404 
APPENDIX. C. 
still less of hot springs or smoke or fire. Though 
now midnight, it was as bright as day, so that 
they enjoyed an immensely extensive prospect; 
looking over all the glaciers to the east, beyond 
which in the distance towered, like a great castle, 
the ancient volcano of Hoerdabreid; while to 
the north they had a view of all the lofty hills of 
that quarter, and of a number of lakes of which 
they could not learn the names. Finding nothing 
on the top of Hecla to induce them to prolong 
their stay, they descended on the west side by a 
deep ravine, which, commencing at the summit of 
the mountain and continuing to its very base, 
appears evidently to have been the bed of a cur¬ 
rent of lava, and was most probably formed at 
the time of the eruption of 1300; since the an¬ 
nals of the country relate that at that period 
Hecla was rent from the top to the bottom. This 
cavity has now only the appearance of a deep 
valley, but it is nevertheless certain, they say, 
that it was originally open to the very centre of 
the volcano, but was choked up by the falling in 
lived near the mountain lost their cattle, which were either 
" choked with ashes or starved before they could be removed 
“ to grass. Some lingered for a year, and, on being opened, 
“ their stomachs were found to be full of ashes .”—Sir Joseph 
Banks' MS. Journal. 
