THE EARTH. 101) 



terrors to tne description, and placed at the centre of the whirlpool o 

 dreadful den, fraught with monsters whose howlings served to add 

 new norrors to the dashings of the deep. Mankind at present, how- 

 ever, view these eddies of the sea with verv little apprehension ; and 

 some "rave wondered how the ancients could have so much overcharged 

 their descriptions. But all this is very naturally accounted for. In 

 those times when navigation was in its infancy, and the slightest con- 

 cussion 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 agita- 

 tions 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 possi- 

 bility of ever returning. To add to the fatality, they were always 

 near the shore ; and along the shore was the only place where this 

 ill-provided mariner durst venture to sail. These were, therefore, 

 dreadful impediments to his navigation ; for if he attempted to pass 

 between them and the shore, he was sometimes sucked in by the eddy ; 

 and if he attempted to avoid them out at sea, he was often sunk by the 

 storm. But in our time, and in our present improved state of naviga- 

 tion, Charybdis, and the Euripus, with all the other irregular currents 

 of the Mediterranean, are no longer formidable. Mr. Addison, not 

 attending to this train of thinking, upon passing through the straits of 

 Sicily, was surprised at the little there was of terror in the present 

 appearance of Scylla and Charybdis ; and seems to be of opinion, 

 that their agitations are much diminished since the times of antiquity. 

 In fact, from the reasons above, all the wonders of the Mediterranean 

 sea are described in much higher colours than they merit, to us who 

 are acquainted with the more magnificent terrors of the ocean. The 

 Mediterranean is one of the smoothest and most gentle seas in the 

 world : its tides are scarce perceivable, except in the gulf of Venice, 

 and shipwrecks are less known there than in any other part of tho 

 world. 



It is in the ocean, therefore, that these whirlpools are particularly 

 dangerous, where the tides are violent, and the tempests fierce. To 

 mention only one, that called the Maelstroom, upon the coasts of Nor- 

 way, which is considered as the most dreadful and voracious in the 

 world. The name it has received from the natives, signifies the navel 

 of the sea ; since they suppose that a great share of the water of the 

 sea is sucked up and discharged by its vortex. A minute description 

 of the internal parts is not to be expected, since none who were there 

 ever returned to bring back information. The body of the waters 

 that form this whirlpool, are extended in a circle above thirteen 

 miles in circumference.* In the midst of this stands a rock, against 

 which the tide in its ebb is dashed with inconceivable fury. At this 

 time it instantly swallows up all things that come within the sphere of. 1 

 its violence, trees, timber, and shipping. No skill in the mariner, nor 

 strength of rowing, can work an escape : the sailor at the helm find? 

 the ship at first go in a current opposite to his intentions ; his vessel's 

 motion, though slow in the beginning, becomes every moment more 

 rapid ; it goes round in circles still narrower and narrower, till at bis' 



Kircher, Mund. Subt. vol. i. p. 155. 



