182 HISTORY OF 



(Sliced by a variety of causes, and as quickly disappear. WLen 

 a regular current, is opposed by another in a narrow strait, or 

 where the bottom of the sea is very uneven, a whirlpool is often 

 (ormed. These were formerly considered as the most formida- 

 ble obstructions to navigation ; and the ancient poets and histo- 

 -ians speak of them with terror ; they are described as swallow- 

 ing up ships, and dashing them against the rocks at the bottom ; 

 apprehension did not fail to add imaginary terrors to the descrip- 

 tion, and placed at the centre of the whirlpool a dreadful den, 

 fraught with monsters whose bowlings served to add new hor- 

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

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

 and some have 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 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 pes. 

 sibility of ever returning. To add to the fatality, they were al- 

 ways near the shore ; and along the shore was the only place 

 Vi'here this ill-provided mariner durst venture to sail. These were, 

 therefore, dreadful impediments to his navigation ; for if he at- 

 tempted to pass between them and the shore, he was sometimes 

 sucked in by the eddy ; and if he attempted to avoid them out 

 Bt sea, he was often sunk by the storm. But in our time, and 

 in our present improved state of navigation, Charybdis, and the 

 Euripus, with all the other irregular currents ot the Mediternv 

 nean, 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 ap- 

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

 that their agitations are much diminished since the times of an- 

 tiquity. 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 scarcely per- 



