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THE GREAT SCANDINAVIAN UPHEAVAL. 159
as to crack the earth’s crust and pour out the volcanic
matter of which are formed the Snaefel Jokul, Ilecla,
the Sulphur Mountains, &c.— in fact, the whole of
Iceland,—I cannot venture to say; though it does appear
the most probable supposition that the north had its
independent centre of upheaval, and that was
somewhere about Iceland; for the traces of Scandinavian
upheaval are the most distinct at the north-western
portion of Norway; they are greatest at about that
part facing Iceland, and the rising appears to come
from that direction.
It has appeared to me, while writing the above, that a
different theory from the one on page 84 may be given
in explanation of the formation of the mysterious
Torghatten tunnel. It is well known and easily understood
that when a rock is washed by the sea-waves it is liable
to be worn away; that if the rock is of varying
composition as regards hardness, tlie soft parts wear away the
most rapidly; and thus when a hard rock is traversed
by a vein of softer rock, the sea washes out that vein
and thereby cuts a little cove or gully, or excavates a
cavern: or if the veined rock be lofty and surrounded
by water, the vein is washed out to the height of the
highest beating of the waves, and a tunnel or a natural
bridge is formed.
We have abundant examples of this sort of action on
our own coasts; especially on the Cornish coast, about
the Lizard Point, where the rocks are composed of
serpentine, veined with soft soapstone and other
magne-sian rocks of similar character. That fairies’ play-
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