Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-10
NEAR A MAELSTR0M.
VISIT TO THE MOST TERRIBLE
WHIRLPOOL IN THE WORLD.

Sailing Around the Edge of IA Destruc-
tive Rapid, swirling Current, on the
Coast of .Norway--A Pen Picture of a
wonderful Natural Curiosity.
If you take map and turn to the west
ern coast Of Norway, in the GSth deg of
latitude, you will find traced thereon the
name Of the largest and most terrible
whirlpool in the known world. This mael-
strom Is about mile and half in diam
eter, and its vortex has an inclination of
As dogs, or about that of water in a large
funnel when half run out. Its condition is
variant Sometimes it is not at all dan
gerous; at other times it is SO powerfully
destructive that the largest vessel ever
constructed, II once fairly caught in its
whirl, could be no more than mere
feather. Everything that enters it at such
time is crushed and torn to pieces
The cause of this immense whirlpool
has been variously stated, but it is only
guesswork and theory after all. Some
have thought there is n subterranean pas
sage, and that the waters come out at a
great distance-one writer even giving the
Gulf of Bothnia for their terminus. Others
again, and with more plausibility argue
that the whirl is solely the effect of the
waters Of the tide, during its ebb and flow
being pent up by lodges OF rocks, over
which they fall with the velocity of cata-
ract, and assume the gyratory movement
in their effort to escape or reach level,
The word "maelstrom" means mill
stream" and is said TO have been given to
1t because it's rush resembles that Of mill
stream when it is let loose from confne-
ment.
Business of commercial nature led
me to visit some of the ports of Norway
and the Lofoden islands, and being within
easy reach of the wonder of the world, ]
became possessed with great desire to see
it for myself In conversation with an old
Norwegian fisherman | learned to my
great surprise, that he had not only sailed
close around it when it was raging with
great fury, but that he had more than once
ventured across it, with a strong breese,
during its regular lull at the turn of the
tide.
A TERRIBLE SCENE.
The next day saw me walking the deck
Of q snug, well rugged schooner, on my way
to sublime scene of peril that for many a
long year had often come up in my fancy
with strange kind of fascination. | need
not describe my voyage down to the mael-
strom, for that is of no moment in this con
nection.
From the moment | first heard the dis
tant roar of the maelstrom we sailed di-
rectly toward it for more than an hour, the
roar gradually increasing in volume as we
neared it, until it became so loud that ii
was with difficulty that could distinguish
the different and sometimes rapid orders OF
the daring fisherman,
/ can never describe the awful mael-
strom rs | saw it and felt it,
Imagine an area of a million and u hall
miles in diameter, 70 do this fully and
comprehensively you should fix your eye
or your mind upon some object mile and
q half from where you are, Then fancy
this broad space to be all water, moving
round in circle, slowly on the outer edge
but gradually increasing in velocity to
ward the center, with a downward inclina
tion of As dogs. 80 that it looks like u vast
hollow gulf Of awful depth,
Then imagine yourself sailing round on
the outer edge of this immense funnel
with the water black and level on one side
of you and on the other inclined and run
ming around and downward, rolling, tum-
bling, rushing, dashing, seething, whirling
and boiling, the center dashed into milk
white foam and sending up the dealening
roar of thousand Niagaras.
If to all this you add the fancy that you
are floating around this awful gulf in q
frail vessel that seems only an air bubble
to be sucked in and crushed, and which
while driving before the wind, is now anC
then caught by n current and turned sev
eral points toward destruction, SO that Tho
master shouts frantiCally and the sailors
make almost superhuman eNertious tC
keep her from rushing madly into the vor
tex, and you pray agoni2ingIy, with breath
suspended and hair standing on end, till
the wavering balance has inclined to life
IT, sny, you add this to all the rest, yor
get perhaps as good an external of the
scene and situation of the beholdcr us my
descriptive powers are able to convey.
FATE OF A VICTIM.
Amid the bewjldCrment of this indescrib
able scene, my eyes da2zled with the whir!
ing, rushing, flashing of the waters, my
ears stunned with their Kissing dashin5
laundering roar, my soul going down int
the foaming vortex, and thence onwalC
into the eternity beyond, the old fisherman
laid one hand upon my arm, pointing Will
the other and shouted;
Look Beholdp'
turned and saw one of the Seamen hold
ing a large sea bird, to one of whose leg
was attached long cord, the other end o
which was secured to Il short, heavy sticl
of timber, which another sailor was in thu
act of casting into the sea, As the timbc
struck the water the one holding the birt
let him go and with wild scream he tiev
to the length of his tether and then strug
gled in the air to break his bonds nnl
escape. But the cord held him, and tn
moving timber took a gradual inclination
toward the vortex.
With the schooner run safely bacll iron
the gyratory draft, watched the bird witt
q glass, ~ the descending timber draggo'
him downward, nuttering and screaming
and seeming to my excited fancy like som
unfortunate spirit being dragged TO pei
dition. Round aud round went the tiu
Der, slowly at first and with steadily in
creasing velocity, till at last, with quioI
ierkings and rapid descent the Iluttcrinl
bird disappeared from my view,
had seen enough had felt the emo
tions of lifetime compressed into fey
hours-and we sailed away from theme
to-be forgotten scene,-New York Ledger.
Fat People and Disease.
Medical authorities declare that fat pee
nile are less able to resist the attacks u
Nso,ae or tho shock of injuries and opera