NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY, S 5 



actually driven in the courfe of his wanderings ; the inundations s ! n g ular °pi- 



J o J nion concern - 



of t lie water (in the Danifh language, Vanders Sky lien) and the {js**^: 

 ifland Skarfliolm, having given occafion to the names of Scylla * nd charyb- 

 and -Chary bdis. Though I can by no means agree to the opinion 

 of this ingenious ■ Gentleman, concerning UlyfTes's voyage, yet, in 

 proving the probability of it in another learned piece, it muft be 

 confefled, that he has given proofs of an uncommon erudition and 

 genius, and as to the Mofkoeftrom, I mall exhibit his opinion 

 in his own words, that then the reader may adopt as much and 

 as little of it as he pleafes. 



" Halogaland appears to be one of the firft inhabited provinces 

 in Norway ; for foon after the Trojan war, UlyfTes, whofe name 

 was Outin, failing to the extreme limits of the great ocean, ar- 

 rived in a dark country, of which he gives the following defcrip- 

 tion ; it was full of high mountains, reaching to the very clouds, 

 and perpetually covered with mifts and thick darknefs, fo that 

 they never enjoyed the benefit of the fun, neither at its rifing nor 

 fetting, and there he met with two horrible fea-vortices, Scylla 

 and Charybdis, the noife of which ftruck him with terror, before 

 he came near them ; and then he faw a violent ebullition of the 

 fea, like a boiling-kettle, throwing up froth and fmoke, which 

 were rapidly carried up in the air. All this has by many 

 been falfly interpreted of the ftrait near Sicily, though that 

 iiland has none of thofe high mountains, covered with dark 

 clouds, nor that gloominefs impenatrable to the rays of the fun 

 nor a perillous roaring ftrearn, fo as to be impaffable without ex- 

 treme danger. But all this perfe&ly coincides with Mofkoe- 

 ftrom, near Helleland, where there are, on the fide of Lofode, 

 thofe high mountains called Helfeggen, the fummits of which, 

 according to Homer's defcription, were inacceffible to any man, tho' 

 he had twenty hands and feet, and in winter involved in conti- 

 nual mifts and darknefs; for from the 27th of November to the 

 25th of December, old ftile, the fun is never feen there. There, 

 likewife, are thofe terrible ebullitions, and horrible founds, which 

 fo terrified UlyfTes at Scylla and Charybdis 5 circumftances quite 

 fimilar to the roaring fall betwixt Helfeggen and Mofkoe, where 

 the ftrearn overflows the intermediate rocks and iflands, and thus 

 came to be called Scilla, from Skillers; and on the other fide of 

 3 Mofkoe, 



