Produced by Curtis A. Weyant, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. [Illustration: Mount Vesuvius] [Illustration: Marvels of Creation] WONDERS OF CREATION: A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF VOLCANOES AND THEIR PHENOMENA. "The mountains quake at Him and the hills melt and the earth is burned at His presence"--NAHUM 1:5 1872 PREFACE Being intended for the Young, this work treats of Volcanoes only in a popular way. Scientific details and philosophical speculations are accordingly avoided. Nevertheless, a perusal of the following pages may so stimulate the curiosity of youthful minds, that some, on attaining to riper years and more mature understanding, may be inspired with a longing to inquire more deeply into this interesting subject. They may be stimulated to investigate, in a philosophical spirit, all the marvellous facts and phenomena connected with volcanic agency, and to speculate on their causes and modes of operation. Some also, on reaching their manhood, may be induced to ascend one or more of the nearer active volcanoes, and examine their phenomena for themselves. The facilities of travel are now so great, that a visit to Vesuvius or Etna is no longer beyond the limits of a holiday trip. Even the more remote Hecla with the playful Geysers may be reached within a reasonable time. Perhaps a very few, who are now scientific travellers in embryo, may call to remembrance what they may have read in these pages, when, many years hence, they may be climbing the cone of Cotopaxi, or peering into the crater of Kilauea. Apart from these considerations, a perusal of this work may enable the young mind to form a more lively idea of the tremendous energy of the forces which are imprisoned in the bowels of the earth. Such a vivid conception will naturally lead to a higher appreciation of the wisdom and power of Him who guides the operation of those forces by his laws, and has set bounds to their activity which they cannot overpass. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Volcanoes in general--Origin of the Name--General Aspect--Crater--Cone--Subordinate Cones and Craters--Peak of Teneriffe--Lava-Streams--Cascades and Jets of Lava--Variations in its Consistency--Pumice--Different Sorts of Lava--Obsidian--Olivine--Sulphur--Dust, Ashes, &c.--Volcanic Silk--Volcanic Islands--Volcanic Fishes--Hot Water, Mud, Vapours, &c.--Volcanic Storm--Explosions--Number of Volcanoes--King of the Volcanoes--Artificial Volcano CHAPTER II. Volcanoes of Iceland--Mount Hecla--Earliest Eruption--Great Eruption in 1845--Skaptàr Yökul--Terrible Eruption in 1783--Rise and Disappearance of Nyoë--Katlugaia--The Geysers--A very hot Bath--Californian Geysers--Iceland-spar--Jan Mayen CHAPTER III.