156 Account of the Eruption of the Old Volcano of 
visited some part of the globe. This conjecture has at last been 
verified by a volcanic eruption of the old volcano of Eyafjeld 
Jokkul, which has been in a quiet state since the year 161S. 
This mountain, otherwise called Cape^Hecla, is about 5666 
feet in height. It is nearly equidistant from Kolia and Hecla, 
and is the southermost of the chain where the dreadful eruption 
broke out about the middle of the last century. 
On the 19th December 1821, the eruption began« The cra- 
ter was formed at the distance of five miles, from the minister’s 
house at Holt, and discharged itself through the thick mass of 
ice that enveloped it, and which is seldom melted. The ice was 
dispersed in every direction, and a mass, 18 feet high and 60 
feet in circumference, fell towards the north. A number of 
stones, of different sizes, rolled down the mountain, accompanied 
with a noise like thunder ; and this was immediately followed 
by a discharge of an enormous and lofty column of flame, which 
illuminated the whole country, and allowed the people at Holt 
to read as perfectly within their houses at night as if it had 
been day. Ashes, stones, gravel, and heavy melted masses of 
rock, some of which weighed about 50 lb. were thrown up, and 
one of these last was found at the distance of five miles from the 
crater. On the day immediately following the eruption, a great 
quantity of the fine greyish-white powder of pumice * was dis- 
charged, and carried about by the wind so as to fall like snow, 
and cover the adjacent country. It penetrated into the houses 
through every opening. It exhaled a disagreeable smell of sul- 
phur, brought on affections in the eyes, and occasioned diseases 
among the sheep in Vester Eyafjeld and Oster Landoe. 
On the 25th of December, a violent storm raged from the 
south, and by the united action of the wind and the rain, the 
fields were cleared of the sulphureous dust which had covered 
them. On the 26th and 27th of December, there was a heavy 
storm from the north-east, and the barometer, which had been 
gradually falling since the 18th December f, when it was 29°. 16, 
* This powder had a sulphureous taste, and burned when thrown into the fire. 
•f* The observations on the barometer were made at Naes near Reikavig, by 
Dr Thorsteinson. A statement of it for October, January, and February, will be 
found in the Ann, of Phil, for June. 
