traverse one of them in its greatest extent.
Among the numerous volcanoes, Hecla, from
the frequency of its fires, from its vicinity
to the most populous part of the island,
and from its situation that renders it visible
to ships sailing to Greenland and North
America, has been by far the most celebrated
among foreign countries; nor does it seem
to have been considered of less importance
at home, having attracted to such a degree
the notice of the native historians, that its
several eruptions, subsequently to the colonization
of the island (for it is supposed that
many had taken place previously), have been
inserted in the chronicles of the country.
Upon this subject, however, the different
annalists are far from being agreed, some,
according to Povelsen and Olafsen, who
speak only of the principal ones, mentioning
no more than eleven, and others only sixteen
; while these authors say that, after the
most attentive researches, they can speak with
confidence to twenty-two, without reckoning
several, which, though enumerated by
other writers, they regard as uncertain, thinking
that the same eruption may have been
counted more than once, from its having
lasted above a year, or its having begun in
winter and ceased the following spring; and
also without including the less important
discharges, that have not issued from the
volcano itself, but from some of the hillocks
or beds of lava about it; though these in
reality have a right to be included, as having
originated from Hecla, whose fire passing
through subterraneous channels has found
vent in different places. Leaving this question
undecided, I confine myself to Arngrim
Jonas, who, in his Brevis Commentarius de
Islandia *, relates the first to have taken
* This account does not exactly agree with that given
by Von Troil, who mentions eruptions of Hecla, in
1374, 1390, and 1436.—The dates of the eruptions of
.¿Etna and Vesuvius have also been recorded, and, in the
uncertainty of their periods, resemble what I find respecting
Hecla.—They are as follows :
Mount ¿Etna—before the Christian sera, four j—in the
years 3325, 3538, 3554, 3843.—After Christ twenty-
seven—1175, 1285, 1321, 1323, 1329, 140S, 1530,
1536, 1537, 1540, 1545, 1545, 1554, 1556, 1566, 1579,
1614, 1634, 1636, 1643, 1669> 1682, 1689, 1692, 1747,
1755, 1766.
Mount Vesuvius,—after Christ—79, 203, 472, 512,
685, 993, 1036, 1043, 1048, 1136, 1506, 1538, (the