SO great as to give it the appearance of being about to crash headlong into the
waters beneath. In a second mass of nearly similar dimensions one half has
become partially submerged, whilst the other defiantly stretches forth its rugged
and perpendicular- front to the waves that lash themselves into a frenzy in their
effort to make it yield also. On the land side, the mountain-chains, whenever
it was possible to snatch a momentary glimpse of them by the uplifting of the
clouds, presented a most weird appearance, and told of the terrific forces which
were in operation at their upheaval. But Hecla, Eyefialla, Kotlugia, and Skaptar
Jokul remained provokingly hidden from view; and after straining my eyes for
several hours, and vainly endeavouring to deceive myself into the belief that
every towering cone whose summit was sw'athed in mist must be belching forth
its sulphurous torrent, I was at last glad to beat a retreat, and go to my “ Plutonic
tallies ” (as Captain Maury calls them) obtained from the regions below.
Whilst the increase in depth of water, from the north-west angle of the Faroes,
was singularly gradual and regular till we reached the vicinity of the 682-
fathom point, from thence to the south-westerly part of Iceland the evidence
of a more recent igneous-rock formation at once discloses itself in a series of
alternating elevations and depressions. Thus, at a distance of about forty miles
to the westward we find 64 fathoms; then a plateau of nearly seventy miles
diameter, on which the depth varies between 40 and 100 fathoms ; and lastly,
another dip of 640 fathoms, which decreases to 445 fathoms at fifteen miles
distance from the Icelandic coast.
Now these alternations of level are by no means great; and, so far as the
soundings show, there is no reason whatever why a telegraphic cable should not
sink down into the position destined for it, even if run transversely across all
these ridges and hollows. But this is only on the supposition that the depths
indicated are really the greatest that exist, and that, along the intervals, other
depressions and elevations, more or less sudden as the case may be, do not occur.
I f one can judge from the character of the islands we have passed today, namely
the Westmanns, and from that of the mainland, so far as the mists have
allowed us to catch a glimpse of it, it would seem highly probable that the alternations
are infinitely more frequent, and consequently that a survey of a sufficiently
comprehensive kind to indicate the direction and extent of the valley-
lines is absolutely indispensable, if a cable is to be submerged in this direction
with the slightest prospect of safety. Wherever the submarine valleys happen
to be narrow and irregular, no matter how slowly a cable may be paid out,
festoons would form, the weight of which, acting on the points of contact, would
inevitably engender a fatal strain. Whether the strata at the bottom be of the
more recent or ancient igneous character, the danger of abrasive action would
exist in an equal degree so long as the ridges supported the layer of emery-like
deposit which prevails along the southern coast-line of the island; and, as already
stated, the only mode of counteracting this danger is to deposit a cable, not
across the endless series of sharp ridges, but along the most suitable of the
valleys protected by them.
July 12.—Rekiavik. After rounding Rekianess the evening before last, in a
stiff gale from the southward, and having seen quite as much as was desirable
of the reef-bound coast that stretches for some distance to the east of that Cape,
we dropped anchor yesterday morning at Rekiavik. Whether owing to the
still gloomy state of the weather, or a certain demure look inherent in the place,
the first feeling engendered, on taking a survey of it from our anchorage, was one
of unmingled disappointment. Instead of a picturesque town nestling, like a
sea-bird, at the base of vast broken cliffs such as one might expect to come across
in an intensely volcanic region, a range of straggling wooden houses extending
along a low, somewhat broken slope, on which no trace of verdure was observ'able,
with a murky background of mist solid enough to have concealed Paradise, was
all that met our gaze. The peculiar summer (of 1860) had evidently “ set in
with its accustomed severity ” in these, as in our o^vn lower latitudes; and it was
not until a late hour in the evening that the sky cleared, and revealed the glorious
amphitheatre by which Faxe fiord is surrounded. During a few moments of
sunshine, the effect was almost magical,—the distant snow-capped ranges of
mountain, which shut out the horizon to the north-westward, being brought forward
with a distinctness not only of outline but of detail, that would have made
them appear close to the eye, but for the multitude of intermediate peaks which
glistened as if suddenly transformed into a tempest of adamant; whilst some
sixty miles distant to the north-westward might be seen the gigantic cone of
Snsefells, towering up R-om the sea in isolated grandeur.
There is something singularly impressive in the knowledge that we are
standing on the threshold of the mightiest convulsions the surface of our planet
c