action of similar forces, in the one instance exerted on a lake
bottom, in the other on dry land, each yielding permanent volcanic
elevations in every respect analogous to those which rise as islands
from the bottom of the sea.

IN THE ICELANDIC SEAS

Off the coast of Iceland islands have appeared during several of
the volcanic eruptions which that remote dependency of Denmark has
manifested, and at various periods in Iceland's history the sea has been
covered with pumice and other debris, which tell their own tale of what
has been going on, without being in sufficient quantity to reach the
surface in the form of an island mass. The sea off Reykjanes--Smoky
Cape, as the name means--has been a frequent scene of these submarine
eruptions. In 1240, during what the Icelandic historians describe as
the eighth outburst, a number of islets were formed, though most of them
subsequently disappeared, only to have their places occupied by others
born at a later date. In 1422 high rocks of considerable circumference
appeared. In 1783, about a month before the eruption of Skaptar Jokull,
a volcanic island named Nyoe, from which fire and smoke issued, was
built up. But in time it vanished under the waves, all that remains
of it to-day being a reef from five to thirty-five fathoms below the
sea-level. 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.