96 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



tents in the open field, anxiously awaiting the result of these terrific warnings. 

 On the 9th, immense pillars of smoke collected over the hill country toward the 

 north, and, rolling down in a southerly direction, covered the whole district of 

 Sitha with darkness. Loud subterranean thunders followed in rapid succession, 

 and innumerable fire-spouts were seen leaping and flaring through the dense 

 canopy of smoke and ashes that enveloped the land. The heat raging in the 

 interior of the volcano melted enormous masses of ice and snow, which caused 

 the river Skapta to rise to a prodigious height; but on the 11th torrents of 

 fire usurped the place of water, for a vast lava-stream breaking forth from the 

 mountains, flowed down in a southerly direction, until reaching the river, a tre- 

 mendous conflict arose between the two hostile elements. Though the channel 

 was six hundred feet deep and two hundred feet wide, the lava-flood pouring 

 down one fiery wave after another into the yawning abyss, ultimately gained 

 the victory, and, blocking up the stream, overflowed its banks. Crossing the 

 low country of Medalland, it poured into a great lake, which after a few days 

 was likewise completely filled up, and having divided into two streams, the un- 

 exhausted torrent again poured on, overflowing in one direction some ancient 

 lava-fields, and in another re-entering the channel of the Skapta and leaping 

 down the lofty cataract of Stapafoss. But this was not all, for while one lava- 

 flood had chosen the Skapta for its bed, another, descending in a different direc- 

 tion, was working similar rum along the banks of the Hverfisfliot. Whether 

 the same crater gave birth to both, it is impossible to say, as even the extent 

 of the lava-flow can only be measured from the spot where it entered the in- 

 habited districts. The stream which followed the direction of Skapta is calcu- 

 lated to have been about fifty miles in length by twelve or fifteen at its great- 

 est breadth ; that which rolled down the Hverfisfliot, at forty miles in length 

 by seven in breadth. 



Where it was inclosed between the precipitous banks of the Skapta, the 

 lava is five or six hundred feet thick, but as soon as it spread out into the plain 

 its depth never exceeded one hundred feet. The eruption of sand, ashes, 

 pumice, and lava continued till the end of August, when at length the vast sub- 

 terranean tumult subsided. 



But its direful effects were felt for a long time after, not only in its imme- 

 diate vicinity, but over the whole of Iceland, and added many a mournful page 

 to her long annals of sorrow. For a whole year a dun canopy of cinder-laden 

 clouds hung over the unhappy island. Sand and ashes, carried to an enormous 

 height into the atmosphere, spread far and. wide, and overwhelmed thousands 

 of acres of fertile pasturage. The Faeroes, the Shetlands, and the Orkneys 

 were deluged with volcanic dust which perceptibly contaminated even the skies 

 of England and Holland. Mephitic vapors obscured the rays of the sun, and 

 the sulphurous exhalations tainted both the grass of the field and the waters 

 of the lake, the river, and the sea, so that not only the cattle died by thousands, 

 but the fish also perished in their poisoned element. The unhealthy air, and 

 the want of food — for hunger at last drove them to have recourse to untanned 

 hides and old leather — gave rise to a disease resembling scurvy among the un- 

 fortunate Icelanders. The head and limbs began to swell, the bones seemed 



