Show I 1 NEAR A MAE MAELSTROM i VISIT ISIT TO THE MOST i WHIRLPOOL IN THE WORLD I 1 I 1 calling ilg around Lr und the edge I 1 of a dam I 1 1 tire give stupid swirling Curre current tito off OW the acot of norway A 16 pen picture ure of natural curiosity Curl olty I 1 it evou tal take e a map and turn to the west ero ern coast of norway noray nor ay in the it deg of latitude you will find traced thereon the xiam e af the largest and most terrible I 1 whirlpool in the known world this maeli atrom taa 1 about bolat a mile and a halt half in diameter disinclination eter and ait its vortex has an in inclination cli nation of 45 deg or about that of water in a large funnel chyi half run out its condition ia variant triant Vf sometimes itis it la not at all dan ge cerous at ether times it is so powerfully destructive that the largest vessel ever constructed ted iff if once fairly caught in its whirl could ibe no moro more than a mere feather everything that enters it at such ML time is crushed and torn tom to pieces the cause of this immense whirlpool has been variously stated but it is only guesswork gues and theory after all some have thought there is 13 a subterranean pas rage sag e and that the waters come out at a great distance even giving the cult gulf of bochnia for their terminus others again and with more plausibility argue that the whirl is solely ely the effect of the waters of the tide daring duang its ebb and flow being pent up by ledges of rocks over which they fall with the velocity of a cataract and assume the gyratory movement in their effort to escape or reach a level the word maelstrom meang means millstream and is said to have been given to 1 it bees because so ita its rush resembles that of a mill tream stream when it is let loose from confine merit business of a commercial nature led roe me to visit some of the ports of norway and the Lof foden islands and being within easy reach of the wonder of the world I 1 became possessed with a great desire to to see son it tor for myself in conversation with an old norwegian fisherman I 1 learned to my great surprise that he be had not 0 only n ly sailed close around it when it was raging with great fury fary but that he had more than once ventured across it with a strong breese during ita 1 at the turn of the tide A SCENE the next day saw me walking the deck of a snug well rigged schooner on my way to a sublime scene of peril that for many a long year had often come up in my ray fancy with a strange kind of fascination I 1 need not describe scriba de my voyage down to the maelstrom for that is of no moment in ili this connection tion from the moment I 1 first beard heard the distant roar of the maelstrom we sailed directly toward it for more than AH an hour the roar gradually increasing in volume as we seared neared it until it became so loud that it was with difficulty that I 1 could distinguish the different and sometimes rapid orders of the daring fisherman I 1 can never describe the awful maelstrom I 1 as I 1 saw it and felt it imagine an area of a million and a it hall half I 1 mile ralles in diameter to do this fully and comprehensively you should fix your eye or your mind upon some object a mile and a half halt from where you are am then fancy this broad space to be all water moving round in a circle slowly on the outer edge but gradually increasing in velocity toward the center with a downward inclination of 45 begs so that it looks like a vast hollow gulf of awful depth then imagine yourself sailing round on I 1 the outer edge of this immense funnel arita the tho batir black and level 0 on one side t tf of you and on the other inclined and running I 1 i around and downward rolling tumbling I 1 rushing dashing dash lne seething whirling and boiling the center lashed into milk white foam fown and bending sending up the deafening roar of a thousand Nia garas it if to all this you add the fancy that you are floating around this awful gulf in a I 1 frail trail vessel that seems scents only an air bubble to be sucked in and cru crushed shod and which i while driving before the wind is now and thin caught by a current and turned several points toward destruction so that the master shouts frantically and the sailors make almost superhuman exertions to keep her from ashi rushing ng madly into the vortex and you pray agonizingly with breath suspended nus bus and hair standing on end till the wavering balance has inclined to life it I 1 say you add this to all the rest you get got perhaps as good on an external of the I 1 scene and situation of the beholder as my descriptive powers are able to convey I 1 FATE or A VICTIM I 1 amid the bewilderment of this indescribable scene my eyes dazzled with the whirling rushing hashing of the waters my ea ears rs stunned with their hissing dashing thundering roar my soul going down into the foaming vortex and thence onward into the eternity beyond the old fisherman laid one hand upon my arm pointing with the hv other and shouted beholds Be holdt I 1 turned sai auw hw one ot of the seamen holding i a laree large sea bird to one of whose lega legs waa was attached a long cord the other end of of which was secured to a short heavy stick of timber which another sailor was in the act of casting into the sea am As the timber struck the water the one holding the bird let him go and with a wild scream be he flew to the length of his tether and then struggled in the air to break hii his bonds and escape hut but the cord held him and the moving timber took a gradual inclination toward the vortex with the schooner run safely back from the gyratory draft I 1 watched the bird with I 1 n glass as the descending timber dragged drig ged him downward fluttering flattering and screaming and seeming to my excited fancy like some unfortunate spirit being dragged to perdition I 1 round aud and round went the timber slowly at first and with ate andily increasing I 1 velocity till at last with quick 1 fer kings and rapid descent the fluttering 1 4 bird disappeared from my view I 1 I 1 bad had seen enough I 1 had felt the emotions of a lifetime compressed into afew a few I 1 hours and we sailed away from the never to be forgotten scene new york ledger |