U NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



low Sicily, and the other at the point of Calabria ; and for the 

 greater confirmation of this matter, Kircher mentions a high rock 

 Handing out in the middle of this current, like the rock before 

 defcribed, in the vortex called Sumboe ; and certainly thefe high 

 rocks, in the midfl of fuch perilous ftreams, are no other than 

 natural marks fet up by God himfelf, that navigators, having 

 timely notice, may avoid the danger. 



Next, Mr. Peter Clauflbn, in his defcription of Norway, writes, 

 that the gyration of the water is attended with fuch roaring agi- 

 tations as to be heard many miles off. This would not be the 

 cafe were this vortex occafioned by the extraordinary profundity 

 of the bottom ; for it is deepeft in ftill waters ; but thefe roarings 

 proceed from the water being retarded, by its contraction betwixt 

 two illands, in its progrefs towards the land at the time of flood, 

 and likewife in its regrefs thro' the fame narrow paffage at ebb; and, 

 moreover, the flood is obftrucled by fpiral hills, or protuberances, 

 and lofty angular rocks ; from whence it is natural to conclude, 

 that fuch violent colliflons muff caufe a terrible noife. Thirdly, 

 Mr. ClaufTon writes, that this ftream abforbs whole trees, and after 

 fubmerging them, they come up again with their roots and 

 branches ftript and torn, which is occafioned by thefe round 

 and angular rocks, which in the rapid gyrations of the trees 

 round them, ftrip the bark, and tear the roots and branches ; 

 and many of thefe mangled trees are driven to Ferroe, whereas 

 in an abyfs, they would be carried another way; for then 

 the cavity would be large and deep, and the water circulate 

 gently, and whatever was abforbed would pafs through the abyfs 

 without any damage ; as may be feen from the plain inftance of 

 a piece of wood put into a funnel, afterwards filled with water." 

 Thus far Mr. Debes. 



It is evident, from the premifes, that fome ancient and foreign 

 writers, who could not minutely examine the circumilances, mif- 

 took thefe vortices as the caufe of the ebb and flood ; of which 

 they are, on the contrary, in reality the effect. I mull not omit 

 here, that Mr. Jonas Ramus, in the above-mentioned place, 

 page 220, &c. labours to fhew it probable, that Scylla aud Cha- 

 rybdis, which have always been accounted to lie upon the coaft of 

 Sicily, were no other than this Mofkoeftrom, whither Ulyffes was 



actually 



