ABOUT VOLCANOS AND EARTHQUAKES. 31 



ened the whole surrounding district, and which descended 

 in a whirlwind of ashes. On the loth of May, innumer- 

 able fountains of fire were seen shooting up through the 

 ice and snow which covered the mountain ; and the 

 principal river, called the Skapta, after rolling down a 

 flood of foul and poisonous water, disappeared. Two 

 days after, a torrent of lava poured down into the bed 

 which the river had deserted. The river had run 

 in a ravine, 600 feet deep and 200 broad. This 

 the lava entirely filled ; and not only so, but it over- 

 flowed the surrounding country, and ran into a great 

 lake, from which it instantly expelled the water in an ex- 

 plosion of steam. When the lake was fairly filled, the 

 lava again overflowed and divided into two streams, one 

 of which covered some ancient lava fields ; the other re- 

 entered the bed of the Skapta lower down ; and pre- 

 sented the astounding sight of a cataract of liquid fire 

 pouring over what was formerly the waterfall of Stapafoss. 

 This was the greatest eruption on record in Europe. It 

 lasted in its violence till the end of August, and closed 

 with a violent earthquake; but for nearly the whole 

 year a canopy of cinder-laden cloud hung over the 

 island; the Faroe Islands, nay, even Shetland and the 

 Orkneys, were deluged with the ashes ; and volcanic 

 dust and a preternatural smoke, which obscured the sun, 

 covered all Europe as far as the Alps, over which it could 

 not rise. It has been surmised that the great Fire- 

 ball of August 1 8, 1783, which traversed all England 

 and the Continent, from the North Sea to Rome, by far 

 the greatest ever known (for it was more than half a 



