412 APPENDIX. C. 
“ the whole country was laid waste, the cattle 
u dying for want of food; and the surviving or 
u escaping inhabitants, flying from the horrid 
“ scene, betook themselves to other parts of the 
u country, where they might hope for safety, 
“ and left all their stock and goods a prey to the 
“ outrages of these two turbulent elements. 
“ When the fire first broke out, there was a 
“ very considerable increase of water in the river 
cc Skapta, upon the east side of which one of the 
“ fire-spouts was situated, as was mentioned 
“ above: a similar overflow of water was ob- 
“ served, at the same time, in the great river 
“ Piorsa, which runs into the sea a little to the 
“ eastward of the town of Oreback, and into 
ce which the river Tuna, after having run through 
“ a large tract of barren and uninhabited land, 
u empties itself. 
“ Upon the 11th of June the river Skapta was 
“ totally dried up in less than twenty-four hours, 
“ and the day following a prodigious stream of 
“ liquid and red hot lava, which the fire-spout 
u had discharged, ran down the channel of it, 
“ which is very deep, having large rocks and 
66 high banks on each side, the whole length of 
(C its course. This stream of lava not only filled 
“ the deep channel above mentioned, but, over- 
