by residents in Reykjavik, eighty or a hundred miles distant, who were not themselves on or near the spot during the said eruptions—who, in fact, have, or had, never visited Kötlugjá or its vicinity at all, and who founded their narratives on the stories of peasants living within perhaps twenty miles of Kötlugjá, and who happened to visit Reykjavik some weeks or months after the date of the eruption to be described. Under such circumstances, it is not unreasonable that we should regard with suspicion, accept under reserve, or at once reject, many of the phenomena recorded as facts. I will have occasion to revert briefly to this subject after I have chronicled the fifteen eruptions of Kötlugjá and their phenomena. Guided by Dr Hjaltalin's data, I have endeavoured to show concisely in the following table, the eruptions of Kötlugjá, with the intervals between the respective eruptions: Interval since previous Eruption. 1st Eruption, A.d. 894 2d 934 ... ... 1823 ... Since the earliest recorded date of any volcanic eruption in Iceland, therefore, there have been fifteen outbreaks of Kötlugjá; or one on an average of every 64.40 years. This average, however, it will at once be seen, on reference to the table, does not give a true idea of the length of the intervals between each eruption. On the contrary, between the second and third eruptions no less than 311 years intervened, though it admits of question whether, during so long a period, there have not been other eruptions, of which we have simply no * Longest interval. † Shortest interval. Most important eruption. records preserved. Again, between the eleventh and twelfth eruptions only six years elapsed. It must further be borne in mind, that the dates given in the above table represent simply the dates of commencement of individual eruptions; some of which continued, with intermissions, during one or two years or upwards. The interval between the last eruption of Kötlugjá and that of 1860 is thirty-seven years, and since the last eruption in Iceland, that of Hekla in 1845-46, fourteen years. 1st Eruption, A.D 894.-The pasture lands between the hill called Hafrsey and the Holmsá (river) are said to have been destroyed by a formidable eruption of Kötlugjá. Eight farms were abandoned. The district of country in question is still almost entirely a sandy desert. Henderson says the effects of this eruption" are still visible in the tract of ancient lava (?) to the east of the mountain" (vol. i. p. 311). This eruption is recorded in the Landnâmabok,* and also by Dean Jón Steingrimsson,† whose MS. is preserved in the Public Library at Reykjavik. 2d, 934. The extensive sandy desert now known as the Solheimasand is said to have resulted from this eruption, which was also apparently a formidable one. This tract is about twenty English miles long, and is formed altogether of volcanic sand, ashes or lapilli, and pumice. The "Islendingur" of 5th June 1860 (p. 39) refers to an eruption in the year 1000, on the testimony of Dean Steingrimsson; but it is altogether omitted, probably as not being properly authenticated, in Dr Hjaltalin's chronicle. 3d, 1245.-A tract of country, of what extent we are not informed, was covered with sand and ashes to the depth of 6 to 8 inches by this eruption. But the eruption is said to have proceeded from Myrdals-jökul on the Solheimar side; and *Islands Landnâmabok, i.e. Liber Originum Islandiæ: which contains the earliest annals of Iceland: published at Skalholt, the former capital, in 1688, 4to; also at Copenhagen, 4to, 1774, with a Latin translation, Notes and Indices. †This clergyman resided for some time at Solheimar in Myrdal, and afterwards at Kirkjubæ in the Sidu district. He wrote about the end of the last century, and has left an excellent account of the celebrated eruption of the Skaptar-jökul in 1783, the most formidable volcanic eruption that has been known during the historic era in any part of the world. NEW SERIES.-VOL. XIII. NO. I.-JAN. 1860. E though Dr Hjaltalin refers it to Kötlugjá, the topographical accuracy remains doubtful. 4th, 1262; or, according to some writers, 1263.-The eruption was attended by such an ejection of dust and ashes, that the sun could not be seen at midday in serene weather. During this eruption, the large river called the Fulilækr, or Jökulsá, which divides the Skogasand from the Solheimasand, suddenly made its appearance. The crater of eruption seems, however, to have been somewhat to the west of Kötlugjá; but as this crater is unknown, and a mere matter of conjecture, the eruption has been usually referred to the volcano just named. 5th, 1311; or, according to some writers, 1332.-There is still greater doubt as to the position of the crater in this eruption, which appears to have been more destructive to life than any of the previous ones. Some writers refer the crater to the Sidu-jökul, others to the Breidamerkr-jökul, while others place it vaguely in the east of the range of jökuls, which includes Eyafjalla and its allies. Many farms were destroyed in the district called Myrdals-sand; several sand hills and other hills were formed, and several marshes sprang into existence. The "Islendingur" account states that this eruption was known as the "Sturluhlaup," from only one man, of the name of Sturla, having been saved, of those overwhelmed by the volcanic ejections. Henderson's narrative differs somewhat (p. 311, vol. i.): Kötlugjá, he says, vomited "ashes and sand the greater part of the winter (of 1311-12); and, melting the ice about the crater, the inhabited tract in the vicinity was inundated, and all the inhabitants except two perished in the flood." 6th, 1416.-This eruption is known as the "Höfdahlaup," probably because the lava or water-floods took the direction of Hjörleifshöfdi, an isolated hill and promontory on the coast of the Myrdals-sand, considerably to the south-east of Kötlugjá. 7th, 1580.-During this eruption, it is stated that Myrdalsjökul was "rent asunder;" and as the name Kötlugjá is now first given to the crater or fissure of eruption, it is probable that this is the date, if not of the formation of the chasm called Kötlugjá, at least of the recognition or discovery of its existence. From this date downwards, eruptions from the same quarter of Myrdals-jökul have been referred to Kötlugjá. This eruption was characterised by fire, darkness, and a rain of ashes, as well as by water-floods; one of which latter went eastward towards the Monastery of Thyckvaboe, and another southwards to Myrdal. Many farms were destroyed; but there appears to have been no loss of human life. 8th, 1612.-According to Dean Steingrimsson, this eruption occurred either from Eyafjalla or Myrdals-jökul, or from some point intermediate between them. The accompanying "fire" was such, that the eruption was visible extensively in the north of Iceland. It is conjectured that the eruption was attended by a subsidence to some extent of the Fall-jökul, which is situated between Eyafjalla and Myrdals-jökul, as well as of the lower lands between Langanes and Thorsmerkr. 9th, 1625 one of the grandest and most devastating eruptions of Kötlugjá that has ever occurred. Its historian is Thorsteinn Magnússon, at the time.Sysselman (or sheriff) of Skaptafells-syssel (or district),* who lived in the monastery of Thyckvaboe. His account was published in Copenhagen in 1627. According to him, "At daybreak on the 2d of September it began to thunder in the jökul; and about eight o'clock (A.M.) floods of water and ice were poured down upon the low country, and carried away upwards of 200 loads of hay, which lay in the fields about Thyckvaboe. These floods continued to be poured forth like a raging sea till past one o'clock in the afternoon, when they gradually diminished, but were succeeded by terrible darkness, earthquakes, thunder, flames, and showers of sand. Nor was it in the immediate vicinity of the crater alone that the fire appeared, but down * In regard to its civil government, Iceland is divided, primarily, into three provinces; secondarily, into prefectures, or sheriffdoms (syssels), corresponding to, but more comprehensive than, our counties; and, lastly, into parishes (hrepps). Over each of the first presides an amtmann, or lieutenant-governor; over each of the second, a sysselmann or sheriff; and over each of the third a hreppstiori, bailiff or inspector of poor. † Henderson, vol. i. p. 311. 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. in the inhabited tract, at the distance of nearly twenty miles from the mountain, igneous vapours were seen attaching themselves to the clothes of the inhabitants (?). This dreadful scene continued, with little variation, till the 13th of the month. It was frequently so clear at night that the mountains, with all their clefts and divisions, were seen as distinctly at the distance of twenty miles as they were in the clearest day. Sometimes the flames were pure as the sun; sometimes they were red, and at others they discovered all the colours of the rainbow. The lightnings were visible, now in the air, and now running over the surface of the ground; and such as witnessed them were more or less affected in such parts of their bodies as were uncovered.[!] These flashes were accompanied by the loudest claps of thunder,* and darted backwards and forwards, now to the ground and now into the air, dividing sometimes into separate bolts, each of which appeared to be followed by a separate report; and, after shooting in different directions, they instantly collected again, when a dreadful report was heard, and the igneous appearance fell like a waterspout to the ground, and became invisible. While the showers of sand lasted, it was frequently so dark in the daytime that two individuals holding each other by the hand could not discover each other's face."+ Dr Hjaltalin states that the water-floods, bearing large masses of ice, "surrounded the monastery of Thyckvaboe, with its adjacent farms, one of which was overflowed by the stream; but the people saved themselves on a high hill, where the flood could not reach them. *Thunder is comparatively rare in Iceland, M. Arago stating that during two years from the autumn of 1833 to that of 1835-it was only once heard at Reykjavik; but lightning is comparatively much more common, especially in the vicinity of volcanic action, according to the testimony of Olafssen and other travellers, "The Laptelltur," says the Edinburgh Cabinet Library volume on Iceland, p. 64, "best known in the western parts of the island, is a very curious phenomenon, seen only in winter during a strong wind and drifting snow. At night the whole sky seems on fire with a continual lightning, which moves very slowly. This appearance frightens the natives extremely, and they often lose many of their cattle by it, as the terrified animals, running about to avoid it, fall over the rocks." During the eruption of Hekla in 1766, the clouds of ashes were so dense as to obscure the sunbeams and produce a darkness, through which men could find their way only by groping, in some parts of the island a hundred miles off. |