The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-08-06
Iceland's Terrible Catastrophe.

Iceland's Terrible Catastrophe.
On the heels of news of an overflow of
the Garonne at Toulouse and terrible
Earthquake in New Granada comes
tidipgs of calamity on the remote
shores of Iceland, which, considering
the limited area of the country, is as
severe visitation to its inhabitants as
the inundation has been to the French.
We find some account of the Icelandic
disaster in our foreign files, coupled
with an appeal to the charitable of
Europe for aid to sustain the sufferers
until another season. The island, as is
we'll known, is the unfortunate possessor
| OF several active volcanoes, some of
which are situated in an unexplored
region, and have not yet been looked
upon by mortal eye. But their uneasy
contents have been made manifest from
| time to time by dense showers of ashes,
| which have fallen miles away and de.
strOyed the scanty vegetation upon
which the focks of the people have
subsisted,
In March last the district of Mulasysla
was visited by one of these disasters.
the greatest, say the advices, that has
people were destroyed. An intelligent
gentleman living in the devastated
country, the Very Rev. Dean Siguard
Gunnarsson, writes for the European
mail an account from which the follow
ing paragraph is taken. Aside from its
value as a description of the gloomy
and dreadful visitation, it gives infor-
nation of unusual interest to scientific
men.
"On Easter Monday, early in the
morning, loud rumbling noises were
heard in the westward, and apparently
toward the northwest. Presently the
| sounds turned backward. The air was
| heavy and Jet black toward the north and
northeast.i About nine o'clsck whitish-
| gray scoriaceous sand began to fall from
the sky, the particles averaging the size
of grain, but in shape longer. The
| dark column moved on nearer and nearer,
and the darkness rapidly increased,
while scoriaceous hail thickened at the
same rate. A full hour before noon
candles had to be lighted in the houses,
and at noon the darkness was as dense
as that of windowless house. Even
abroad the fingers of the hand could
not be distinguished at the distance of
darkness lasted for about an hour.
During the dark all glass windows APP
| peared like mirrors to those inside,
rejecting the objects on which the
| light fell as if they had been covered
outside with coat of quicksilver. For
| four consecutive hours it was necessary
TO have lighted candles in the house.
| During that time the ashes and sand
| yUnr foil al
and claps OF thunder were at the same
time seen and heard in rapid succession,
and everything seemed to tremble
again. The air was charged with cleo
tricity to such an extent that pinnacles
and statf-spikes of iron, when turned in
| the air, seemed all ablaze."
When the darkness passed away it
was discovered that the surface Of the
island to an extent of nearly 5000
! square miles had been covered with a
layer of ashes and scorie from IL to s
inches deep. In many places purnice
bOulders as large as the fist had fallen.
The ashes came down hot, with a sui
phurous smell, but both heat and odor
were soon dissipated. The pasturage
was destroyed, and as it was upon that
that the sheep and cattle lived, famine
stared the inhabitants in the face. The
result has been that the people, hastily
abandoning their homes, have fed into
the neighboring districts, which,
though untouched By the cru ption, are
but scantily provisioned, and so the
over crowding threatens starvation to
all. 1t is to save the Icelanders from
this impending calamity that the cry
goes up from the chief men of Reyk-
javik for help.
Perhaps with so many nearer demands
upon our means for assistance, it would
hardly be expe cted that distant America
could respond to an appeal which takes
three months to reach her. But no
more here than in Europe, where the
subscription paper is being passed
around, can the possible wholesale star
walton of people be contemplated with
out dismay and distress. It is less than
year ago that our interest in Iceland
and her hardy children was vastly in
creased by the picturesque accounts of
the millenniGl celebration sent home by
the journalists who were present as
representatives of the New World. If
this interest, as well as the sympathy
which makes the world akin, moves any
of our readers to contribute to the Ice
land fund, the deed wi not be amiss
even though the poor also be at our own
doors. In England subsc options are
received by the Lord Mayor of Lon
dan.-Ne9D York WoJld.