DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0176
152 NATURAL CURIOSITIES IN NORWAY.
Ever fatal to vessels that approach it too nearly, especially
at high tide, the utmost caution is used by mariners. The
surf and foam thrown up by this aquatic volcano, forms a
circle of more than two leagues in circumference. At this
time the violent agitation of the waves, and the force with
which the water is attracted and repulsed, exhibit an ob-
ject truly terrific. The reflux of the waters, however,
from this whirlpool, offers a good opportunity to the fisher-
men who dare to hover round its surface to catch fish, aS
the ebullition is then too violent to permit them to sink.—
The violence and the roaring of this whirlpool is greater
than any cataract; and this without any intermission, ex-
cept a quarter every sixth hour; viz. at the turn of high and
low' water, vdien its impetuosity seems at a stand. This in-
terval is the only time the fishermen venture near ; but this
motion soon returns, and however calm the sea may be,
gradually increases wfith such a draught and vortex, as to
draw' in any thing that comes within its sphere of action,
a circumference nearly six miles, and keep it under water
several hours, w’hen the fragments of any large body
shivered by the rocks, frequently come to view. At the
time when the stream is most violent, and its fury height-
ened by a storm, it is dangerous to come wflthin a Norway
mile of it; boats, yatchs, and even ships having been carried
away, by not guarding against it, before they were
within its reach. It is added, as a most singular circum-
stance, that whales sometimes coming too near the stream,
are oyerpow ered by its violence, and then it is impossible
to describe their bowlings and bellowings, in their fruitless
endeavours to disengage themselves. A bear also, once
attempting to swim from Lpipeden to Moskoe, with a de-
sign of preying upon the sheep on the island, the stream
paiight him and bore him down, whilst he roared so ter-
ribly as to be heard bp sharp,
A large
Ever fatal to vessels that approach it too nearly, especially
at high tide, the utmost caution is used by mariners. The
surf and foam thrown up by this aquatic volcano, forms a
circle of more than two leagues in circumference. At this
time the violent agitation of the waves, and the force with
which the water is attracted and repulsed, exhibit an ob-
ject truly terrific. The reflux of the waters, however,
from this whirlpool, offers a good opportunity to the fisher-
men who dare to hover round its surface to catch fish, aS
the ebullition is then too violent to permit them to sink.—
The violence and the roaring of this whirlpool is greater
than any cataract; and this without any intermission, ex-
cept a quarter every sixth hour; viz. at the turn of high and
low' water, vdien its impetuosity seems at a stand. This in-
terval is the only time the fishermen venture near ; but this
motion soon returns, and however calm the sea may be,
gradually increases wfith such a draught and vortex, as to
draw' in any thing that comes within its sphere of action,
a circumference nearly six miles, and keep it under water
several hours, w’hen the fragments of any large body
shivered by the rocks, frequently come to view. At the
time when the stream is most violent, and its fury height-
ened by a storm, it is dangerous to come wflthin a Norway
mile of it; boats, yatchs, and even ships having been carried
away, by not guarding against it, before they were
within its reach. It is added, as a most singular circum-
stance, that whales sometimes coming too near the stream,
are oyerpow ered by its violence, and then it is impossible
to describe their bowlings and bellowings, in their fruitless
endeavours to disengage themselves. A bear also, once
attempting to swim from Lpipeden to Moskoe, with a de-
sign of preying upon the sheep on the island, the stream
paiight him and bore him down, whilst he roared so ter-
ribly as to be heard bp sharp,
A large