Here, From The Top Of Mount Hecla, I Could See Far Into The
Uninhabited Country, The Picture Of A Petrified Creation, Dead And
Motionless, And Yet Magnificent, - A Picture Which Once Seen Can
Never Again Fade From The Memory, And Which Alone Amply Compensates
For All The Previous Troubles And Dangers.
A whole world of
glaciers, lava-mountains, snow and ice-fields, rivers and lakes,
into which no human foot has ever ventured to penetrate.
How nature
must have laboured and raged till these forms were created! And is
it over now? Has the destroying element exhausted itself; or does
it only rest, like the hundred-headed Hydra, to break forth with
renewed strength, and desolate those regions which, pushed to the
verge of the sea-shore, encircle the sterile interior as a modest
wreath? I thank God that he has permitted me to behold this chaos
in his creation; but I thank him more heartily that he has placed me
to dwell in regions where the sun does more than merely give light;
where it inspires and fertilises animals and plants, and fills the
human heart with joy and thankfulness towards its Creator. {43}
The Westmann Isles, which are said to be visible from the top of
Hecla, I could not see; they were probably covered by clouds.
During the ascent of the Hecla I had frequently touched lava, -
sometimes involuntarily, when I fell; sometimes voluntarily, to find
a hot or at least a warm place. I was unfortunate enough only to
find cold ones.
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