SCYLLA AND CIIARYBDIS. 619 
names of persons who had visited the place from curiosity, and of 
Egyptians who had chosen to be buried in that region. 
SCYLLA AND ClIARYBDIS. 
ScYLLA is a rock near the coast of Italy, dangerous to shipping, 
opposite to Chary bd is, a whirlpool on the coast of Sicily. These 
objects, so famous in the poems of Homer and Virgil, were examined 
with minute attention by that accurate observer of nature, the Abbe 
Spallanzani, who thus describes Scylla: 
‘‘ It is a lofty rock, twelve miles from Messina, which rises almost 
perpendicularly from the sea, on the shore of Calabria, and beyond 
which is the small city of tjie same name. Though there was scarcely 
any wind, I began to hear, two miles before I cam_e to the rock, a 
murmur and noise like a confused barking of dogs, and on a nearer 
approach readily discovered the cause. This rock, in its lower parts, 
contains a number of caverns, one of the largest of which is called 
by the people there, Dragora. The waves, when in the least agitated, 
rush into these caverns, break, dash, throw frothy bubbles, and thus 
occasion these various and multiplied sounds. I then perceived with 
how much truth and resemblance of nature, Homer and Virgil, in 
their personifications of Scylla, had portrayed this scene, by de- 
scribing the monster they drew, as lurking in the darkness of a vast 
cavern, surrounded by ravenous barking mastiffs, together with 
wolves, to increase the horror. Such is the situation and appearance of 
Scylla ; let us now consider the danger it occasions to mariners. 
Though the tide is almost imperceptible in the open parts of the 
Mediterranean, it is very strong in the strait of Messina, in conse- 
quence of the narrowness of the channel, and is regulated, as in 
other places, by the periodical elevation and depression of the water. 
Where the flow or current is accompanied by a wind blowing the 
same way, vessels have nothing to fear, since they do not either enter 
the strait, both the wind and the stream opposing them, but cast 
anchor at the entrance ; or, if both are favourable, enter on full sail, 
and pass through with such rapidity that they seem to fly over the 
water. But when the current runs from S. to N. and the N. wind 
blows hard at the same time, the ship, which expected easily to pass 
the strait with the wind in its stern, on its entering the channel is 
resisted by the opposite current, and, impelled by two forces in con- 
trary directions, is at length dashed on the rock of Scylla, or driven 
on the neighbouring sands ; unless the pilot shall apply for the suc- 
cour necessary for his preservation : for, to give assistance in case 
of such accidents, twenty-four of the strongest, boldest, and most 
experienced sailors, well acquainted with the place, are stationed 
night and day along the shore of Messina ; who, at the report of 
guns fired as signals of distress from any vessel, hasten to its 
assistance, and tow it with one of their light boats. The current, 
where it is strongest, does not extend over the whole strait, but winds 
through it in intricate meanders,, with the course of which these men 
are perfectly acquainted, and are thus able to guide the ship in such 
a manner as to avoid it. Should the pilot, however, confiding in his 
