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688 VON TROIL’s LETTERS ON ICELAND.
that fire was thrown out at Plow. The heathens confidered this as a proof of the
wrath of their.gods, on which account they were refolved to refufe the new religion ;
but this refolution was over-ruled by Snorre Gode’s afking them, ‘* On whom did the
gods difplay their wrath, when thofe rocks on which we now ftand were on fire ?””
The Icelandic chronicles mention many in{tances of fiery eruptions obferved in diffe-
rent places during the fpace of eight hundred years *; it is therefore difficult to con-
ceive how Horrebow, who has been in the country himfelf, could affirm, that fire is
emitted only from them very rarely, and in few places.
To be fenfible of the dreadful effatts of fire, the country itfelf need only be con-
fidered. The mountains are almoft entirely compofed of lava and tuffa, and the plains
are crufted over with Araun, or tracts of lava, which are, however, in many places
covered with earth or turf. The accounts which we have of certain eruptions of fire,
alfo informs us, that they have always laid walte large tracts of land, either more or
lefs.
I will not in this place mention the damages done to the inhabitants by the afhes
thrown from the volcanos, which frequently covered the fields for a fpace of twenty
or thirty miles in length, and half a yard in height, and by which the cattle fuffered
very much, as it caufed them to lofe their teerh, and frequently to drop down dead for
want of food; and when they have been killed, pummice has fometimes been found
in their liver and bowels. I will only name fome of the places fituate neareft to the
volcanos, that have been utterly deftroyed by their effects. This has been partly done
by violent earthquakes, which generally preceded the eruption ; and partly by inunda-
tions of water from tae ice melted by the fire ; and laftly, by the quantity of plowing
afhes and {tones thrown from the mouths of the volcanos, and the ftreams of burning
matter which flowed down on all fides.
In 1311 eleven farms were confumed near Roidekamb, and as many more near Tol-
ledyngr; and in 1366, 70 at Lillehered. Heckla deftroyed two in 1374; feven in
13903; and eighteen in one day in 1436. In the fame manner five farms were laid
wa{te near Myrdals Jokul in 1660, and {till more in 1693 near Heckla. In 1727, at
leaft fix hundred fheep and one hundred and fifty horfes were killed near Myrdals
Jokul, by the flood and the pieces of ice which rufhed down with it. In 1728, many
farms were deftroyed near Krafle, and a large lake called Myvatn, was entirely dried up,
into which the ftreams of fire that rolled from the mountains, flowed during fome years,
and formed a tract of lava of four miles in length, and one and a halfin breadth. In
1755 Kattlegiaa laid watte fix parifhes; and in the fame year the laft eruption of Heckla
ravaged a tract many miles to the north-eatt.
It is not therefore to be doubted, but that the fire rages here with as much, and per-
haps more violence than Vefuvius, /Ztna, and other volcanos ; notwith{tanding which,
i fee no foundation for the opinion of fome people, who affirm that there is a communi-
cation between the volcanos of Iceland and Italy ; it might be maintained with as much
foundation that Kattlegiaa and ‘leneriff, or Krafle and Lima, communicate.
But before I quit this fubjeét I will mention.a circumftance which is related both by
Egbert Olafsen and Jacobfen. The laft time that Kattlegiaa emitted fire, a flafh of light-
ning, as it were, bur{t from the flame, and pierced through the cliffs which intercepted
its way. The fame lightning in one place killed eleven horfes, three of which were in a
ftable ; a farmer was alfo killed by it near the door of his room ; his upper cloaths,
* The chronicles give a lift of fixty-three eruptions at Heckla and other places, from the year 1000 to
£766; of which twenty-three were eruptions of mount Heekla only.
which
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