300 
WHIRLPOOL OF JAPAN. 
a double tail, can j>roduce at demand pigeons of 
any pattern of jDlnmage and poodles with liardly 
any noses, worth mentioning, rear bantams of the 
smallest dimensions, and cultivate the tallest of 
chrysanthemums. 
But the time had come for our departure, and 
having weighed anchor, we entered the Suwo-Nada, 
which is the largest division of the Inland Sea, 
l^eing nearly sixty miles in length. On the one 
hand, our eyes rested with pleasure on the lovely 
shores of Niphon; and on the other, on the fine 
island of Yasima, which was spread out l)efore us. 
We all of us had heard of Scylla and Charybdis, 
and of that terrible ]Maelstrdm on the coast of 
Norway ; and some of us, perhaps, had read, with 
feelings 'of teiror, Edgar Poe’s fearful narrative of 
the ship gradually engulplied in the vortex of the 
Great Whirlpool ; but here, immediately before us, 
is the famous “Naruto,” or Whirlpool of Japan. 
It is not, however, strictly fv whirlpool, “ Naruto ” 
meaning “ Gate of -the Sea, which makes a great 
noise.” It is rather a narrow and winding channel, 
