Scientific Intelligence. -^Geogra/pliy. 40^ 
dogs;” but I, as a sailor, never perceived any difference between 
the effect of the surges here, and on any other coast ; yet I have 
frequently watched it closely in bad weather. It is now, as I 
presume it ever v/as, a common rock, of bold approach, a little 
worn at its base, and surmounted by a castle, with a sandy bay 
on each side. The one on the south side is memorable for the 
disaster that happened there, during the dreadful earthquake of 
1783, when an overwhelming wave (supposed to have been oc- 
casioned by the fall of part of a promontory into the sea) rushed 
up the beach, and, in its retreat, bore away with it upwards of 
SOOO people, whose cries, if they uttered any, in the suddenness 
of their awful fate, were not heard by the agonized spectators 
around . — SmytJCs Memoir, 
% Charyhdis . — Outside the tongue of land, or Braccio di St 
Rainiere, that forms the harbour of Messina, lies the Salofaro, 
or celebrated vortex of Charybdis, which has, with more reason 
than Scylla, been clothed with terrors by the writers of antiquity. 
To the undecked boats of the Rhegians, Locrians, Zancleans, 
and Greeks, it must have been formidable ; for, even in the pre- 
sent day, small craft are sometimes endangered by it ; and I 
have seen several men-of-war, and even a seventy-four-gun ship, 
whirled round on its surface ; but, by using due caution, there 
is generally very little danger or inconvenience to be apprehend- 
ed. It appears to be an agitated water, of from seventy to 
ninety fathoms in depth, circling in quick eddies. It is owing, 
probably, to the meeting of the harbour, and lateral currents, 
Avith the main one, the latter being forced over, in this direction, 
by the opposite point of Pezzo. This agrees, in some measure, 
with the relation of Thucydides, who calls it a violent recipro- 
cation of the Tyrrhene, and Sicilian Seas ; and he is the only 
writer of remote antiquity I remember to have read, w'ho has 
assigned this danger its true situation, and not exaggerated its 
effect. Many wonderful stories are told respecting this vortex, 
particularly some, said to have been related by the celebrated 
diver Colas, who lost his life here. I have never found reason, 
however, during my examination of this spot, to believe one of 
them . — SmytJCs Memoir. 
3. HansteeiHs projected Journey to Siberia , — I have en- 
deavoured to shew (in the Christiania Journal), that the situa- 
