5 2 3 B; E M M'A R K,
I sles. é ê m m m ë from béing-pêrfeâ ; and the like complaint might
juftly be extended to the Dànilh I dominions in | general ; hut vas fiaï as
ran be judged the chief ràngë of mountains -runs,' like the Carpathian,
from the S. E* to thé N; W., with fome branches divergingMN. E..
T his ifland forming fo extenfive a .portion of the Daniflb dominions,,
feveral circumftances 1 concerning it have. been, given; in the general
narration. While it abounds in fulphur. and Subterranean fires; ; and
volcanoes appear in every quarter, it would be too bold à theory to
fuppofe that- fo wide an expanfe was. cjcited from the fea, not to men-
. tion that the furturbrand, or carbonated wood, found at 4 ;g.r.eat'depth,
evinces a molt remote -vegetation. The higheft • mountains clothed
with perpetual fnow are fiyled Yolculs ; and of thcfoSi&fialj ' hanging
over the fea in-the S. W. part of the ifland, is -efteemed fee^higheRv
being computed at 68€o feet.1 The mountaiap are )fiu*to ?be
fand-ftone, pudding-ftone with petrofilex, fteatite; and argillaceous
fchiftus. The chief rivers of Iceland are. in .the vèafl: ; ' the Skalfanda,
the Oxarfird, and the Brua, all flowing from the S. to'the Nr- Somie
are white with lime, others fmel-1 of fulphur.. The calcareoùs. fpar: .of
Iceland is celebrated for its double iefraCtion finceL- the flays :of Newton :
calcédbny, zeolite, lava, pumice, : and malachite*/Or- ■ 'copper' IhllattWis,
are among the mineral productions. - In- the middle of the fourteenth
century this1 ifle was gïeatly'ïdêpdpidàitied by S pfffflenc&îCàHfed
the Black’|Death.* - 1 A' volcanic - ifland ■ feeemtly arofe to the fouth of
Iceland, but afterwards disappeared. From Iceland a ■ colony palled
to Greenland; a fhort coürfe of about 200 -miles | but -thé: Danifh
colony in Greenland has "been long 'explored in vain, the >1 eaftern
coaft on which it was’ fettled being fincc blocked up by the ice. .This
barbaric colony was little' aware 1 ,thâh ÿtsffféfïlemènffs' bj^dhgid||to
another quarter of the globe; Greenland being now univevfally 'cbrP-
fidered as a vaft peninfula attached to the continent of America.; ’
1 Pennant, A . Z . lxiii.
* Iceland is faid.to have fûïïefèdJgréatly hÿ'commèrciarmonbpolÿ',- büt'théteompariÿ' was :fü.p'-'
• pteffed in 1759» . É.ùTchihgjÆbj.iy. E very benefit ought certainly to bé extended by the D anifh
government to the poor inhabitants o f fo remote and barren a oountry. .