The natives assert that it is impossible to ascend the mountain, on account of the great number of dangerous bogs, which, according to them, are constantly emitting sulphurous flames and exhaling smoke; while the more elevated summit in the center is covered with boiling springs and large craters, which continually propel fire and smoke. To the south and west the environs present the most desolating results of frequent eruptions, the finest part of the territory being covered by torrents of melted stone, sand, ashes, and other volcanic matter; notwithstanding which, between the sinuosities of the lava in different parts, some portion of meadows, walls and broken hedges may be observed. The devastation is still greater on the north and east sides, which present dreadful traces of the ruin of the country and its habitations. Neither plants nor grass are to be met with to the extent of two leagues round the mountain, in consequence of the soil being covered with stones and lava; and in some parts, where the subterraneous fire has broken out a second time, or where the matter which was not entirely consumed has again become ignited, the fire has contributed to form small red and black hillocks and eminences, from scoriæ, pumice-stones and ashes. The nearer the mountain the larger are these hillocks, and there are some of them, the summits of which form a circular hollow, whence the subterraneous fire ejects the matter. On approaching Hecla the ground becomes almost impassable, particularly near the higher branches of lava thrown from the volcano. Round the latter is a mountain of lava, consisting of large fused stones, from forty to seventy feet high, and in the form of a rampart or wall. These stones are detached, and chiefly covered with moss; while between them are very deep holes, so that the ascent on the western side requires great circumspection. The rocks are completely reduced to pumice, dispersed in thin horizontal layers, and fractured in every direction, from which some idea may be formed of the intensity of the fire that has acted on them. “There Winter, armed with terrors here unknown, Sits absolute on his unshaken throne; Piles up his stores amidst the frozen waste, And bids the mountains he has built stand fast; Beckons the legions of his storms away From happier scenes to make the land a prey; Proclaims the soil a conquest he has won, And scorns to share it with the distant sun.”