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630 YON TROIL’S LETTERS ON ICELAND.
before, is partly founded in fuperflition, and partly in the extreme difficulty of the
afcent, before the laft difcharge of fire. There was not one in our company who did
not wifh to have his cloaths a little finged, only for the fake of feeing Heckla in a
blaze; and we almoft flattered ourfelves with this hope, fince the bifhop of Skalholt
had informed us by letter, in the night between the fifth and fixth of September, the
day before our arrival, flames had proceeded from it; but now the mountain was more
quiet than we wifhed. We however pafled our time very agreeably, from one o’clock
in the night till two next day, in vifiting the mountain. We were even fo happy, that
the clouds which covered the greateft part of it difperfed towards evening, and procured
us the moft extenfive profpect imaginable. ‘The mountain is fomewhat above five thou-
fand feet high, and feparates at the top into three points, of which that in the middle is
the higheft, The moft inconfiderable part of the mountain confifts of lava, the reft are
afhes, with hard folid {tones thrown from the craters, together with fome pumice-{tones,
of which we found only a {mall piece, with a little native fulphur. A defcription of the
various kinds of {tones that are to be found here would be too prolix, and partly unin-
telligible ; and Ifo much the more willingly omit it, as I hope to fatisfy your curiofity,
as foon as the collection I made of them arrives in Sweden. ;
Amongft many other openings, four were peculiarly remarkable ; the firft, the lava
of which had taken the form of chimney-ftacks half broken down ; another, from which
water had ftreamed ; a third, all the {tones of which were red as brick ; and laftly, one
from which the lava had bur(ft forth in a ftream, which was divided at fome diftance
into three arms. I have faid before, that we were not fo happy to fee Heckla throw
up fire ; but there were fuflicient traces of its burning inwardly ; for on the upper half
of it, covered over with four or five inches deep of fhow, we frequently obferved {pots
without any fnow; and on the higheft point, where Fahrenheit’s thermometer was at
24° in the air, it rofe to 153° when it was fet down on the ground; and in fome little
holes it was fo hot that we could no longer obferve the heat with a {mall pocket ther-
mometer. It is not known whether, fince the year 1693, Heckla has been burning
till 1766, when it began to throw up flames on the firft of April, and was burning for
a long while, and deftroyed the country many miles around. Laft December fome
flames likewife proceeded from it; and the people in the neighbourhood believe it
will begin to burn again very foon, as they pretend to have obferved, that the rivers
thereabouts are drying up. It is believed that this proceeds from the mountain’s at-
tracting the water, and is confidered as a certain fign of an impending eruption. Befides
this, the mountains of Mayvatn and Kattlegia are known in this century, on account of
the violent inflammations of the former, between the years 1730 and 1740, and the
latter in 1756.
But permit me, Sir, to omit a farther account of the volcano at this time *, in order
to {peak of another effect of the fire, which is much finer, and as wonderful as the firlt,
and fo muft be the more remarkable, as there is not in any part of the known world
any thing which refembles it ; I mean the hot fprings of water which abound in Iceland.
They have different degrees of warmth, and are on that account divided by the inha-
bitants themfelves into /augar, warm baths, and huerer, or sets d’eaux; the firft are
found in feveral other parts of Europe, though I do not believe that they are even em-
ployed to the fame purpofes in any other place; that is to fay, the inhabitants do not
#* Dr. Troil treats more at large of the Icelandic volcanos in his 18th and igth Letters ; and in the zoth
he {peaks more particularly of Mount Heckla.
+ The 21ft Letter treats more fully of the hot {prings in Iceland.
bathe
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