been found by 

 Capt. Smyth to be more than 600 feet in depth. On the 23th of 

 June, Sir Pultney Malcolm, in passing over the spot with his ship 

 felt the shock of an earthquake, as if he had struck on a sand 

 bank, this was about a fortnight before the eruption occurred. 

 About the 10th of July a Spanish Captain who was passing near 

 the place, reported that he saw a column of water, like a water 

 spout, about sixty feet in height, rising from the sea; this was 



