Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-09-10

1L0 kAt&A1HAEAt II
sold. Everybody is expected to open a
bottle and buy a lot Of postal cards
with pictures Of the North Cape upon
them to send TO friends. A temporary
post-ofiee Is established by one Of the
officers Of the steamer. who has a ma
chine to cancel stamps, and puts let
ters in a mall bag. so that they are
postmarked and properly mailed at the
top OF the mountain.
There is a granite column to con
memorate the visit OF King Oscar in
1873. and a cairn built by the German
Emperor on his first visit in 1ssl-he
has been TO the top nearly every year
since-and a Norwegian flag floating
from a tall pole.
Somebody Always Brings
an American flag and lets II fly the best
he can TO vindicate his patriotism. The
flag man in our steamer could o find
anything to tack 1t to where it would
float, so he gave up the effort in de-
spair and tucked it into a crack in the
rocks.
People behave differently. Some get
gay and others sentimental. The emo
lions Of the majority take the form OF
patriotism. They want to sing their ma
tional hymn. so somebody usually
rounds up the representatives OF the
various nations, who attempt in turn
to sing the "Star-spangled Banner"
God. Save the King the "Marseil-
laise.'' or the watch on the Rhine
Some persons, intoxicated with cham
jayne and enthusiasm. usually get elo-
quent and insist upon making speeches.
The Europeans invariably drink to the
health of their sovereigns, and French
men prance around in great excite
ment and yell. "vive la Republique
Franchise" don't know why II Is, but
a Frenchman can make more noise and
confusion than the representatives. OF
all other races combined.
OF course everybody has his photo
graph taken and exhausts the films in
his camera before he returns to the
steamer.
Few lights at the Midnight sun.
l now APPROACH delicate topic. The
principal object of visiting the North
Cape is to see the midnight sun, and
the itineraries of the steamers are
timed so that they will arrive there
about 10 o'clock in the evening, and
give the passengers time enough TO
climb to the top and express their
emotions by such demonstrations as
they consider appropriate before 4
night. Then they are free to observe
the great phenomenon. But the great
majority of tourists are disappointed in
this respect, because the sun is seldom
seen from the North Cape after 4
o'clock IN the afternoon. Of course,
the people who have Travelled all that
distance and have made that long and
tedious climb cannot be expected to
confess their failure and disappoint-
ment. In fact, l have never met any
body who had gone to the North Cape
without seeing the midnight sun. Cen
eral dissolution is granted to tourists
to lie about it to other travellers and to
the folks at home, but the Captain adj
mitted to me that he saw IL only twice
last year, and that when he saw 1t four
times in a season it was considered a
remarkable triumph.
The FamOus Mae1strom.
We sailed through the famous mael-
strom, which the ancients believed
guards the entrance of the sublimest
beauty OF the fjords of the Lofoden
Islands. and las furnished so much
material for the Imagination of the
authors of Norwegian Legendary and
modern noylists. 1t is a reality-not
one, but several maelstroms actually
exist, and any of them will answer
the descriptions given by Victor Hugo.
Jules Verne, Edgar A Poe, and writers
of lesser fame. The chief and most
dangerous is an e~-raordinary whirl-
pool between the islands of Moskene
and Roest, near the southern extrem-
ity of the Lofoden Archipelago. 1t is
called Mosknaes-Strommen. Another by
the Island of Vero called the Saelstrom,
is almost dangerous. There are many
narrow channels between the noun
tains, where great volumes of water,
coming from opposite directions, meet
as the tide flows in and out. They
form temporary whirlpools twice a day
and during the spring tides, or when
the natural currents are accelerated by
heavy western gales, passage Is i'm
possible. No vessel could survive them.
Even whales nave been caught and
whirled around until they were dead.
Between times these channels look in
nocent enough. Even small boats can
pass safely through them at the pro-
per time each day, and the departure
of the mail boats is regulated accord
ingly, but they have caused the loss of
many lives. Boats have actually dis
appeared, being sucked into the vor-
tex and carried to the bottom to whirl
and whirl and whirl until the waters
are tired and flow away, carrying the
wrecks and the bodies of the dead with
them on the u~nder-current to emerge
miles and miles distant.
MARTINS FERRY.