394 
APPENDIX. C. 
frequency of its fires, from its vicinity to the most 
populous part of the island, and from its situation 
that renders it visible to ships sailing to Green¬ 
land and North America, has been by far the most 
celebrated among foreign countries; nor does 
it seem to have been considered of less import¬ 
ance at home, iiaving attracted to such a degree 
the notice of the native historians, that its several 
eruptions, subsequently to the colonization of the 
island (for it is supposed that many had taken 
place previously), have been inserted in the chro¬ 
nicles of the country. Upon this subject, however, 
the different annalists are far from being agreed, 
some, according to Povelsen and Olafsen, who 
speak only of the principal ones, mentioning no 
more than eleven, and others only sixteen; while 
these authors say that, after the most attentive 
researches, they can speak with confidence to 
twenty-two, without reckoning several, which, 
though enumerated by other writers, they regard 
as uncertain, thinking that the same eruption 
may have been counted more than once, from 
its having lasted above a year, or its having 
begun in winter and ceased the following spring; 
and also without including the less important dis¬ 
charges, that have not issued from the volcano' 
itself, but from some of the hillocks or beds of 
lava about it; though these in reality have a right 
