Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-03-27
pEcuLlAalrIzs OF ICELAND.
An Old story-A Region OF Utter Desola-
tion-The Jokulls-The Map.
lReykjayik Cor. New York Times.l

tion-The Jokulls-The Map.
lReykjayik Cor New York Tlmes.1
Iceland owes its existence entirely to
volcanic upheaval and has ever been
one OF the most active volcanic regions
Of the globe. II is situated in tho north
Atlantic ocean, Just south of the arctic
circle which 1t touches, and geograph-
ically belongs to the western hemis-
phere, though the circumstances of Its
discovery and the political changes that
took place during the ensuing centuries
cast its lot with the old World. Its
shape is that Of an irregular eclipse,
with greater axis of $50 miles and o
lesser one of 175 miles, extending
nearly northeast and southwest. Two
capes reach far out from its western
coast, and large triangular penin-
sula on the northwest joins the main
land by one of its angles. Its outline,
on all except the southern side, is very
irregular, being deeply indented by the
narrow f.ords that are so character
istic of these and Norwegian coasts. In
area the island is about 40, 900 square
miles, or somewhat similar to the states
of Maine and Ohio, but nine-tenths of
this is entirely uninhabited.
There is an old story that Satan, after
the creation of the world, wished to try
his hand at the business; so, gaining the
the consent of the Almighty, he made
Iceland and was well pleased with his
work. There is not elsewhere in the
world another place so fitted to inspire
one with a sense of awe at the powers
that slumber beneath this crust upon
which we live.
he farms and villages of Iceland are
all contained in a narrow belt that runs
around the island, and are situated r.
the valleys between the mountain chair
that radiate from the high land of the
interior and extend far into the
sea. Within this inhabitable ring
the island is one vast dtsert, q
huge tableland that has for ages
been the trysting place of natures most
vio:ent forces. kiven and torn and
tossad-the earthquake, glacier and
volcano have united to produce a scene
that cannot be equaled. For an extent
of 600 miles there is utter desola'
ton, inhabited by no human being.
from this tableland again rise noun
tains and volcanoes, singly or in groups,
While the snowy domes OF the Jokulls
| pronounced aekull, and meaning a
mountain entirely covered with snow,
tower high above them all. Every cen
fury sees changes in this interior
Hills rise where before there were val
leys boiling springs disappear or burst
forth where they had not previously
been known, and in the mountain sides
or on the level plain huge chasms oper
with reverberating reports and belief
forth seas of molten lava.
n the so thwestern part of the isl
and, about sixty miles from Reykiavik
stands Hecla, comparatively small
though very active, volcano. Further
TO the eastward is the terrible Natna
Jokull stretching its glacier arms anC
riyen cliffs over the surrounding coun
try-4, 600 miles of ice resting upon ,
nest of volcanoes that, perhaps, ar
onl waiting tie time when they shall
as before, open their huge Threats and
gaShed sides and spread destruction
over sea and land, suffocating man.
BIRDS, animals. and men with thei
noxious gases, destroying the fishes il
the sea, aud sending the waters of the
rivers Kissing and screaming into the
air before the approach of the fer,
ood The two most violent eruption'
90 record have occurred from thi
group, and several times haze the,
e,,raod hac and oond ayor Tho form
that lay within the course of the wint
and over the seas for hundreds of miles
erhaps no country has been NOR
accurately mapped than Iceland. Tn
Danish government, under whose rul
tho island has been since the fourteenth
century, seems to have paid particula
attention to surveying its coast aud in
terror, ana the result is one of the mos
faithfully executed maps in existence
Every rock and ford about the coast
each village farm, and bride path, AM
| Ell tie glaciers and chasms to tn
smallest line in the mountain sides, ar
PITT Gown with an almost microscope
mmuteness and regard for accurac
and detail that would do credit to ia
more important countries than this
The atna Jokull alone remains blan
to mar the teauty of the whole. Ds
tying all attempts at ascent or explorf
non, it always has been, and ever wi
be, represented by only the vaguest Out
lines, unless it again breaks forth wit
more terrible violence, changing tn
whole character. Of its formation, an
PERHAPS killing many persons whom
| is patiently Turing into sense Of secul
=. ity by wears of silence