128 THE KING'S MIRROR 



seems most likely that it is the fire of hell, for in hell all 

 things are dead. 



I am also disposed to believe that certain bodies of 

 water in Iceland must be of the same dead nature as the 

 fire that we have described. For there are springs which 

 boil furiously all the time both winter and summer. At 

 times the boiling is so violent that the heated water is 

 thrown high into the air. But whatever is laid near the 

 spring at the time of spouting, whether it be cloth or 

 wood or anything else that the water may touch when 

 it falls down again, will turn to stone. This seems to 

 lead to the conclusion that this water must be dead, 

 seeing that it gives a dead character to whatever it 

 sprinkles and moistens; for the nature of stone is dead. 

 But if the fire should not be dead but have its origin in 

 some peculiarity of the country, the most reasonable 

 theory as to the formation of the land seems to be that 

 there must be many veins, empty passages, and wide 

 cavities in its foundations. At times it may happen that 

 these passages and cavities will be so completely packed 

 with air, either by the winds or by the power of the roar- 

 ing breakers, that the pressure of the blast cannot be 

 confined, and this may be the origin of those great earth- 

 quakes that occur in that country.* Now if this should 

 seem a reasonable or plausible explanation, it may be 

 that the great and powerful activity of the air within 

 the foundations of the earth also causes those great fires 

 to be lit and to appear, which burst forth in various 

 parts of the land.f 



* For the history of this theory see above, pp. 17-18. 

 t The number of volcanoes hi Iceland is variously given, but the more reli- 

 able authorities give 107. 



