[18]. “Iceland, Greenland, and the Faröe Islands,” p. 37.
[19]. Since our visit, there has been another eruption of Kötlugjá in 1860, the particulars of which have been collected by Lauder Lindsay, Esq. M.D., F.L.S. &c., and published in the Edinburgh “Philosophical Journal” for January. From his interesting and admirable scientific paper, which treats the subject largely, we learn that this eruption, like that of 1823, was “mild and innocuous.” It began on the 8th, and continued to the 28th or 29th of May, and was preceded for several days by earthquakes. On the morning of the eighth a dark cloud was seen to rise from the mountain, which at the same moment sent forth an enormous flood of water, with very large pieces of ice, running with the water-stream into the sea. Some of the pieces of ice were so large that they were stranded at a twenty fathom depth in the sea. On the 12th of May the flames could be seen from Reykjavik, although this town is no less than about eighty English miles distant. During the evenings flashes of lightning were seen in the same direction. On the 16th May, the smoke was about twenty-four thousand (?) feet high; it was sometimes of a dark colour, but at other times it resembled steam. At this time the fire was seen from several places at a distance of about 80 English miles. The wind being northerly during the eruption, the sand and ashes fell chiefly in Myrdals-sand, which was the direction also taken by the water-floods. Sulphur was found floating in the sea, and the fish disappeared from certain parts of the neighbouring coasts. A large quantity of cinders was mixed with the water-floods. Cinders and balls of fire, as well as smoke, were thrown up; but the cinders and ashes, from being carried by the wind partly into the sea and partly to the neighbouring snow-fields, did comparatively little damage to the lowland farms; although the well-known devastations of former eruptions, especially those of 1665 and 1755, gave rise to extreme alarm and the most serious apprehensions among the poor inhabitants.
[20]. Longest interval.
[21]. Shortest interval.
[22]. Most important eruption.
[23]. ‘In estimating the seriousness of such a loss, it is necessary to bear in mind that the hay harvest is, so far as the vegetable kingdom is concerned, the only harvest in Iceland; and that hay is almost the sole provender for horses, sheep, and cattle during three-fourths of the year.’
[24]. Founding his statements on the manuscript of the Surgeon Sveinn Pálsson, and on Horrebow’s Natural History of Iceland—p. 12: London 1758.
[25]. From the Greek επι and ζωον—a term applied to diseases among animals; e.g. murrain, in which cattle are preyed upon by parasites.
[26]. ‘The celebrated agitation of the waters of our own Loch Ness occurred contemporaneously with the great earthquake of Lisbon, here also referred to.’
[27]. Stukesley’s “Philosophy of Earthquakes,” 3d ed., London 1756, 8vo, pp. 9-30.