The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1861-12-05
Terrible Adventure on a Volcano

Mr.. Carl Steinman visited Mount
Hecla, in Iceland just before its terrible
eruption in I845, and the following is
his narrative of a fearful adventure
which happened to him upon that sub
lime and desoate elevation:
Having secured a guide ! set off, at
an early hour, on the morning following
my arrival in Salsun, lat the foot OF the
extinct volcano) praying for fair wealth
er, good luck, and safe return.
The morning, even from the first, was
so different from any | had ever seen
outside of Iceland as to be worthy of
a better description than am able to
give. Suffice it to say that, as you
wish to push on, ascending summit af-
ter summit on your way to the great
and awful centre Of all, you find the
danger, dreariness and desolatiOn inN
crease to the most terrible sublimity,
till at last, when you do finally stand
on the highest point in this uniiving
world of CHAOS, you instinctively pray
God, with an icy shudder shiverng
through your miserable frame, IT, re-
store you to the life you seem to have
left forever behind you.
Oh how shall ! attempt to convey to
any mind the awful scene Of desoIation
that surrounded me when at last |
stood more than four thousand feet
above the level OF the sea, on the highs
est peak Of the barren Hccla! Six NOR
tai hours-three on horseback and
three on foot-had | been clarnhering
upward from the world below; and
now, am ing the very clouds that roll
ed and swept around me, / stood in a
world Of lava mountains, ice and snow
the lava black as midnight, the snow
of binding whiteness-and not in all
that region tree, bush, a shrub,
blade, or even a solitary living thing;
except myself and guide. Err as the
eye could reach, when the moving
clouds permitted me to see, was sue
cessiou of black, rugged hills, snow
crowned peaks, giStcnrng glaciers, and
ce-bound sire ans, into whose mani
mate solitude no human foot had ever
penctratrd-a world without plant OF
hie-.he very desolation OF desolation
filled with yaWnmg chasms, dreadful
abySses, and midnight caves which had
never echoed any sound Tut the thun
der of heaven, and the groanings and
commissions OF earth So wild and GER
rible was the scene that felt strange
thrill, like madness, rush through my
shlvering frame, and CULVER about my
dizzy brain, and shouted, to break the
stiffness of death, and heard my voice
come dismatly back in a hundred ech>
oes, till it seemed to be lost in the bow
els of the unproductiye earth.
Wrapping one OF the blankets about
me to protect me from the freezing
cold, and cautiously using my pointed
stick to try every foot of ground be-
fore me, | now began to move about,
over blocks, and heaps, and hills of la
va, and across narrow chasms, and pits
falls and patches Of snow and ice, my
faithful guide keeping near, and often
warning me to be careful of my steps.
In this manner at length assembled a
ridge of considerable elevation, stumb.
ling my way to the top, and now and
then displacing fragments ottawa that
rolled crashing down behind me. As
yet | had seen no signs Of the mouth
of the crater, which, eighty years be
fore, had vomited forth its terrific and
desolatlng streams OF melted black
sand but on reaching the summit of
this ridge, l looked down into sort Of
basin, open atthe lower side, and having
some three or four deep seams or
chasms in its centre, into which the
melted snow and ice on It's sides were
running IN small streams. A peculiar
and not very agreeable odor came M
with thln,smoky vapor, and | fancied
| could hear a distant sound, some.
thing betwe en- a gurgle and rumble.
suppose this is the original era
ter" l sad, turning to the guide.
The fellow was rs pale as death, aud
every feature expressed surprise allied
to fear.
e" What is the matter :" I quickly
demanded; have You never seen tris
spot before %
&" / have seen this place before. mas.
ter" he replied but never anythino
l'Ne ''i'S, w 'en vas mere last there
was no MOI o" mere but only level
pam o. snow a"o &C..
Indeed !! exclaimed /, feeling
stranG ely interested what, hen, do
You infer? that there is about TO be
fresh eruption?"
lear so, master; what else can
nave caused i4l~ change? You see
IheIG Is neat orIo", which has melted
the timex gia"er,and Only a few ~rreaks