In The Meane Time I Say Not That Is Impossible, But That The Bottome Of The Hill May Inwardly Breed And Nourish Flames, Which At Certaine Seasons (As Hath Bene Heretofore Obserued) Haue Burst Out, And Perhaps May Do The Like Hereafter.

[Footnote:

The surface of the country is very mountainous, but there are no definite ranges, the isolated volcanic masses being separated by elevated plateaux of greater or less size. The whole centre is, in fact, an almost continuous desert fringed by a belt of pasture land, lying along the coast and running up the valleys of several of the greater riuers. This desert is occupied partly by snow mountains and glaciers, partly by enormous lava streams, partly by undulating plains of black volcanic sand, shingle, and loose stones. This region is of course without verdure, and entirely uninhabited. The rocks are all of igneous origin, but of very different ages, traps, basalts, amygdaloids, tufas, ochres, and porous lavas. The number of active volcanoes is, at present, not great, but hot springs and mud volcanoes testify to the existence of volcanic action along a line running from the extreme south west at Cape Reykjanes to the north coast near Husavik. The only recent well ascertained eruptions have been from Hecla, Aotlugja, Skaptar Vokul, and (in 1874-5) from the mountains to the south-east of Myratu Lake. The eruption of Skaptar in 1783 is the greatest anywhere on record in respect of the quantity of lava and ashes ejected.

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