upon us. A VISIT TO THE GEYSERS OF ICELAND. The icelandic raven is a very powerful bird, much larger and stronger than those in the more southern parts of Europe. The annexed sketch is the best representation I am able to produce, and it is but fair to confess, that it is done chiefly from the recollection of an object which is not easily nor soon effaced from the memory. The beholder, is in fact, astounded by the incessant noise and rapid motion of so vast a column of water, darted with so much violence and velocity into the air, and is quite unprepared to give anything like a faithful sketch of the infinite changes of form and colour which both the water and the stream assume.-Barrow's visit to Iceland. [There are numerous boiling springs, such as the Geysers, in the south district of the island, which throw up at periodical intervals, columns of boiling water, more than ten feet in diameter, and above 200 feet in height, preceded by a loud report, like that of artillery; the reykium, and the sulphur springs of Kriswoik are near the southwest coast; those of Reykiadal in the west district; and those of Reykiahwerf and Krabla, in the north. There are also floods or bogs of boiling mud, numerous cones and craters of volcanoes now quiescent, and columns of dense smoke and steam issuing from many spots. The whole island seems to be of volcanic formation, and there are still numerous volcanoes in full activity. In the year 1755, an erup tion from the volcano Katlegia, near the east coast, destroyed fifty farms. In 1783, a still more terrible eruption from the Ikeidara, and other volcanoes of the Klofa Jökul ridge covered several fertile districts with lava; the ashes and the effluvia corrupted the water and the atmosphere all around, the fishes were driven away from that part of the coast, and famine and pestilence followed, which, in two years, carried off 9,000 people, and destroyed thousands of horses and cattle. The eruptions of Mount Hecla are frequent, but not so violent or destructive. The highest mountain in Iceland is believed to be the Inæfell Yökul, which rises in one of the western peninsulas, near the village or factory of Stappen, and is reckoned to be 6,862 feet high; Mount Hecla is 5,210 feet.-Penny Cyclopedia.] THE ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENON SEEN NEAR THE EQUATOR, THE phenomenon mentioned by Captain Burnett, in Nautical Magazine, No. 5, for May, 1837, p. 291., as occurring near the line, may have been occasioned by either of the two following circumstances:By the finer particles of the loose sand of the great desert of Africa, the Sahara, or by the impalpable powder thrown up by volcanic action from one of the Cape Verd islands, and being borne seaward by the wind. On account of the red colour, the latter is the most probable; volcanic dust is known to have been transported from the locality of its issue, to a great distance by currents of air; and as the volcano of Fuego, or St. Philip, is the nearest fiery mount in action, to the position where the phenomenon was observed, it may be concluded, that from that island, the powder was discharged. The town of Luz, in the same island, is in 14° 53′ N., and 24° 34′ W., about 500 miles northerly of the ship's place, which is not too remote to preclude the possibility of the dust being conveyed that distance by a brisk wind. That part of the coast of Africa which lies between the 20th and 32nd degrees of north latitude, is a desert country, interspersed with immense hills of loose sand, which are from time to time, driven by the wind into various forms, and so impregnate the air with sand for many miles out to sea, as to give the atmosphere an appearance of hazy weather. Navigators, not aware of this circumstance, never suspect, during such appearances, that they are near land, until they discover the breakers on the coast, which is so extremely flat, that one may walk a mile into the sea, without being over the knees, so that ships strike when a considerable distance from the beach; added to this, there is a current which sets in from the west towards Africa, with inconceivable force and rapidity, with which the navigator being generally unacquainted, (at the present day the easterly current setting upon this coast is well known,) he loses his reckoning, and in the course of a night, perhaps, when he expects to clear the African coast in his passage southward, he is alarmed with the appearance of shoalwater, and before he has time to recover himself, finds his ship aground on a desert shore, where neither habitation nor human being are visible. The American Captain Paddock, who had the misfortune to be wrecked upon this coast, states when in latitude 29°, that the weather was smokey, and that although the horizon was definable, the state of the atmosphere was such, that land could not have been seen at a great distance. In 1817, the French surveyor, Baron Roussin, states, that numberless difficulties occurred in the prosecution of his operations, among which was the thick fog, or haze, that prevails almost all the year on the coasts of N.W. Africa. It is produced by the sands which the winds raise from the deserts. So long as the wind keeps a direction nearly parallel to the coast, the haze reaches only a little distance beyond it, but when the harmattan takes place, (in January, February, March, and often even in April,) the sands brought directly from the interior by this wind, which blows from the N.E. to the E.N.E., spread through the atmosphere, and rise to a great height, forming tornados, with a thick smoke-like appearance, similar to that which succeeds a strong explosion. All objects are then obscured inland, the sight will not reach a mile, nor can any star be discerned in the sky, unless it be 30° above the horizon. It may be as well to add this officer's further remarks, for the benefit of those who navigate this part of the ocean: other difficulties arose from the nature of the coast, which is low and full of shoals, so that it was like a voyage of discovery, and little better than sailing in seas altogether unknown. The extreme heat common to these sandy tracts, almost under water, gives rise to a phenomenon that might almost be termed permanent, and which altered the distances of the stars from the horizon in spite of our endeavours to ascertain them.-It was an horizontal refraction so strong, and at the same time so irregular, that it not only prevented our calculating altitudes within 8' or 9', but we even could not be sure of keeping it steady during the time of observation. This source of error is attended with another difficulty— that it is not even liable to be suspected-it is only discernible to observers, whose labours form a regular uninterrupted series with all the parts in mutual connexion. Captain Burnett's opinion that some of the vigias reported as having been seen at night, may have been nothing more than parts of wrecks with a phosphorescent appearance, may be correct; but, the disregard of reported dangers which have been observed in broad daylight, on account of these not being seen afterwards by casual passers-by, would probably be a hazardous determination for any man who ploughs the ocean far and near, to adhere to too rigidly. ENLARGED SERIES.-NO. 12.-VOL. FOR 1838. 5 M Every one maintains his own opinion, until he is convinced that it is not right; and he is justified in upholding it until then, when the resignation would become creditable; for, assuredly it would be no display of wisdom, like Goldsmith's parson, though convinced, to argue still in support of the contested point. When trying for soundings near the site of a supposed danger, such for instance as the pinnacle of a rock in the open ocean, however the striking of the bottom may confirm the report of its existence, the failure of such would not be substantially conclusive of any doubt that might have been entertained about its reality, for these cogent reasons: rocks may be uphove from a depth not to be reached by the sounding lines in ordinary use, or, a primeval pyramidal summit of some sub-marine mountain may be fixed from a depth of from 500 to 1,000 feet, and therefore, its base lie beyond the reach of the deep-sea lead! But, it is a very wise and provident adage current throughout the world, that, of two evils, choose the least; this is so palpably just, that no man can deny it, yet strange to say, it is not always followed! Another saying applicable to our subject, is equally as hackneyed as the former, but as little practised; precaution is the parent of security; and how often, nay, perpetually, do we hear doleful lamentations of the neglect of this most pithy apothegm! Our sailors, too, are in possession of a cautionary, and withal a very significant practical compound word, explicative of the moral obligation for dismissing a too "tight-laced" confidence in our own opinions in matters where nothing is certain, save death-to wit, the good old English look-out! In those seas where the coralline zoophyte works its way upwards from the depths of ocean, new shoals may be expected to be occasionally discovered. This is no longer a matter of conjecture, but confirmed by observed facts, as most seamen are now aware. In those parts of the ocean too, where sub-marine volcanic action exists, and there is every reason for believing that these operations are not confined to the immediate shores of continents and islands, but take place in various parts of the bed of the ocean, rocks, islets, and even islands, may be expected to arise. In the former case, of course, where the shoals are not based on volcanic knolls, they will not only be permanent in their positions, but be progressively on the increase in certain parts; in the latter, the rocks and islets may come and go, play at boo-peep, as it were, for the edification of the unbelievers of the oceanic vigiæ ! We were once on the track wherein the charts generally place the isle of Enckuysen, the existence of which was, nevertheless, considered as very doubtful. In our course, we must have passed directly over the point wherein the chart of Bellin places it. As the problem of its existence was a matter of some interest to resolve, and we could effect it without going out of our course, we stationed some of our company on the look-out. At nightfall, some of the men gave notice of a shoal, or ridge, a-head, but it proved to be only the carcass of a dead whale, covered with petrels and seagulls. Next day (May 12th) we discovered land; it was in reality the isle of Enckuysen, to the N.N.W. of us, at the distance of about two and a half leagues. We fixed its position at 64° 54′ N. and 12° 48′ W. This island, generally placed in the charts much too westerly of its real position, and too near the coast of Iceland, appeared to us to be about four leagues in extent, in the direction of N.N.E. and S.S.W.; it has just elevation enough not to render the approach dangerous. The positions of the rocks and shoals, which were discovered before the general use of chronometers and lunar observations for determining the longitude, may be distrusted, but this cannot warrant us in discarding them, until persevering search has determined their non-existence, as they may still be found in another place like the isle of Enckuysen. MIRA-POR-VOs. THE PILOTAGE BILL. November, 1838. MR. EDITOR, I am glad to see you have found another correspondent, who expresses himself (in your Number of this month) so exactly according to my way of thinking on the subject of Pilotage. Aided by" Soundings" I might well leave the lengthy article of "a Pilot," in your October number, without the trouble of a contradiction, but having a little leisure, and thinking the subject of some importance, I shall take the liberty of showing the "Pilot" that his assertion of my knowing nothing about the subject, and such other discourteous statements, will not do in the place of argument, of which his whole letter is entirely deficient, and in lieu thereof, is full of statements, either not correct, or such as are only fit for old women. All that can be written in favour of continuing the old state of things, admits in few words, of such an answer, as I defy any one to find fault with, (except the pilots themselves ;) what I contend for is, that every master of a ship, who passes an examination which proves him fit for the task, may be allowed to pilot his own ship. The Pilot, however, having assumed a very high tone, and one which is not unlikely to mislead, I shall take the liberty of remarking thereon, and leave it to your readers to judge, whether or not, I take the right view of the subject, and one according with common sense; or whether I am the ignoramus he is pleased to consider me. In the first place I will notice the astounding fact, which the Pilot backs with the opinion of some nameless "M.P." and elder brother of the Trinity House, that to constitute a good pilot," requires an age of experience;" thus making it out, that there are no pilots fit |