TRAVELS IN ICELAND. 



149 



preach. "With respect to the birth of the fish of this species, we 

 received from a reputable person in the western quarter an ac- 

 count which states, that at the end of July and beginning of 

 August, he found in the sea in calm weather a quantity of weed 

 drifting in with the current, and thinking he perceived among 

 it some insects in motion, he examined it nearer, and found it to 

 be filled with little cyelopteri, adhering to it by their pecto- 

 ral tin, which was round, and resembled a buckler or shield. 

 There were several of them which could not find a place, and 

 swam round the weed endeavouring to fix upon it. Their con- 

 formation was perfectly distinguishable; though they »were only 

 from two to six lines in length, and each of them had its egg at- 

 tached to the umbilical cord. What was very extraordinary in 

 these young fish was, that some had three eggs, others only two_, 

 but very few had one. Our observer did not examine in what 

 manner these eggs were joined together; for it is probable that 

 one or two which w ere abortive remained attached to the egg 

 which properly belonged to the fish that drew it. These two 

 discoveries in the natural history of the fish in question will pro- 

 bably lead to others that relate to the generation of this ciass^ 

 and their first disclosure from the egg. 



EFFECTS OF SUBTERRANEOUS. FIRE AT REYKIAVIK. 



YV e must reserve a space for mentioning the subterraneous fires 

 which, since the occupation of Iceland, have appeared in the 

 chain of mountains of Revkiances, that extends from the heath 

 of Helli^heide to the point of the promontory in the sea. The 

 first eruption took place in the year J 000, in the mountain that 

 stands beyond the canton of Gives; where a river of fire or mat- 

 ter in fusion ran over the high rock called Vatskard, and emptied 

 itself into the canton below. There still remains a striking mo- 

 nument of this eruption in a great extent of scoriae, which shews 

 the course taken by the fiery matter. 



The coast called Vandlose-strand, or the dry coast, every 

 where presents the most frightful appearance of melted and sub- 

 verted rocks, and alarYning clefts and holes in the ground. The 

 point of the promontory of Reykiances is, however, the parti- 

 cular spot which has always had a passage open to the burning 

 mountains above it. According to bishop Oddsen, there was in 

 1340 a terrible eruption, which consumed more than one half of 

 the promontory : and the isles and rocks situated beyond this point 

 likewise afford the most striking proofs of the ravages of fire, 

 not only in the soil of the isles, but particularly in the sea near 

 the promontory: for the fire has had its seat here since the 

 most distant ages, and has often burst forth from the bowels of 

 the earth across the sea, the deep and roaring waters of which 



