228 HISTORY OF 



hence we may readily infer, that the same cause 

 may operate at the Straits of Gibraltar ; and that 

 while the Mediterranean seems replenishing at 

 top, it may be emptying at bottom. 



The number of the currents at sea are impos- 

 sible to be recounted, nor, indeed, are they always 

 known ; new ones are daily produced by a variety 

 of causes, and as quickly disappear. When a re- 

 gular current is opposed by another in a narrow 

 strait, or where the bottom of the sea is very un- 

 even, a whirlpool is often formed. These were 

 formerly considered as the most formidable ob- 

 structions to navigation, and the ancient poets 

 and historians speak of them with terror ; they are 

 described as swallowing up ships, and dashing 

 them against the rocks at the bottom : apprehen- 

 sions did not fail to add imaginary terrors to the 

 description, and placed at the centre of the whirl- 

 pool, a dreadful den, fraught with monsters whose 

 howlings served to add new horrors to the dashings 

 of the deep. Mankind at present, however, view 

 these eddies of the sea with very little apprehen- 

 sion ; and some have wondered how the ancients 

 could have so much overcharged their descrip- 

 tions. But all this is very naturally accounted 

 for. In those times, when navigation was in its 

 infancy, and the slightest concussion of the waves 

 generally sent the poor adventurer to the bottom, 

 it is not to be wondered at that he was terrified at 

 the violent agitations in one of these. When his 

 little ship, but ill fitted for opposing the fury of the 

 sea, was got within the vortex, there was then no 

 possibility of ever returning. To add to the fata- 



