2 MOUNT I1ECLA. 



but, in thatnorthcrn latitude, as bright as day ; the prospect was splendid. 

 On one side (the east) they beheld an immense range of glaciers, beyond 

 which the volcano of Hoerdabried shewed its peak, which had the 

 semblance of a huge castle; on the north were lofty hills and lakes. 

 The prospect seems to be the only thing which was interesting to our 

 travellers. They descended on the western side by a deep ravine, which 

 commenced at the top of the cone, and continued to the very foot of the 

 mountain, and which appeared to be the bed of an immense stream of 

 lava and which is said, by the Native-chronicles, to have been formed 

 by the great eruption of 1300, that rent the mountain in twain. Large 

 masses of rock, seeming as cast from the crater, still hung over the edges 

 of the ravine, and greater heaps of melted and burnt substances were 

 found at the bottom of this singular and immense chasm. When this 

 mountain was ascended in 1810, it was found to emit a much greater 

 degree of heat. Hot vapours issued from several parts of the central 

 peak, and the heat of the ground was so great, that on removing a few of 

 the slags from those a little below, they were too hot to be handled. 

 On placing a thermometer amongst them, it rose to 144 degrees. This 

 last visit was made on the southern side, and the ascent was found 

 tolerably easy, until the upper and steepest part of the cone was reached. 

 This was covered with loose cinders ; so loose, that the travellers 

 frequently lost in one step the ground they had gained by several. 

 During the ascent the mountain was for a while enveloped in dense 

 clouds, which prevented their seeing the chasms in its sides, and they 

 encountered some danger by crossing a narrow ridge of slags, that 

 connected one of the lower peaks with the highest. This passage, during 

 which they had a precipice on either side of them, they effected by 

 balancing themselves like rope dancers. They found those superior 

 craters very incompletely defined, their sides and lips being much 

 shattered and broken away. 



The last great eruption of Mount Hecla was in 1766. It broke out 

 suddenly, and was attended at its commencement by an earthquake. It 

 lasted, without intermission, from the 15th of April to the 7th of Septem- 

 ber, and did immense damage. The horses were so terrified, that they 

 ran about wildly, till they dropped dead with fatigue. The people living 

 near the mountain lost their cattle, which were either choked with the 

 volcanic ashes, or starved before they could he removed to grass. A 

 few lingered for a year, and on being opened, the stomachs of these were 

 found to be loaded with ashes. 



Other volcanos in Iceland, though less frequently in action, have 



