THE EARTH. 



87 



to have more certain information; and com- 

 manded our poor diver to examine the bot- 

 tom of this dreadful whirlpool : as an incite- 

 ment to his obedience, he ordered a golden 

 cup to be flung into it. Nicolas was not in- 

 sensible of the danger to which he was ex- 

 posed ; dangers best known only to himself; 

 and he therefore presumed to remonstrate : 

 but the hopes of the reward, the desire of 

 pleasing the king, and the pleasure of show- 

 ing his skill, at last prevailed. He instantly 

 jumped into the gulf, and was swallowed as 

 instantly up in its bosom. He continued 

 for three quarters of an hour below ; during 

 which time the king and his attendants re- 

 mained upon shore anxious for his fate ; but 

 he at last appeared, buffeting upon the sur- 

 face, holding the cup in triumph in one hand, 

 and making his way good among the waves 

 with the other. It may be supposed he was 

 received with applause, upon his arrival on 

 shore ; the cup was made the reward of his 

 adventure ; the king ordered him to be taken 

 proper care of; and, as he was somewhat 

 fatigued and debilitated by his labour, after 

 a hearty meal he was put to bed, and permit- 

 ted to refresh himself by sleeping. 



" When his spirits were thus restored, he 

 was again brought to satisfy the king's curi- 

 osity with a narrative of the wonders he had 

 seen; and his account was to the following 

 effect : He would never, he said, have obey- 



ed the king's commands, had he been ap- 

 prized of half the dangers that were before 

 him. There were four things, he said, that 

 rendered the gulf dreadful, not only to men, 

 but even to the fishes themselves : first, the 

 force of the water bursting up from the bot- 

 tom, which requires great strength to resist ; 

 secondly, the abruptness of the rocks, that on 

 everyside threatened destruction; thirdly, the 

 force of the whirlpool, dashing against those 

 rocks ; and fourthly, the number and magni- 

 tude of the polypous fish, some of which ap- 

 peared as large as a man, and which, every 

 where sticking against the rocks, projected 

 their fibrous arms to entangle him. Being 

 asked how he was able so readily to find the 

 cup that had been thrown in, he replied, that 

 it happened to be flung by the waves into the 

 cavity of a rock, against which he liimself 

 was urged in his descent. This account, 

 however, did not satisfy the king's curiosity : 

 being requested to venture once more inte 

 the gulf for further discoveries, he at first re- 

 fused ; but the king, desirous of having the 

 most exact information possible of all things 

 to be found in the gulf, repeated his solicita- 

 tions; and, to give them still greater weight, 

 produced a larger cup than the former, and 

 added also a purse of gold. Upon these 

 considerations, the unfortunate Pessacola 

 once again plunged into the whirlpool, and 

 was never heard of more." 



CHAPTER XVHI. 



A SUMMARY ACCOUNT OF THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF AIR, 



HAVING described the earth and the sea, 

 we now ascend into that fluid which surrounds 

 them both ; and which, in some measure, sup- 

 ports and supplies all animated nature. As, 

 upon viewing the bottom of the ocean from 

 its surface, we see an infinity of animals 

 moving therein, and seeking food ; so, were 

 some su perior being to regard the earth at a pro- 

 per distance, he might consider us in the same 

 light : he might, from his superior station, be- 

 hold a number of busy little beings, immersed 



in the aerial fluid, that every where surrounds 

 them, and sedulously employed in procuring 

 the means of subsistence. This fluid, though 

 too fine for the gross perception of its in- 

 habitants, might, to his nicer organs of sight, 

 be very visible; and, while he at once saw 

 into its operations, he might smile at the va- 

 rieties of human conjecture concerning it : he 

 might readily discern, perhaps, the height 

 above the surface of the earth to which this 

 fluid atmosphere reaches : he might exactly 



