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100 THROUGH NORWAY WITII A KNAPSACK.
into Norway, amongst which was this information
concerning the Maelstrom; also, that the English patronized
the Norwegians very kindly, and showed them how to
improve their political institutions, their agricultural
operations, and the build of their ships and boats: and
among these practical hints and suggestions he classed
the sailing directions for avoiding the Maelstrom, which
had been drawn up by English hydrograpliers for the
benefit of Scandinavian mariners. We had much
difficulty in getting at him at all on the matter, he was so
impermeably ironical; but the lieutenant was more
communicative.
It appears that the Maelstrom, which we read about,
is an unmitigated myth. There are many mael ströms,
or bad currents, hereabouts. Several of the channels
between the islands are, in certain concurrent states of
the wind and tide, rather dangerous for small craft; and
even larger vessels, if not skilfully handled, may be
drifted against the rocks. The channel where we mark
the Maelstrom is one of these, but by 110 means the
worst of tliem; in ordinary states of wind and tide, it
may be navigated safely in a cock-boat. There is no
huge gulfing eddy anywhere hereabouts, and 1 believe
not in any other part of the world. The ancient Greeks
and Romans talk of Scylla and Charybdis, but they
were a set of lubberly mariners, as the narrative of the
voyages of Æneas and others sufficiently show. No
true sailors could have invented such a catalogue of
mythical terrors as those feeble old coast crawlers
believed in. They made more fuss about the small bit
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