rp 



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Covr y 



.1. ^'on of 

 'J record 



eirlii-'--,' 

 era: ani 



F 



■e is ck 



1 



le 







;, region. 



K! Wl 



"\ 



ch as ti^ 

 aeserti«; 



ei 



itlier 



lir 





Ch. XXVII.] 



EEUniONS OF SKAPTAR JOKUL 



49 



PlilegTaeaii Fields, to be in activity by turns, one vent often 

 serving for a time as a safety-valve to the rest. Many cones 

 'are often thrown up in one eruption, and in this case they 

 take a linear direction, running generally from north-east to 

 south-west, from the north-eastern part of the island, where 

 the volcano Krabla lies, to the promontory Eeyhianas. 



/ 



Neiv 



up 



—The convulsions of the year 1783 appear to have been 

 more tremendous than any recorded in the modern annals of 

 Iceland; and the original Danish narrative of the catastrophe. 



m 



several English travellers, particularly in regard to the pro- 

 digious extent of country laid waste, and the volume of lava 

 produced * About a month previous to the eruption of 

 Skaptar Jokul on the mainland, presently to be mentioned a 

 submarine volcano burst forth in the sea in lat. 63° 2 



N, 



loi 



23 



W 



direction from Cape Eeykianas, and ejected so much pumice 

 that the ocean was covered with that substance to the dis- 



their course. 



im 



formed 



New 



smoke, and pumice were emitted at different points. This 

 island was claimed by his Danish Majesty, who denominated 



Island; but before a year had elapsed, 

 the sea resumed its ancient domain, and nothing was left but 

 a r^ef of rocks from 5 to 30 fathoms under water. 

 ^ Earthquakes which had long been felt in Iceland, became 

 violent on June 11, 1783, when Skaptar Jokul, distant nearly 

 200 miles from Nyoe, threw out a torrent of lava which 

 flowed down into the Skapta, and completely dried it up. 

 Ihe channel of the river was between high rocks, in many 

 places from 400 to 600 feet in depth, and near 200 in breadth. 



The first narrative of the eruption 

 jas drawn up by Stephenson, then Chief 



ustice m Iceland, appointed commis- 

 ^^^J^er by the King of Denmark for 

 estimatmg the damage done to the 

 country, that relief might be afforded to 



ne sufferers. Henderson was enabled 



^ivPn'ri^ '^^^ of the measurements 

 b en "^ybtephenson^ofthedepth, width, 

 ^^OL. IT 



and length of the lava currents, by re- 

 ference to the MS. of Mr. Paulson, who 

 visited the tract in 1794, and examined 

 the lava with attention. (Journal of a 

 Eesidence in Iceland, &c., p. 229.) Some 

 of the principal facts are also corro- 

 borated by Sir William Hooker, in his 

 * Tour in Iceland/ vol. ii. p. 128. 



K 



