42 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP THE SEA. 



but, unfortunately adds, that it is impossible to describe their 

 howlings and bellowings in their fruitless struggles to dis- 

 engage themselves — impossible, no doubt, as whales happen to 

 have no voice at all ! 



According to more modern travellers, such as the celebrated 

 geologist Leopold von Buch, the Maelstrom is far from being 

 so terrible as depicted by Eamus and other friends of the 

 marvellous ; so that, except during storms and spring-tides, 

 large ships may constantly cross it without danger. The 

 Norwegian fishermen are even said frequently to assemble on 

 the field of the Maelstrom on account of the great abundance 

 of fishes congregating in those troubled waters, and fearlessly 

 to pursue their avocations, while the whirlpool moves their 

 boats in a circular direction. ' 



Sir Eobert Sibbald describes a very remarkable marine whirl- 

 pool among the Orkney islands, which would prove dangerous 

 to strangers, though it is of no consequence to the people who 

 are used to it. It is not fixed to any particular place, but arises 

 in various parts of the limits of the sea among these islands. 

 Wherever it appears, it is very furious, and boats would in-' 

 evitably be drawn in and perish with it, but the people who 

 navigate them are prepared for it and always carry a bundle of. 

 straw or some such matter in the boat with them. This they 

 fling into the vortex which immediately swallows it up, and, 

 seemingly pleased with this propitiatory offering, subsides into 

 smoothness, but soon after re-appears in another place. 



A remarkable and sudden rising of the spring-tide takes 

 place at the mouth of several rivers, for instance, the Indus 

 (where the surprising phenomenon nearly caused the destruction 

 of the fleet of Alexander the Great), the Hooghly, the Dordogne, 

 &c. In the Seine it is observed on a scale of great magnitude. 

 While the tide gradually rises near Havre and Harfleur, a giant 

 wave is suddenly seen to surge near Quillebceuf, spanning the 

 whole width of the river (from 30,000 to 36,000 feet). After 

 this mighty billow has struck against the quay of. Quillebceuf, 

 it enters a more narrow bed and flows stream-upwards with 

 the rapidity of a race horse, overflowing the banks on both 

 sides, and not seldom causing considerable loss of property by 

 its unexpected appearance. The astonishment it causes is in- 

 creased when it takes place during serene weather, and without 



