Pin © EAE a Ale Ne Di 
called Geyer, in a plain rifing into fmall hills, and in the midft of an amphi- 
theatre, bounded by the moft magnificent and various-fhaped icy mountains ; 
among which the three-headed Hecla foars pre-eminent. 
Thefe Huers are not confined tothe land. They rife in the very fea, and form 
fcalding fountains amidft the waves. Their diftance from the land is unknown; 
but the new vulcanic ifle, twelve miles off the point of Reickenes, emitting fire and 
fmoke, proves that the fubterraneous fires and waters extend to that {pace ; for thofe 
aweful effects arife from the united fury of thefe two elements *. The depth of 
water between this new creation and the Geir-fugl Shier, is forty-four fathoms ; 
ten leagues to the weft, two hundred and five: and the bottom compofed of 
black fand +; doubtlefs no other than the Pumex arenaceus, the frequent evomition 
of vulcances. How much paft human comprehenfion muft the powers have been, 
that could force up materials for an ifland, even from the medium depth I have 
‘given! and how deep beneath the bottom of the ocean mutt have been the caufes 
which could fupply ftone, or pumice, or lava, to fill the {pace which this ifland oc- 
cupies, many miles in circumference, and poflibly above a hundred fathoms in 
depth ! 
If fome iflands fpring out of thefe feas, others are fwallowed by the force of 
earthquakes. “Their foundations are undermined by the fury of the fubterraneous 
elements, which carries off the materials of their bafis, and difcharges it in 
lava, or different forms, through the vulcanic /piracula. The earthquakes fhatter 
the cruft on which they ftand, and they tumble into the great abyfs. Such 
was the fate of the nine ifles of Gouberman, which lay about four leagues from 
Sandanefs, between Patrixfiord and Cape Nort, all which fuddenly difappeared. 
Their names ftill exift in feveral maps; but their place is only diftinguifhable 
by the fuperior depth of water in the {pot on which they ftood . 
The number of inhabitants in Jce/and is computed not to exceed fixty thoufand. 
Confidering the ungenial furface of this vaft ifland, probably the number is 
equal to the means of fupport. Writers apologize for the fewnefs of inhabi- 
tants, by attributing it to the almoft depopulation of the place by the forte diod, 
or black death, a peftilence which commenced in Cathay, or China, in 1346, fpread 
over all Afa, and Africa, reached the fouth of Europe in 1347, and in 1348 
fpread itfelf over Britain, Germany, and northern Europe, even to the extremity 
of the inhabited north. ‘The fmall-pox, and other epidemics, are mentioned as 
contributing to thin the ifland. During the time of the plague, tradition relates, 
® See Mr. Whiteburf’'s Theory. + Sable noir comme la poudre a canon, Voyage au Nord, 
par M. de Kerguelin, 69. t The fame, 65, 66. 
“XLVII 
In tue Sea. 
PEopLE, NUMBER 
OF. 
PesTILENce. 
