Chapter 15

CHAPTER XV.

SNÆFELL AT LAST

Snæfell is 5,000 feet high. Its double cone forms the limit of atrachytic belt which stands out distinctly in the mountain system ofthe island. From our starting point we could see the two peaks boldlyprojected against the dark grey sky; I could see an enormous cap ofsnow coming low down upon the giant's brow.

We walked in single file, headed by the hunter, who ascended bynarrow tracks, where two could not have gone abreast. There wastherefore no room for conversation.

After we had passed the basaltic wall of the fiord of Stapi we passedover a vegetable fibrous peat bog, left from the ancient vegetationof this peninsula. The vast quantity of this unworked fuel would besufficient to warm the whole population of Iceland for a century;this vast turbary measured in certain ravines had in many places adepth of seventy feet, and presented layers of carbonized remains ofvegetation alternating with thinner layers of tufaceous pumice.

As a true nephew of the Professor Liedenbrock, and in spite of mydismal prospects, I could not help observing with interest themineralogical curiosities which lay about me as in a vast museum, andI constructed for myself a complete geological account of Iceland.

This most curious island has evidently been projected from the bottomof the sea at a comparatively recent date. Possibly, it may still besubject to gradual elevation. If this is the case, its origin maywell be attributed to subterranean fires. Therefore, in this case,the theory of Sir Humphry Davy, Saknussemm's document, and my uncle'stheories would all go off in smoke. This hypothesis led me to examinewith more attention the appearance of the surface, and I soon arrivedat a conclusion as to the nature of the forces which presided at itsbirth.

Iceland, which is entirely devoid of alluvial soil, is whollycomposed of volcanic tufa, that is to say, an agglomeration of porousrocks and stones. Before the volcanoes broke out it consisted of traprocks slowly upraised to the level of the sea by the action ofcentral forces. The internal fires had not yet forced their waythrough.

But at a later period a wide chasm formed diagonally from south-westto north-east, through which was gradually forced out the trachytewhich was to form a mountain chain. No violence accompanied thischange; the matter thrown out was in vast quantities, and the liquidmaterial oozing out from the abysses of the earth slowly spread inextensive plains or in hillocky masses. To this period belong thefelspar, syenites, and porphyries.

But with the help of this outflow the thickness of the crust of theisland increased materially, and therefore also its powers ofresistance. It may easily be conceived what vast quantities ofelastic gases, what masses of molten matter accumulated beneath itssolid surface whilst no exit was practicable after the cooling of thetrachytic crust.