Star.
London, England, 1830-01-29 00:00:00

AN ADVENTURE OF SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.

" The fall of the Traun is a cataract, which when the
giver is full, may be almost compared to that of Schaff-
hausen for magnitude, and possesses the same peculiar
characters of grandeur in the precipitous rush of its awful
and overpoivering waters, and of beauty in the tints of
its streams and foam, and in the forms of the rocks over
which it falls, and the cliffs and woods by which it is
overhung. In this spot an accident, which had nearly
been fatal to me, occasioned the-renewal of my acquaint..
awe in an extraordinary manner with the mysterious'
unknown stranger. Eubathes, who was eery fond of
By-fishing, was amusing himself by catching • graylings
for our dinner in the stream above the fall. I. took one
of the boats, which are used for descending the canal
or lock artificially cut in the rock by the side of the tall,
ea which salt and wood are usually transported from
tipper Austria to the Danube ; and I desired two of the
peasants to assist my servant in permitting the boat to
descend by a rope to the level of the river below ; my
iptention was to amuse myself by this rapid species of
locomotion along the descending sluice. For some mo-
menta the boat glided gently along the smooth current,
and I enjoyed the biauty of the moving scene around
me, and had my eye fixed upon the bright rainbow seen
upon the spray of the cataract shove my head, when I
was suddenly roused by a shout of alarm from my servant,
ana looking round, I saw that the piece of wood to which
the rope had been attached had given way and the boat
was floating down the river at the mercy of the stream.
I was not at first alarmed, for I saw that my assistants
were procuring long poles with which it appeared easy to
arrest the boat before it entered the rapidly descending
water of the sluice, and I called out to them to use their
united force to reach the longest pole across the water
that I might be able to catch the end of it in my hand,
and at this moment I felt perfect security ; but a breeze
of wind suddenly came down the valley and blew from
the nearest bank ; the boat was turned by it out of the
side current and thrown nearer to the middle of the
river, and I soon saw that I was likely to be precipitated
over the cataract. My servant and the boatmen rushed
into the water, but it was too deep to enable them to
reach the boat; I was soon in the white water of the de-
scending stream, and my danger was inevitable. I had
presence of mind enough to consider, whether my chance
of safety would be greater by throwing myself out of the
boat, or by remaining in it, and I preferred the latter
expedient. 1 looked from the rainbow upon the bright
sun above my head, as if taking leave for ever of that
glorious luminary ; I raised one pious aspiration to the
divine source of light and life ; I was immediately stunned
by the thunder of the fall and my eyes were closed in
darkness. How long I remained insensible I know not ;
my first recollections after this accident were of a bright
light shining above me, of warmth and pressure in dif-
ferent parts of my body, and of the noise of the rushing
cataract sounding in my ears. I seemed awakened by
the light from a sound sleep, and endeavoured to recall
my scattered thoughts, but in vain ; I soon fell again into
slumber. From this second sleep, I was awakened by a
voice which seemed not altogether unknown to me, and
looking upwards, I saw the bright eye and noble counte-
nance of the Unknown Stranger whom I had met at
Pzestum. I faintly articulated lam in another world.'
No,' said the stranger, you are safe in this ; you are
a little bruised by your fall, but you will soon be well ;
be tranquil and compose yourself.' The next day I learnt
from the Unknown the history of my escape, which
seemed almost miraculous to me. He said that he was
fishing, the day that my accident happened, below the
fall of the Traun, for that peculi it species of the large
salmon of the Danube which fortunately for me is only to
be caught by very strong tackle. He saw, to his very
great astonishment and alarm, the boat and my body pre-
cipitated by the fall, and was so fortunate as to entangle
his hooks in a part of my dress when I had been scarcely
more than a minute under water, and by the assistance
of his servant, who was armed with the gaff or curved
kook for landing large fish, I was safely conveyed to
the shore, undressed, put in a warm bed, and by the
modes of restoring suspended animation, which were
familiar to him, I soon recovered my sensibility and con-
sciousness."—Sir Hunphry Davy's Last Days of a
Philosopher.