Read "The Rapids of the Danube" by Esther Singleton online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
(_TURKEY_) / WILLIAM BEATTIE
A short way below Grein commences the rapid called "Greiner-schwall," / where the river, suddenly contracting its channel, and walled in / by rugged precipices, assumes a new aspect of foam and agitation; / while the roar of its downward course breaks deeper and harsher on / the ear. This rugged defile is the immediate inlet to the Strudel / and Wirbel -- the Scylla and Charybdis of the Danube. This is by far / the most interesting and remarkable region of the Danube. It is the / fertile theme of many legends and traditions; and in pages of history / and romance affords ample scope for marvellous incidents and striking / details. Not a villager but can relate a hundred instances of disasters / incurred, and dangers overcome, in this perilous navigation -- of lives / sacrificed and cargoes sunk while endeavouring to weather the three / grand enemies of the passage -- whirlpools, rocks, and robbers. But, / independently of these local traditions, and the difficulties and / dangers of the strait -- the natural scenery which here arrests the / eye is highly picturesque, and even sublime. It is the admiration / of all voyagers on the Upper Danube, and keeps a firm hold of the / memory long after other scenes and impressions have worn off. Between / Ulm and the confines of the Ottoman Empire, there is only one other / scene calculated to make anything like so forcible an impression on / the tourist; and that is near the cataracts of the Iron Gate -- a name / familiar to every German reader.