In 1830, after several long-continued eruptions of the usual
character, another isle arose; while at the same time the skerries known
as the Geirfuglaska disappeared, and with them vanished the great auks,
or gare-fowls--birds now extinct--which up to that time had bred on
them. At all events, though the auks could not well have been drowned,
no traces of them were seen after the date mentioned. In July, 1884, an
island again appeared about ten miles off Reykjanes; but it is already
beginning to diminish in size, and may soon disappear.
OFF THE COAST OF ALASKA
Elsewhere in the region of the northern seas there are other instances
of the influence of the submarine forces in raising up and lowering
land. The coast of Alaska is a region of intense volcanic action. In
1795, during a period of volcanic activity in the craters of Makushina,
on Unalaska, and in others on Umnak Island, a volume of smoke was seen
to rise out of the sea about 42 miles to the north of Unalaska, and
the next year it was followed by a heap of cindery material, from which
arose flame and volcanic matter, the glow being visible over a radius
of ten miles. In four years the island grew into a large cone, 3000 feet
above the sea-level, and two or three miles in circumference. Two years
later it was still so hot that when some hunters landed on it they found
the soil too warm for walking. It was named Ionna Bogoslova (St. John
the Theologian), by the Russians, Agashagok by the Aleuts, and is now
known to the whites of that region as Bogosloff.
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