Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-12-26
NEAR A MAELSTROM.
VISIT TO THE MOST TERRIBLE
WHIRLPOOL IN THE WORLD.

VISIT TO THE MOST TERRIBLE
| WHIRLPOOL IN THE WORLD.
saiiing Around tho Edge Of Destrus'
| five Rapid, swirling Current. or thu
| Coast or Norway--A Pen Picture OF :
| Wonderful Natural Curiosity.
II you take map and turn to the west
ern coast Of Norway, in the 6sth deg. o.
| latitude, you will find traced thereon thu
name OF the largest and most terrible
whirlpool In the known world. This mael
strom Is about a mile and half In diam
eter and its vortex has an inclination Of
- degs., or about that Of water In largt
funnel when half run out. It's condition II
variant. Sometimes II Is not at all dan
gerous; at other times 1t Is so powerfully
destructive that the largest vessel evel
constructed, IL once fairly caught In Its
whirl. could be no more than mere
feather. Everything that enters 1t at such
time Ia crushed and torn to pieces.
The cause of this immense whirlpool
has been variously stated, but it is ouly
gnesswork and theory after all. Some
have thought there Is subterranean pas
sage, and that the waters come out at =
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 a 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
Il because its rush resembles that of mill
stream when IL is let loose from confine.
ment.
Business Of commercial nature led
me to visit some Of the ports Of Norway
and the Loffoden islands, and being within
easy reach Of the wonder Of the world,
became possessed with great desire to sec
IL for myself In conversation with an old
Norwegian fisherman learned. to my
great surprise, that he had not only sailed
close around it when 1t was raging with
great fury, but that he had more than once
ventured across 1t. with a strong breese
during its regular lull mt the turn Of the
tide
A TERRIBLE SCENE.
The next day saw me walking the deck
Of a snug, well rugged schooner, on my way
to a sublime scene Of peril that for many {
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 1t became so loud that il
was with difficulty that could distinguish
the different and sometimes rapid orders Of
the daring fisherman.
can never describe the awful mael
strom as saw it and felt it.
Imagine an area Of a million and hall
miles in diameter To do this fully and
comprehensively you should fix your eye
or your mind upon some object a mile and
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 downward inclina
ton Of As degs., SO that it looks like vast
hollow gulf OF awful depth.
Then imagine yourself sailing round or
the outer edge Of this immense funnel
with the water black and level on one sid,
Of you and on the other inclined and run
ming around and downward, rolling, tum
bling, rushing, dashing, seething, whirlins
and boiling, the center dashed into mil k
white foam and sending up the deafenine
roar of a thousand Niagaras.
II to all this you add the fancy that yor
are floating around this awful gulf in 1
frail vessel that seems only an air bubble
to be sucked in and crushed, and which
while driving before the wind, is now ant
then caught by current and turned sew
| eral points toward destruction, so that tn,
master shouts frantically and the sailor
make almost superhuman exertions t.
keep her from rushing madly into the vor
tex, and you pray agonizingly, with breatl
suspended and hair standing on end, til
the wavering balance has inclined to life
| II, say, you add this to all the rest, yot
get perhaps as good an external of tn,
scene and situation Of the beholder as m,
descriptive powers are able to convey.
FATE OF VICTIM.
| Amid the bewilderment OF this indescrib
able scene, my eyes dazzled with the whirl
ing, rushing, flashing Of the waters, m,
ears stunned with their Kissing, dashing
Numbering roar, my soul going down int,
the foaming vortex, and thence onward
into the eternity beyond, the old fisherman
laid one hand upon my arm. pointing will
the other and shouted:
Look Beholdr'
| turned and saw one of the seamen hold
ing large sea bird, to one Of whose leg
was attached long cord, the other end o
which was secured to u short. heavy sticl
| Of timber, which another sailor was in tn
act Of casting into the sea. As the timbe
struck the water the one holding the Dir,
let him go, and with a wild scream he flew
To the length Of his tether and then strug
gled In the air to break his bonds an,
escape. But the cord held him, and tn
moving timber took gradual inclination
toward the vortex. -r..
With the schooner run safely back iron
the gyratory draft, watched the bird witt
a glass, as the descending timber dragge,
him downward, duttering ami screaming
and seeming to my excited fancy like som
unfortunate spirit being dragged to pei
dition. Round and round went the tim
Der, slowly at first, and with steadily in
creasing velocity, till at last, with quicl
| jerkings and rapid descent, the flutterinJ
bird disappeared from my view.
had seen enough--l had felt the emo
Aons OF a lifetime compressed into fev
hours-and we sailed away from the never
to- be-forgotten scene.-New York Ledger
| Fat People and Disease.