entirely over-ran the farms Eystradal and
Thverardal. All the adjoining houses and
the greater part of the enclosures were buried
under the lava, so that the places where
the buildings formerly stood are no longer
visible. These latter eruptions, also, have
done much damage to the farms Selialand
and Thvera, and the inhabitants were entirely
frightened away from the parish of
Halfafells, although no houses were destroyed
in these places..
The eastern fire-stream broke out at a
much later period than the western one, and
continued raging much longer, frequently at
intervals bursting through the crust or
surface, which had become indurated. It is
even asserted that in February, 1/84, a
fresh eruption proceeded from the mountain,
and caused the lava, in the eastern branch,
to rise to such a considerable height as it
now is.
§ XV.
So much for the progress of the fire, and
the immediate destruction occasioned by it.
Were I here to relate all the contradictory,
insignificant, ridiculous, and superstitious
accounts that are reported of the eruptions,
it would be both an useless and a tedious
task, especially since the greater number of
such accounts are the offspring of fear and
ignorance. But two questions naturally present
themselves to our minds, which are too
closely connected with the subject to allow
me to pass them over in silence.—The first
Respecting the “ whether the subterraneous
na tu re o f the fire. fire ^ to ^ deemed only an
eruption, or the earth itself is to be considered
as ignited; or whether these two
causes may not have operated together ? ”
I am well aware that the greater part of those
persons that were on the spot bring forward
various arguments in order to prove that the
earth itself was ignited, but the reasons they
assign appear to me to be weak and in themselves
highly contradictory. It is remarked,
that before the liquid lava had over-run
several of the places now burnt, fire had
actually, here and there, broken through
the soil. We are informed that the proprietor
of the farm Botnar, in Medalland,
had, on the first breaking out of the fire,
collected eighty sheep and placed them, as