The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-07-22

lives were quiet, peaceful, and they seemed,
of all our race, alone blest with perfect con-
tentment. The picture drawn of Icelandic
warmth of feeling and generosity was abb
solutely charming, and the remote, frozen,
bleak, barren island and its frozen wastes
and smoking mountains and boiling geysers
were invested with charms that distance be-
gets and genius invests with an irresistible
attractiveness There was perfect repose
and blessed plenty and love in pretty homes
and bright villages, rarely glistening, how
ever, beneath the rays of MONDAY sun,
and the air was cold but clear and bright
as the story it told of Gods love for our
race The details of the sorrows to which
these unhappy Icelanders have been sub
jected make US shudder. Eight weeks
ago there was a heavy rain of ashes
and cinders along the northern coast
of Norway, covering the ground several
inches deep. Investigation revealed the
fact that these strange materials, coming
from a norIhwesterly direction like immense
clouds through the air, were of volcanic or
igin. 1t was at once thought that there
must have been an eruption of Mount Hecla,
in Iceland. A steamer was dispatched from
Copenhagen, and that vessel has returned
from Rejkjavik, with news of an unparal-
leled disaster. 1t seems that the outbreak
began on Christmas, and has continued
ever since with scarce any interruption.
For seven weeks before Christmas the in
habitants were terrified by subterranean
noises like thunder, which extended through
nearly two-thirds of the island. Early in
January followed earthquakes in all direc-
tions, and at last an old extinct volcano
near Vatrayskud opened, and tor four weeks
continued to eject immense quantities of
liquid fire, lava, ashes, and a muddy fluid
mass at boiling heat. The village and some
smaller hamlets and farms within radius
of twenty miles were destroyed, and over a
thousand people had to flee for their lives.
After four weeks this volcano ceased, but
at that moment another extinct volcano,
nearly hundred miles away, near Myvatu,
sent its burning mass upon the inhabitants
around. This eruption lasted for several
weeks, the village of Myvatu became prey
to the fiery elements, and the whole coun-
try for more than fifty miles around was
devastated. More than eight hundred of
the people are reported as having been rem
dered homeless. Early in March there
seemed to be a general upheaval of the earth
in the whole central portion of the island !;
new mounds, as it were, rose to the surface,
some to the height of several hundred feet
and over g thousand feet in diameter at the
base, amid tremendous shocks of thunder
ing beneath. They split open at the top
and vomited their burning contents upon
the surface around them, covering dis
tance of tive hundred miles. .-..-...#
Ten thousand people are said to have lost
nearly all their possessions, and the remain
der, who live nearer to and along the coast,
some 40, 900 in number, are themselves too
poor to support such vast number of needy
people. Several hundred persons are also
reported to have perished. The world-re-
nowned Geysers have dried up since the
terrible eruption began, and instead of
water these mysterious tunnels emit i'm
mense quantities of hot smoke and ashes,
which, during the night, rising several
thousand feet in the air, appear like gigan-
tic columns of fameless fire, visible for
hundreds of miles. 1t is said that no his
toric record of any volcanic eruption any
where in the world compares with this, Ell
ther in territory over which it extends, the
number of newly-opened craters, or the time
of its duration. The Copenhagen govern
ment has issued an appeal for aid to the
sufferers