sea broke very heavily. By soundings taken
when near the island it was ascertained that,
at the depth of forty-two fathoms, the
ground consisted of a kind of calcined stone-
dust, which shone like pit-coal. At one
place they had more than one hundred fathom
of water, when only at the distance
of half-a-mile e . n . e . from the island.
This island, to which His Royal Majesty
has been graciously pleased to bestow the
name of Nyoe (New Island) has not been
seen this year by mariners : and though the
ships in which Mr. Levetzen, Mr. Bulow,
and myself went to the country and returned
to Copenhagen, had express orders to search
for it, we were still unable to discover i t ;
notwithstanding that during our outward
bound passage we continued cruising backwards
and forwards for a long time in the
latitude where we might expect to fall in
with it. So that, if I may be permitted
to draw any conclusion from this circumstance,
it would be this : that Nyoe has sunk
unlikely that it is only the remains of the island just
before described, which, as will hereafter be mentioned,
is now scarcely to be seen at high water. H.
into the sea in the same manner as it rose a
year ago.”
While engaged in preparing this part of
my work for the press, Sir Joseph Banks
has been kind enough to send me a valuable
Danish publication on the coasts and harbors
of Iceland. It was printed at Copenhagen,
1788, and is entitled Beskrivelse over den
Islandske K y st og alle Havne f r a Fugle-
skiuerene og til Stikkelshdim I Bredebug- O C
ten med Forklaring over deres Indseiling,
ved P. de Lowenorn. From this I shall extract
not only that part which concerns the
New Island, ipentioned by Mr. Stephensen
in the beginning of the last section of his
pamphlet, but also that which relates to the
whole of the Fugle-Skiaerene, as I consider
the account of them too interesting, and the
nautical information relative to them too
important, to allow either of these to be
omitted.
ff From Cape Reykenes five single rocks,
rising above the water, stretch out to the
s. w. by w., by the true compass, and are