Rit (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.06.1936, Blaðsíða 19

19
here and there down along the edge of the glacier. They
forced their way out of the glacier from its margin where
it began to grow thin. These small streams grew in
number on the western edge of the glacier and now water
could be seen flooding the whole of the sand.
On the night before Friday March 29th—30th the river
began in earnest to break up the glacier to the west of the
ice-cave which had been formed on March 26th. A great
deal of rumbling was then heard in the glacier. By Fri-
day morning the glacier around this ice-cave was consid-
erably broken. All that day the river continued to force
its way through the edge of the glacier and a tremendous
cleft was formed in the margin around this source. Jets
of water were seen spouting high into the air from holes
and clefts in the glacier-edge. Now, in so far as eould be
seen, there was one stream stretching from Jökulfell
west up into the so-called ”Gömlu hrönn“, and it is scarce-
ly possible to estimate its size as having been less than
4—5 km. But there were smaller streams still farther
west which grew in size and broke up the edge of the gla-
cier after the postman left Skaftafell.
”But that day, the 30th, and the Saturday night until I
left at 7 o’clock, the burst began to be really powerful and
resounding crashes and grinding noises were heard. The
ice-bergs most nearly resembled ships sailing at full speed
down the river with small boats in their wake; for
though these lesser bergs were several metres in extent
they appeared very small beside the huge masses which
preceded them in the flood. The speed of these silent mon-
sters which floated in the main stream was very great, so
that I scarcely think that any horse would have progress-
ed as quickly over level ground“.
”1 have little to add to the above as I left Skaftafell on
this morning, i. e. Saturday March 31st. *) In Súluá-river
1) The postman then went on foot west over the glacier from
Pærinestindar to Súlutindar. There, farther north, there was no
sign of the hlaup, which shows that it all found an outlet beneath
the glacier. Author.
2*