Similar in its cause to the Maelstrom, though on a much inferior scale, is the current, or whirlpool, called _Hurlgate_ or _Hellgate_, between the East river and Long Island sound, near New York. In the narrow channel here, the tide flows backward and forward with great force; and there being large, irregular rocks in this channel, the water is thrown into the most violent agitation. In passing through the place, it is easy to see the waves seeming to boil as if in a pot. This place is dangerous to vessels, and many have been wrecked here; though the navigation is now so well understood, that fewer accidents happen than formerly. The steamboats generally pass in safety, but still the superb Oregon got upon the rocks here, within a few years, and came near being lost. Between Sicily and the main land are the straits of Messina, where the current is rapid. Ancient mariners deemed this a terrible place; one side they called Scylla, and the other Charybdis. The poets depicted the sailor in this rapid, as beset by horrors; for if he escaped Scylla on one side, Charybdis was ready to dash him in pieces on the other. This idea has come down to our day, and has even passed into a proverb. ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ CATARACTS AND CASCADES It has often been remarked that no one is insensible to the beauty of flowing water. When it glides quietly on in a stream, its character is that of gentleness, and it suggests only the ideas of calm and tranquil beauty. But when it expands to a greater width, and its floods are poured forth in an impetuous tide, then it assumes the aspect of grandeur, and wakens in the beholder the emotions of sublimity.