DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6094#0107
84 A TOUR THROUGH
rity of some of the divers at Naples, when
they went to the depth of forty-eight or
fifty feet, and could not conceive how a
man could remain three minutes under
water without drawing breath; but these
are nothing to the feats of one Colas, a na-
tive of this place, who is said to have lived
forseveral days in the sea, without coming
to land; and from thence got the sirname
of Pesce, or the fish. Some of the Sicilian
authors affirm, that he caught fish merely
by his agility in the water; and the credu-
lous Kircher asserts, that he could walk
across the Straits at the bottom of the sea.
—Be that as it will, he was so much cele-
brated for svvimming and diving, that one
of their kings (Frederick) came on pur-
pose to see him perform: which royal visit
proved fatal to poor Pesce; for the king,
after admiring his wonderful force and
agility, had the cruelty to propose his diving
near the gu'ph of Charybdis; and to tempt
him the more, threw in a large golden
cup,
rity of some of the divers at Naples, when
they went to the depth of forty-eight or
fifty feet, and could not conceive how a
man could remain three minutes under
water without drawing breath; but these
are nothing to the feats of one Colas, a na-
tive of this place, who is said to have lived
forseveral days in the sea, without coming
to land; and from thence got the sirname
of Pesce, or the fish. Some of the Sicilian
authors affirm, that he caught fish merely
by his agility in the water; and the credu-
lous Kircher asserts, that he could walk
across the Straits at the bottom of the sea.
—Be that as it will, he was so much cele-
brated for svvimming and diving, that one
of their kings (Frederick) came on pur-
pose to see him perform: which royal visit
proved fatal to poor Pesce; for the king,
after admiring his wonderful force and
agility, had the cruelty to propose his diving
near the gu'ph of Charybdis; and to tempt
him the more, threw in a large golden
cup,