THE " SOUFFLEUR." 93 



of an hour, its violence gradually returning. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury 

 heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norwegian mile of it. Boats, yachts, 

 and ships have been carried away by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. 

 It likewise happens frequently that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered 

 by its violence, and then it is impossible to describe their bowlings and bellowings, in 

 their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. A bear once attempting to swim from 



WHIRLPOOL OF CORRIEVRECKAN, OFF THE HEBRIDES. 



Lofoden to Moskoe, was caught by the stream and borne down, while he roared terribly, so as 

 to be heard on shore. Large stocks of firs and pine-trees, after being absorbed by the 

 current, rise again, broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew upon them. This 

 plainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to 

 and fro. This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea, it being constantly 

 high and low water every six hours. In the year 164 r j, early in the morning of 

 Sexagesima Sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity that the very stones of the 

 houses on the coast fell to the ground." Kuchu and others promulgated the idea that the 

 maelstrom is a watery abyss penetrating the globe, and issuing in some very remote 



