ENORMOUS QUANTITY OF LAVA
The 3rd of August brought fresh accessions to the flood of lava still pouring from the mountain. There being no room in the channel, now filled by the former lurid stream, which had pursued a northwesterly course, the fresh lava was forced to take a new direction towards the southeast, where it entered the bed of another river with a barbaric name. Here it pursued a course similar to that which flowed through the channel of the Skapta, filling up the deep gorges, and then spreading itself out into great fiery lakes over the plains.
The eruptions of lava from the mountain continued, with some short intervals, for two years, and so enormous was the quantity poured forth during this period that, according to a careful estimate which has been made, the whole together would form a mass equal to that of Mont Blanc. Of the two streams, the greater was fifty, the less forty, miles in length. The Skapta branch attained on the plains a breadth varying from twelve to fifteen miles—that of the other was only about half as much. Each of the currents had an average depth of 100 feet, but in the deep gorges it was no less than 600 feet. Even as late as 1794 vapors continued to rise from these great streams, and the water contained in the numerous fissures formed in their crust was hot.
The devastation directly wrought by the lava currents themselves was not the whole of the evils they brought upon unfortunate Iceland and its inhabitants. Partly owing to the sudden melting of the snows and glaciers of the mountain, partly owing to the stoppage of the river courses, immense floods of water deluged the country in the neighborhood, destroying many villages and a large amount of agricultural and other property. Twenty villages were overwhelmed by the lava currents, while the ashes thrown out during the eruption covered the whole island and the surface of the sea for miles around its shores. On several occasions the ashes were drifted by the winds over considerable parts of the European continent, obscuring the sun and giving the sky a gray and gloomy aspect. In certain respects they reproduced the phenomena of the explosion of Mount Krakatoa, which, singularly, occurred just a century later, in 1883. The strange red sunset phenomena of the latter were reproduced by this Icelandic event of the eighteenth century.
Out of the 50,000 persons who then inhabited Iceland, 9,336 perished, together with 11,460 head of cattle, 190,480 sheep and 28,000 horses. This dreadful destruction of life was caused partly by the direct action of the lava currents, partly by the noxious vapors they emitted, partly by the floods of water, partly by the destruction of the herbage by the falling ashes, and lastly in consequence of the desertion of the coasts by the fish, which formed a large portion of the food of the people.
ERUPTION OF MOUNT HECLA
After this frightful eruption, no serious volcanic disturbance took place in Iceland until 1845, when Mount Hecla again became disastrously active. Mount Hecla has been the most frequent in its eruptions of any of the Icelandic volcanoes. Previous to 1845 there had been twenty-two recorded eruptions of this mountain, since the discovery of Iceland in the ninth century; while from all the other volcanoes in the island there had been only twenty during the same period. Hecla has more than once remained in activity for six years at a time—a circumstance that has rendered it the best known of the volcanoes of this region.
LATER OUTBREAKS
After enjoying a long rest of seventy-nine years, this volcano burst again into violent activity in the beginning of September, 1845. The first inkling of this eruption was conveyed to the British Islands by a fall of volcanic ashes in the Orkneys, which occurred on the night of September 2nd during a violent storm. This palpable hint was soon confirmed by direct intelligence from Copenhagen. On the 1st of September a severe earthquake, followed the same night by fearful subterranean noises, alarmed the inhabitants and gave warning of what was to come. About noon the next day, with a dreadful crash, there opened in the sides of the volcano two new mouths, whence two great streams of glowing lava poured forth. They fortunately flowed down the northern and northwestern sides of the mountain, where the low grounds are mere barren heaths, affording a scanty pasture for a few sheep. These were driven before the fiery stream, but several of them were burnt before they could escape. The whole mountain was enveloped in clouds of volcanic ashes and vapors. The rivers near the lava currents became so hot as to kill the fish, and to be impassable even on horseback.
About a fortnight later there was a fresh eruption, of greater violence, which lasted twenty-two hours, and was accompanied by detonations so loud as to be heard over the whole island. Two new craters were formed, one on the southern, the other on the eastern slope of the cone. The lava issuing from these craters flowed to a distance of more than twenty-two miles. At about two miles from its source the fiery stream was a mile wide, and from 40 to 50 feet deep. It destroyed a large extent of fine pasture and many cattle. Nearly a month later, on the 15th of October, a fresh flood of lava burst from the southern crater, and soon heaped up a mass at the foot of the mountain from 40 to 60 feet in height, three great columns of vapor, dust and ashes rising at the same time from the three new craters of the volcano. The mountain continued in a state of greater or less activity during most of the next year; and even as late as the month of October, 1846, after a brief pause, it began again with renewed vehemence. The volumes of dust, ashes and vapor, thrown up from the craters, and brightly illuminated by the glowing lava beneath, assumed the appearance of flames, and ascended to an immense height.