170 HEER JON STEFANSSON, PH.D., ON ICELAND : 



The ashes reached the uorth of IcehmcL The air was 

 darkened. Famine and loss of hfe foUowed, and houses 

 were shattered by earthquakes. 



The tenth eruption, July 25th, 1510, was so violent that 

 huge blocks of lava were thrown out of the crater as far as 

 Skalholt, '2d miles distant, and men were killed there by 

 them. In ]\Iay, 1554, at the time of the eleventh eruption, 

 people Avere obliged to live in tents for the greater part of 

 the summer on account of frequent earthquakes. The 

 thirteenth eruption took place from January to March, 1579. 

 Loud reports were heard for twelve successive days in the 

 nortlmiost parts of Iceland, and eighteen columns of fire 

 'Averc seen to rise simultaneously from the mountain. The 

 ashes covered about one-half of the island. In the fifteenth 

 eruption which began May 8th, 1636, thirteen craters broke 

 out. The sixteenth eruption, in 1693, may be compared to 

 that in 1300, and lasted February to August. "The earth- 

 quake Avas felt on the high seas, and endangered ships. 

 Clouds of ashes changed day into pitch dark night, but 

 glowing laA'a streams lit up the darkness with a red glare. 

 Ashes Avere borne to NorAvay. The fall of ashes and doAvii- 

 pour of rain lasted all the time till Easter. The cattle 

 saved from instantaneous death, having to eat the singed 

 grass under the ashes, suffered from a scorbutic disease, and 

 lost their teeth or perished." 



The eighteenth eruption commenced September 2nd, 1845, 

 and continued for seven months. Halley says the flames 

 were seen in Orkney. The ashes Avere carried over to the 

 Orkneys and the column of smoke ascending from the crater 

 Avas fomid by the mathematician Gunnlogsen to reach a 

 height of 14,000 feet. The lava stream Avas 80 feet in depth 

 and coA^ered 8 to 9 square miles. It moved on, scooping up 

 hills of sand and earth in its Avay, the red-hot liquid breaking 

 forth noAv and then from under the cooled surface with 

 violent crashes. The lava ejected is computed at 14,400 

 cubic feet. 



The peninsula of Reykjanes is A''olcanic throughout, 

 containing no less than 300 volcanoes Avith about 700 

 craters. The ranges of volcanic peaks, some of Avhich rise 

 to 2,000 feet, run in the same direction as the Hekla range. 

 They are mostly extinct; six of them have broken out in 

 historical times. A number of volcanic springs and chasms 

 cleft by earthquakes are also found in the peninsula. 



Eldeyjar (Fire Isles) or Fuglasker, a cluster of volcanic 



