most of the farms in this district are in the
greatest danger; and so imminent is the
peril to which Kirkebai-cloister is stated
to have been exposed, even during the last
year, from the drift-sand, that in case of
its being annually revisited by similar misfortunes,
it will in the course of a very short
period become uninhabitable. When I travelled
through this district, in the month of
July last, the grass, in a great part of the
enclosed pastures, was covered with sand,
and large heaps ofdrifted sand lay between the
houses, as well as scattered over the adjacent
country.
§ XXV.
Some o f the 'T'L, • ■ 1 i
P h e n om e n a in e principal phaenomena attende
e fire. this eruption have been already
described. The thick smoke which by day
issued from those districts that had been
burnt, and at night appeared like a flame of
fire, was still to be perceived in the month
of March last, arising here and there from
the lava. Since that period, however, the
smoke alone has appeared. Whilst lying in
my tent at Kudafliot, I noticed, not without
wonder, the innumerable columns of smoke
rising from the current of lava between
Skaptartunga and Landbrot. These were
particularly visible in three places towards
the north, among the mountains; and I
learned during my journey, that the most
westerly arose from the channel of the
Skaptaa, the eastern from the Hverfisfliot,
and the middle ones from the source of the
fire, and the district adjoining it. Beyond
Skal our attention was excited by a very
thick column, far surpassing all the others,
which from this spot were to be seen rising
by thousands, almost in a direct line with
the burnt district towards the east, in forms
innumerable and the most agreeable to the
eve. Large bodies * of smoke, together with • • some smaller columns, were issuing in various
places from the eastern lava, near
Fliotshverfet; but the smoke broke out in
the greatest quantity between Nupar and
Selialand, and also between Eystridal and
Tholvardal, where the channel of the river
had formerly been, and where, indeed, it
might still be traced from the bay quite up
to the place at which the river was first
choked by the lava. Below this place the
smoke appears to increase, contrary to what