51 
of Edinburgh, Session 1875 - 76 . 
steam and fatty fetid loam, which falls in granules. At the base 
is another pit-crater, opening in high and broken ground; it is 
also covered with pumice and offensive loam, which the depths 
continue to vomit. The explorer distinctly saw a pit of hot water 
spouted from the western side of the inner triangle : he could 
trace, through the volumes of steam, its shaft or column, and 
he heard the rain fall upon the rocks, bringing down with it an 
avalanche of stone. The Askja is not a Jokull, and only a few 
streaks of snow lay upon the flanks. This, therefore, may be 
considered a crucial instance of water erupted from a fire vent. 
Meanwhile there are no reports of any outbreak at HerSubreiS, 
nor in the Trolladyngur, the inadequate features from which 
Baring Gould would derive the 0d&3a Hraun. I have taken the 
liberty in my map of counter-marching the “Troll’s Bowers,” from 
a meridian to a diagonal, beginning south of Blafjall and abutting 
almost upon Herftubreib. In local history we read dreadful accounts 
of Trolladyngjur’s seven eruptions; of a.d. 1150 (the earliest); 
of 1180; of 1340, when the “Broad-shouldered” is said to have 
vomited for the first time; of 1359; of 1475; of 1510 (when the 
second outbreak of Herftubreib is reported); and, finally, of 1862, 
when there was an eruption of ashes, concerning which we have 
few and uncertain details. Thus the ratio of outbreaks from Trol* 
ladyngjur was 7 to 26 Heklas, 13 Katlas, 11 submarines, and 5 
Orsefas. 
The local papers, especially the “ Norftanfari ” of Akreyri 
(February 19, March 3, April 9 and 17, and May 13 and 19 ; and 
the “Isafold,” of March 27), give ample accounts of the late 
movements. The My-vatn eruptions have been visited by many 
parties of farmers, but only one has yet reached the Oskjugjd 
(Askja or Dyngjufjoll Gj&). The relations are chiefly from the pen 
of Jon Sigurbsson, of Gautland near My-vatn, Knight of the 
Dannebrog, and Althingismaftur (M.P.), whom some Englishmen 
have lately confounded with another “ White John,” the celebrated 
agitator who lives at Copenhagen. Much of the matter has been 
translated and published by our home press, but there are interest- 
ing details which have not been noticed. Generally — allow me to 
remark — the accounts, though utterly unscientific, bear an aspect 
of sobriety and truthfulness wholly wanting in the older Icelandic 
