I Stood There, In The Centre Of Horrible Precipices, Caves, Streams,
Valleys, And Mountains, And Scarcely Comprehended How It Was
Possible To Penetrate So Far, And Was Overcome With Terror At The
Thought Which Involuntarily Obtruded Itself - The Possibility Of
Never Finding My Way Again Out Of These Terrible Labyrinths.
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. The falling snow was therefore most welcome, and I
looked anxiously around to see a place where the subterranean heat
would melt it. I should then have hastened thither and found what I
sought. But unfortunately the snow remained unmelted every where.
I could neither see any clouds of smoke, although I gazed steadily
at the mountain for hours, and could from my post survey it far down
the sides.
As we descended we found the snow melting at a depth of 500 to 600
feet; lower down, the whole mountain smoked, which I thought was the
consequence of the returning warmth of the sun, for my thermometer
now stood at nine degrees of heat. I have noticed the same
circumstance often on unvolcanic mountains. The spots from which
the smoke rose were also cold.
The smooth jet-black, bright, and dense lava is only found on the
mountain itself and in its immediate vicinity. But all lava is not
the same: there is jagged, glassy, and porous lava; the former is
black, and so is the sand which covers one side of Hecla. The
farther the lava and sand are from the mountain, the more they lose
this blackness, and their colour plays into iron-colour and even
into light-grey; but the lighter-coloured lava generally retains the
brightness and smoothness of the black lava.
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