VOLCAXOE.S IN ICELAND. 
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glutinated stones ; jaspers of clifFerent kinds, Iceland crystal; the 
common rhomboid spathuni ; chalcedonies stratified and botryoid ; 
zeolites of the most elegant kinds ; crystals, and various other sub- 
stances that have no^ relation to volcanoes. The primitive moun- 
tains are those called Jokuls, and are higher than the others. One 
of them, called iEsian or Rias, is six thousand feet high. It seems 
to be composed of great and irregular rocks of a dark gray colour, 
piled on each other. Another, called Enneberg, is about three thou- 
sand feet high ; the Sncefield Jokul, two thousand two hundred and 
eighty-seven yards ; the Snoefieldnas, or promontory ofSnoefield, from 
three hundred to four hundred fathoms. The rocks of Drango are 
seven in number, of a pyramidical figure, rising out of the sea, at a 
small distance from the cliffs, four of which are of a vast height, and 
have a most magnificent appearance. Eastward from the Snoefield 
begins the Eisberge, soaring to a vast height, many parts of which 
have felt the effects of fire, and in some of the melted rocks are large 
cavities. 
“ Budda-lekkur, a rock at one end of this mountain, is also volcanic,' 
and has in it a great cavern, hung with stalactitae. The name of 
Solvahamar is given to a tremendous range of volcanic rocks, com- 
posed entirely of slags, and covered in the season with sea-fowl. It 
W'ould be endless, however, to mention all the places which bear the 
marks of fire in various forms, either by having been vitrified, changed 
into a fiery colour, ragged and black, or exhibit indications of having 
run for miles in a sloping course towards the sea. 
“These volcanoes, though so dreadful in their effects, seldom begin 
to throw out fire without giving warning. A subterraneous rumbling 
noise, heard at a considerable distance, precedes the eruption for 
several days, with a roaring and cracking in the place from whence 
the fire is about to burst forth ; many fiery meteors are observed, 
but generally unattended with any violent concussion of the earth, 
though sometimes earthquakes, of which several instances are record- 
ed, have accompanied, these dreadful conflagrations. The drying up 
of small lakes, streams, and rivulets, is also considered as a sign of 
an impending eruption ; and it is thought to hasten the eruption, when 
a mountain is so covered wdth ice, that the holes are stopped up, 
through which the exhalations formerly found a free passage. The 
immediate sign is the bursting of the mass of ice with a loud noise, 
flames then issue from the earth, and lightning and fire-balls from the 
smoke ; stones, ashes, &:c. are thrown out to vast distances.” 
Olafsen relates, that, in an eruption of Kattelgiaa in 1755, a 
stone weighing 290lbs. was thrown to the distance of twenty-four 
English miles. A quantity of w'hite pumice-stone is thrown out by 
the boiling waters, and it is conjectured, with great probability, that 
the latter proceeds from the sea, as a quantity of salt, sufficient to 
load several horses, has frequently been found after the mountain has 
ceased to burn. Among the numberless ravages of so many dreadful 
volcanoes, which from time immemorial has contributed to render this 
country still less inhabitable than it is from the climate, we shall only 
give an account of that which happened in 1783, and .which from its 
violence seems to be unparalleled in history. 
