diff options
| author | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-03-02 08:13:07 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-03-02 08:13:07 -0800 |
| commit | 6668f54a172201939b89cafe3764118b1136c9d7 (patch) | |
| tree | e9051f27c0add8d2465bdbc756856935c27386e2 /78095-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '78095-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/78095-h.htm | 12823 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 257839 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 199679 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig10.jpg | bin | 0 -> 209317 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig11.jpg | bin | 0 -> 248718 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig12.jpg | bin | 0 -> 244764 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig13.jpg | bin | 0 -> 244958 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig14.jpg | bin | 0 -> 230607 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig15.jpg | bin | 0 -> 214438 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig16.jpg | bin | 0 -> 244962 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig17.jpg | bin | 0 -> 201862 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig18.jpg | bin | 0 -> 245928 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig19.jpg | bin | 0 -> 238522 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 11155 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig20.jpg | bin | 0 -> 232657 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig21.jpg | bin | 0 -> 213931 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig22.jpg | bin | 0 -> 252322 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig23.jpg | bin | 0 -> 227748 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig24.jpg | bin | 0 -> 228371 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig25.jpg | bin | 0 -> 241084 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig26.jpg | bin | 0 -> 232497 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig27.jpg | bin | 0 -> 243471 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig28.jpg | bin | 0 -> 224625 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig29.jpg | bin | 0 -> 237803 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig3.jpg | bin | 0 -> 252074 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig30.jpg | bin | 0 -> 258674 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig31.jpg | bin | 0 -> 211672 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig32.jpg | bin | 0 -> 252959 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig33.jpg | bin | 0 -> 251474 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig34.jpg | bin | 0 -> 255718 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig35.jpg | bin | 0 -> 251386 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig36.jpg | bin | 0 -> 228025 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig37.jpg | bin | 0 -> 241097 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig4.jpg | bin | 0 -> 235448 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig5.jpg | bin | 0 -> 256295 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig6.jpg | bin | 0 -> 182174 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig7.jpg | bin | 0 -> 243683 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig8.jpg | bin | 0 -> 251698 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78095-h/images/fig9.jpg | bin | 0 -> 211155 bytes |
39 files changed, 12823 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/78095-h/78095-h.htm b/78095-h/78095-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04617b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/78095-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12823 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Great Rivers of the World | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%; +} + + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +h1 {font-weight: normal; + font-size: 200%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + word-spacing: 0.3em; + } + +h2 {font-weight: normal; + font-size: 130%; + margin-top: 2em; + word-spacing: 0.3em; + } + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p1 {margin-top: 1em;} +.p3 {margin-top: 3em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + + +hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + + +.blockquot2 { + margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 5%; +} +.caption {font-size: 80%; + text-align: center;} + +.caption2 {font-size: 80%; + text-align: left;} + +.caption3 {font-size: 80%; + text-align: left; + padding-left: 2.5em;} + + +.xxlarge {font-size: 220%;} +.xlarge {font-size: 140%;} +.large {font-size: 120%;} + +.c {text-align: center;} + +.sp {word-spacing: 0.3em;} + + +.ph2 {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; + font-size: 140%; + margin-top: 1em; + word-spacing: 0.3em;} + +.lsp {letter-spacing: 0.113em;} + +.dropcap {float: left; width: auto; padding-right: 1px; font-size: 300%; line-height: 80%;} + +.dropcap1 {float: left; width: auto; padding-right: 5px; font-size: 300%; line-height: 80%;} + +.r {text-align: right; + margin-right: 2em;} + +.l {text-align: left; + margin-left: 2em;} + +.dropcap {float: left; width: auto; padding-right: 1px; font-size: 300%; line-height: 80%;} + +.dropcap1 {float: left; width: auto; padding-right: 5px; font-size: 300%; line-height: 80%;} + + + +.bbox {border: 2px solid; + padding: 1.3em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.figcenter1 { + padding-top: 4em; + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 79%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; font-size:90%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ + +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + margin-top:3em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; + border: .3em double gray; + padding: 1em; +} + +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78095 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover"> +</div> + + +<h1>Great Rivers of the World</h1> + + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<p class="c sp xxlarge"> +FAMOUS MARVELS<br> +AND MASTERPIECES<br> +OF THE WORLD</p> + +<p class="c large"> +As Seen and Described by Great Writers</p> + +<p class="c p2"> +Collected and Edited by<br> +<span class="xlarge">ESTHER SINGLETON</span> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot2"> + +<p> +Famous Paintings<br> +Great Pictures<br> +Modern Paintings<br> +Great Portraits<br> +Wonders of the World<br> +Wonders of Nature<br> +Famous Women<br> +Romantic Castles and Palaces<br> +Turrets, Towers and Temples<br> +Historic Buildings of America<br> +Historic Landmarks of America<br> +Great Rivers of the World<br> +Famous Sculpture<br> +Famous Cathedrals<br> +</p></div> + +<p class="p2">Fourteen volumes in all. Profusely illustrated. +Each sold separately.</p> + +<p>You can get any of the series where you bought +this book and at the same price.</p></div> + +<div class="figcenter1" id="f1"> +<img src="images/fig1.jpg" alt="rhine"> +<p class="caption">THE RHINE</p> +</div> + +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="c sp p1 xxlarge"> +Great Rivers of the World</p> + +<p class="c sp xlarge p2"> +As Seen and Described<br> +<span class="lsp">By Famous Writers</span></p> + +<p class="c p3"> +COLLECTED AND EDITED BY<br> +<span class="large">ESTHER SINGLETON</span></p> + +<p class="c p3 large"> +<i>With Numerous Illustrations</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter1"> +<img src="images/fig2.jpg" alt="decoration"> +</div> + +<p class="c sp p3"> +NEW YORK<br> +<span class="large">DODD, MEAD & COMPANY</span> +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="c sp"> +Copyright, 1908, by<br> +<span class="smcap">Dodd, Mead & Company</span></p> + +<p class="c sp p2"> +<i>Published, November, 1908</i> +</p> +</div> +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">Preface</p> +</div> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">R</span>IVERS possess so many varied attractions and have +so many claims on the attention of the student of +science and history, the pleasure-seeker, the traveller, the +poet and the painter, that no apology need be offered for +gathering into one volume selections from the works of +those who have described some of the most famous streams +of the world. Lyell says: “Rivers are the irrigators of +the earth’s surface, adding alike to the beauty of the landscape +and the fertility of the soil: they carry off impurities +and every sort of waste <i>débris</i>; and when of sufficient volume, +they form the most available of all channels of communication +with the interior of continents. They have +ever been things of vitality and beauty to the poet, silent +monitors to the moralist, and agents of comfort and civilization +to all mankind.”</p> + +<p>Thoreau says: “The Mississippi, the Ganges and the +Nile, those journeying atoms from the Rocky Mountains, +the Himmaleh and Mountains of the Moon, have a kind of +personal importance in the annals of the world—the +heavens are not yet drained over their sources, but the +Mountains of the Moon still send their annual tribute to +the Pasha without fail, as they did to the Pharaohs, though +he must collect the rest of his revenue at the point of the +sword. Rivers must have been the guides which conducted +the footsteps of the first travellers. They are the constant +lure, when they flow by our doors, to distant enterprise and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</span> +adventure, and, by a natural impulse, the dwellers on their +banks will at length accompany their currents to the lowlands +of the globe, or explore at their invitation the interior +of continents. They are the natural highways of all +nations, not only levelling the ground and removing obstacles +from the path of the traveller, quenching his thirst, +and bearing him on their bosoms, but conducting him +through the most interesting scenery, the most populous +portions of the globe, and where the animal and vegetable +kingdoms attain their greatest perfection.”</p> + +<p>In the following pages little will be found dealing with +the material blessings bestowed on mankind by the agency +of rivers. The average reader is more interested in the +antiquarian and legendary lore of the sources, rapids, banks +and islands of a famous stream. Length of course and volume +of water are matters of no importance to lovers of the +picturesque, the venerable, or the romantic. Therefore +the literature of the Shannon is more fascinating than that +of the Amazon, and the Jordan attracts more pilgrims than +the Volga. Small streams like the Wye, the Yarrow, and +the Oise consequently find a place among these celebrated +rivers.</p> + +<p class="r large">E. S.</p> + +<p class="l"><i>New York, October, 1908.</i></p> +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span></p></div> + +<p class="ph2">Contents</p> + + +<table> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c1"><span class="smcap">The Rhine</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Victor Hugo</i></td> + <td class="tdr">1</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c2"><span class="smcap">The Seine</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>A. Bowman Blake</i></td> + <td class="tdr">8</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c3"><span class="smcap">The Ganges</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Sir William Hunter</i></td> + <td class="tdr">19</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c4"><span class="smcap">Morning on the Ganges     </span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Pierre Loti</i></td> + <td class="tdr">24</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c5"><span class="smcap">The Colorado</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Henry Gannett</i></td> + <td class="tdr">28</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c6"><span class="smcap">The Avon</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>John Wilson Croker</i></td> + <td class="tdr">34</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c7"><span class="smcap">Down the St. Lawrence</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Charles Dickens</i></td> + <td class="tdr">46</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c8"><span class="smcap">The Tigris</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>George Rawlinson</i></td> + <td class="tdr">52</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c9"><span class="smcap">The Oise</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Robert Louis Stevenson</i></td> + <td class="tdr">55</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c10"><span class="smcap">The Hudson</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Esther Singleton</i></td> + <td class="tdr">65</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c11"><span class="smcap">The Tiber</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Strother A. Smith</i></td> + <td class="tdr">76</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c12"><span class="smcap">The Shannon</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Arthur Shadwell Martin</i></td> + <td class="tdr">87</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c13"><span class="smcap">The Danube</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>I. Bowes</i></td> + <td class="tdr">94</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c14"><span class="smcap">The Niger</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>J. Hampden Jackson</i></td> + <td class="tdr">101</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c15"><span class="smcap">The Amazon</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Joseph Jones</i></td> + <td class="tdr">107</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c16"><span class="smcap">The Yangtse Chiang</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>W. R. Carles</i></td> + <td class="tdr">113</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c17"><span class="smcap">The Thames</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Charles Dickens, Jr.</i></td> + <td class="tdr">122</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c18"><span class="smcap">The Connecticut</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Timothy Dwight</i></td> + <td class="tdr">131</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c19"><span class="smcap">Mosel</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>F. Warre Cornish</i></td> + <td class="tdr">138</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c20"><span class="smcap">The Irrawaddy</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Emily A. Richings</i></td> + <td class="tdr">144</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c21"><span class="smcap">The Clyde</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Robert Walker</i></td> + <td class="tdr">155</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c22"><span class="smcap">The Volga</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Elisée Reclus</i></td> + <td class="tdr">162</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c23"><span class="smcap">The Congo</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>J. Howard Reed</i></td> + <td class="tdr">169</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c24"><span class="smcap">The Mackenzie River</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>William Ogilvie</i></td> + <td class="tdr">177</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c25"><span class="smcap">The Loire</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>I. Victor Hugo</i></td> + <td class="tdr">185</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"></td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c26"><i>II. Honoré de Balzac</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr">189</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c27"><span class="smcap">The Potomac</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Esther Singleton</i></td> + <td class="tdr">191</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c28"><span class="smcap">The Euphrates</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>George Rawlinson</i></td> + <td class="tdr">197<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c29"><span class="smcap">The Wye</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>A. R. Quinton</i></td> + <td class="tdr">201</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c30"><span class="smcap">The Indian River</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>L. C. Bryan</i></td> + <td class="tdr">208</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c31"><span class="smcap">The Nile</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>I. J. Howard Reed</i></td> + <td class="tdr">213</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"></td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c32"><i>II. Isaac Taylor</i></a></td> + <td class="tdr">219</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c33"><span class="smcap">The Don</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Elisée Reclus</i></td> + <td class="tdr">223</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c34"><span class="smcap">The Columbia</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>J. Boddam-Whetham</i></td> + <td class="tdr">228</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c35"><span class="smcap">The Po</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>George G. Chisholm</i></td> + <td class="tdr">235</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c36"><span class="smcap">The Menam</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Mrs. Unsworth</i></td> + <td class="tdr">241</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c37"><span class="smcap">The Merrimack</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Henry D. Thoreau</i></td> + <td class="tdr">249</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c38"><span class="smcap">The Yen-e-say</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Henry Seebohm</i></td> + <td class="tdr">254</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c39"><span class="smcap">The Yarrow</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>John MacWhirter</i></td> + <td class="tdr">263</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c40"><span class="smcap">The Mississippi</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Alexander D. Anderson</i></td> + <td class="tdr">272</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c41"><span class="smcap">The Zambesi</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Henry Drummond</i></td> + <td class="tdr">280</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c42"><span class="smcap">The Uruguay</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Ernest William White</i></td> + <td class="tdr">286</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c43"><span class="smcap">The Tweed</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Sir Thomas Dick Lauder</i>   </td> + <td class="tdr">293</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c44"><span class="smcap">Niagara</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>John Tyndall</i></td> + <td class="tdr">304</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c45"><span class="smcap">The Niagara River</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>G. K. Gilbert</i></td> + <td class="tdr">312</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c46"><span class="smcap">The Meuse</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Esther Singleton</i></td> + <td class="tdr">316</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c47"><span class="smcap">The Rhone</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Angus B. Reach</i></td> + <td class="tdr">321</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c48"><span class="smcap">The Yukon</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>William Ogilvie</i></td> + <td class="tdr">328</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c49"><span class="smcap">The Jordan</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Andrew Robert Fausset</i></td> + <td class="tdr">338</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c50"><span class="smcap">The Concord</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Henry D. Thoreau</i></td> + <td class="tdr">343</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c51"><span class="smcap">The Tagus</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Arthur Shadwell Martin</i></td> + <td class="tdr">350</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c52"><span class="smcap">The Indus</span></a></td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Edward Balfour</i></td> + <td class="tdr">354</td></tr> + +</table> + +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">Illustrations</p> +</div> + +<table> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f1"><span class="smcap">The Rhine</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Frontispiece</i></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f3"><span class="smcap">The Seine</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">8</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f4"><span class="smcap">The Ganges</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">20</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f5"><span class="smcap">The Colorado</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">28</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f6"><span class="smcap">The Avon</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">34</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f7"><span class="smcap">The St. Lawrence</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">46</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f8"><span class="smcap">The Hudson</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">66</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f9"><span class="smcap">The Tiber</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">76</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f10"><span class="smcap">The Shannon</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">88</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f11"><span class="smcap">The Danube</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">94</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f12"><span class="smcap">The Thames</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">122</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f13"><span class="smcap">The Connecticut</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">132</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f14"><span class="smcap">The Irrawaddy</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">144</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f15"><span class="smcap">The Clyde</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">156</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f16"><span class="smcap">The Volga</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">162</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f17"><span class="smcap">The Congo</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">170</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f18"><span class="smcap">The Loire</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">186</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f19"><span class="smcap">The Potomac</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">192</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f20"><span class="smcap">The Wye</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">202</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f21"><span class="smcap">The Indian</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">208</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f22"><span class="smcap">The Nile</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">214</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f23"><span class="smcap">The Don</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">224</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f24"><span class="smcap">The Columbia</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">228</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f25"><span class="smcap">The Po</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">236<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f26"><span class="smcap">The Menam</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">242</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f27"><span class="smcap">The Merrimack</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">250</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f28"><span class="smcap">The Yarrow</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">264</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f29"><span class="smcap">The Mississippi</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">272</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f30"><span class="smcap">The Zambesi</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">280</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f31"><span class="smcap">The Tweed</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">294</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f32"><span class="smcap">The Niagara</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">304</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f33"><span class="smcap">The Meuse</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">316</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f34"><span class="smcap">The Rhone</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">322</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f35"><span class="smcap">The Jordan</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">338</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f36"><span class="smcap">The Concord</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">344</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#f37"><span class="smcap">The Tagus</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">350</td></tr> + +</table> + +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c1">THE RHINE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">VICTOR HUGO</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap1">I</span> LOVE rivers; they do more than bear merchandise—ideas +float along their surface. Rivers, like clarions, +sing to the ocean of the beauty of the earth, the fertility of +plains, and the splendour of cities.</p> + +<p>Of all rivers, I prefer the Rhine. It is now a year, +when passing the bridge of boats at Kehl, since I first saw +it. I remember that I felt a certain respect, a sort of admiration, +for this old, this classic stream. I never think of +rivers—those great works of Nature, which are also great +in history,—without emotion.</p> + +<p>I remember the Rhone at Valserine; I saw it in 1825, +in a pleasant excursion to Switzerland, which is one of the +sweet, happy recollections of my early life. I remember +with what noise, with what ferocious bellowing, the Rhone +precipitated itself into the gulf whilst the frail bridge upon +which I was standing was shaking beneath my feet. Ah! +well! since that time, the Rhone brings to my mind the idea +of a tiger,—the Rhine, that of a lion.</p> + +<p>The evening on which I saw the Rhine for the first time, +I was impressed with the same idea. For several minutes +I stood contemplating this proud and noble river—violent, +but not furious; wild, but still majestic. It was swollen, +and was magnificent in appearance, and was washing its +yellow mane, or, as Boileau says, its “slimy beard,” the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span> +bridge of boats. Its two banks were lost in the twilight, +and though its roaring was loud, still there was tranquillity.</p> + +<p>Yes, the Rhine is a noble river—feudal, republican, imperial—worthy, +at the same time, of France and Germany. +The whole history of Europe is combined within its two +great aspects—in this flood of the warrior and of the philosopher—in +this proud stream, which causes France to +bound with joy, and by whose profound murmurings Germany +is bewildered in dreams.</p> + +<p>The Rhine is unique; it combines the qualities of every +river. Like the Rhone, it is rapid; broad, like the Loire; +encased, like the Meuse; serpentine, like the Seine; limpid +and green, like the Somme; historical, like the Tiber; +royal, like the Danube; mysterious, like the Nile; spangled +with gold, like an American river; and, like a river of Asia, +abounding with phantoms and fables.</p> + +<p>Before the commencement of History, perhaps before the +existence of man, where the Rhine now is there was a +double chain of volcanos, which on their extinction left +heaps of lava and basalt lying parallel, like two long walls. +At the same epoch the gigantic crystallizations formed the +primitive mountains; the enormous alluvions of which the +secondary mountains consist were dried up; the frightful +heap, which is now cold, and snow accumulated on them, +from which two great streams issued, the one—flowing towards +the north, crossed the plains, encountered the sides +of the extinguished volcanos, and emptied itself into the +ocean; the other, taking its course westward, fell from +mountain to mountain, flowed along the side of the block +of extinguished volcanos, which is now Ardâche, and was +finally lost in the Mediterranean. The first of those inundations +is the Rhine, and the second the Rhone.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> + +<p>From historical records we find that the first people who +took possession of the banks of the Rhine were the half-savage +Celts, who were afterwards named Gauls by the +Romans. When Rome was in its glory, Cæsar crossed the +Rhine, and shortly afterwards the whole of the river was +under the jurisdiction of his empire. When the Twenty-second +Legion returned from the siege of Jerusalem, Titus +sent it to the banks of the Rhine, where it continued the +work of <i>Martius Agrippa</i>. The conquerors required a town +to join Melibocus to Taunus; and Moguntiacum, begun +by Martius, was founded by the Legion, built by Trajan, +and embellished by Adrian. Singular coincidence! and +which we must note in passing. This Twenty-second +Legion brought with it Crescentius, who was first that carried +the Word of God into the Rhingau, and founded the +new religion. God ordained that these ignorant men, who +had pulled down the last stone of His temple upon the +Jordan, should lay the first of another upon the banks of +the Rhine. After Trajan and Adrian came Julian, who +erected a fortress upon the confluence of the Rhine and the +Moselle; then Valentinian, who built a number of castles. +Thus in a few centuries, Roman colonies, like an immense +chain, linked the whole of the Rhine.</p> + +<p>At length the time arrived when Rome was to assume +another aspect. The incursions of the Northern hordes +were eventually too frequent and too powerful for Rome; so, +about the Sixth Century, the banks of the Rhine were +strewed with Roman ruins, as at present with feudal ones.</p> + +<p>Charlemagne cleared away the rubbish, built fortresses, +and opposed the German hordes; but notwithstanding his +desire to do more, Rome died, and the physiognomy of the +Rhine was changed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p> + +<p>Already, as I before mentioned, an unperceived germ was +sprouting in the Rhingau. Religion, that divine eagle, began +to spread its wings, and deposited among the rocks an +egg that contained the germ of a world. St. Apollinaire, +following the example of Crescentius, who, in the year +70 preached the Word of God at Taunus, visited Rigomagum. +St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, catechized Confluentia; +St. Materne, before visiting Tongres, resided at +Cologne. At Trèves, Christians began to suffer the death +of martyrdom, and their ashes were swept away by the +wind; but these were not lost, for they became seeds, +which were germinating in the fields during the passage of +the barbarians, although nothing at that time was seen of +them.</p> + +<p>After an historical period the Rhine became linked with +the marvellous. Where the noise of man is hushed, Nature +lends a tongue to the nest of birds, causes the caves to +whisper, and the thousand voices of solitude to murmur; +where historical facts cease, imagination gives life to shadows +and realities to dreams. Fables took root, grew, and +blossomed in the voids of History, like weeds and brambles +in the crevices of a ruined palace.</p> + +<p>Civilization, like the sun, has its nights and its days, its +plenitudes and its eclipses; now it disappears, but soon returns.</p> + +<p>As soon as civilization again dawned upon Taunus, there +were upon the borders of the Rhine a whole host of legends +and fabulous stories. Populations of mysterious beings, +who inhabited the now dismantled castles, had held communion +with the <i>belles filles</i> and <i>beaux chevaliers</i> of the place. +Spirits of the rocks; black hunters, crossing the thickets +upon stags with six horns; the maid of the black fen; the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span> +six maidens of the red marshes; Wodan, the god with ten +hands; the twelve black men; the raven that croaked its +song; the devil who placed his stone at Teufelstein and his +ladder Teufelsleiter, and who had the effrontery to preach +publicly at Gernsbach, near the Black Forest, but, happily, +the Word of God was heard at the other side of the stream; +the demon, Urian, who crossed the Rhine at Dusseldorf, +having upon his back the banks that he had taken from the +sea-shore, with which he intended to destroy Aix-la-Chapelle, +but being fatigued with his burden, and deceived +by an old woman, he stupidly dropped his load at the imperial +city, where that bank is at present pointed out, and +bears the name of Loosberg. At that epoch, which for us +was plunged into a penumbra, when magic lights were +sparkling here and there, when the rocks, the woods, the +valleys, were tenanted by apparitions; mysterious encounters, +infernal castles, melodious songs sung by invisible songstresses; +the frightful bursts of laughter emanating from +mysterious beings,—these, with a host of other adventures, +shrouded in impossibility, and holding on by the heel of +reality, are detailed in the legends.</p> + +<p>At last these phantoms disappear as dawn bursts in upon +them. Civilization again resumed its sway, and fiction +gave place to fact. The Rhine assumed another aspect: +abbeys and convents increased; churches were built along +the banks of the river. The ecclesiastic princes multiplied +the edifices in the Rhingau, as the prefects of Rome had +done before them.</p> + +<p>The Sixteenth Century approached; in the Fourteenth the +Rhine witnessed the invention of artillery; and on its bank, +at Strasbourg, a printing-office was first established. In +1400 the famous cannon, fourteen feet in length, was cast<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span> +at Cologne; and in 1472 Vindelin de Spire printed his +Bible. A new world was making its appearance; and, +strange to say, it was upon the banks of the Rhine that +those two mysterious tools with which God unceasingly +works out the civilization of man,—the catapult and the +book—war and thought,—took a new form.</p> + +<p>The Rhine, in the destinies of Europe, has a sort of +providential signification. It is the great moat which +divides the north from the south. The Rhine for thirty +ages, has seen the forms and reflected the shadows of almost +all the warriors who tilled the old continent with that share +which they call sword. Cæsar crossed the Rhine in going +to the south; Attila crossed it when descending to the +north. It was here that Clovis gained the battle of +Tolbiac; and that Charlemagne and Napoleon figured. +Frederick Barbarossa, Rudolph of Hapsbourg, and Frederick +the First, were great, victorious, and formidable when +here. For the thinker, who is conversant with History, +two great eagles are perpetually hovering over the Rhine—that +of the Roman legions, and that of the French +regiments. The Rhine—that noble flood, which the Romans +named <i>Rhenus superbus</i>, bore at one time upon its +surface bridges of boats, over which the armies of Italy, +Spain, and France poured into Germany, and which, at a +later date, were made use of by the hordes of barbarians +when rushing into the ancient Roman world: at another, +on its surface it floated peaceably the fir-trees of Murg and +St. Gall, the porphyry and the marble of Bale, the salt of +Karlshall, the leather of Stromberg, the quicksilver of Lansberg, +the wine of Johannisberg, the slates of Coab, the +cloth and earthenware of Wallendar, the silks and linens of +Cologne. It majestically performs its double function of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> +flood of war and flood of peace, having, without interruption, +upon the ranges of hills which embank the most +notable portion of its course, oak-trees on the one side and +vine-trees on the other—signifying strength and joy.</p> + +<p>For Homer the Rhine existed not; for Virgil it was only +a frozen stream—<i>Frigiora Rheni</i>; for Shakespeare it was +the “beautiful Rhine”; for us it is, and will be to the day +when it shall become the grand question of Europe, a picturesque +river, the resort of the unemployed of Ems, of +Baden, and of Spa.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c2">THE SEINE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">A. BOWMAN BLAKE</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>EW persons outside of France have any acquaintance +with, or knowledge of, the rare beauties of Seine scenery. +The river has thus far escaped the vulgarity of becoming a +common tourist’s high-road. The general impression is +current that the Seine, being destitute of the legendary romance +of the vine-clad Rhine, the vivid and somewhat +spectacular scenic effects of the Italian lakes, or even the +lawn-like finish of the Thames, offers no attractions to +either amateur or tourist. This opinion only proves the +falsity of opinion based upon superficial knowledge. From +the artistic point of view, perhaps, no other one river in +Europe possesses a character of scenery so preëminently +beautiful, or so replete with the charm of contrast, or rich +in variety; for the picturesque portions of the noble river +are by no means confined to the grandeur and wildness of +the Fontainebleau forests, or of the animated quays and +crumbling Mediæval houses of the ancient city of Rouen. +To one in search of scenes which shall unite the charms of +beautiful river scenery with the added note of pastoral and +village rusticity, almost every turning of the river will reveal +a mine of wealth. It is a characteristic of the scenery +of the Seine that it is eminently sketchable at almost every +point. For it is more than a purely picturesque, it is an +essentially poetic river. A conclusive proof of its superiority +in point of artistic resources and suggestivement +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>is, perhaps, that no other European river scenery has had so +overwhelming an influence upon modern Art. During the +past forty years, in which the Seine and its tributaries have +been the principal camping-ground of the best French landscape-painters, +the peculiarities of its scenery, and the features +of its rustic life, have formed the taste, and developed a +wholly original mode of treatment of <i>genre</i> and landscape in +the modern French school. The two principal characteristics +of the scenery of the Seine are its naturalness, and its +possessing in the highest degree that individuality which marks +its landscapes as distinctively French. The Seine could +never be mistaken at any point for other than a French +river. The Parisian masters, in transferring to their canvasses +the peculiarities of the river and shore aspects, have +produced a school of landscape as essentially national in +character as that which marks the Dutch and Flemish masterpieces +of two hundred years ago. The low wide meadows, +the stately poplars, the reedy shores, and the delicate +atmosphere which veils the jumble of roofs, and the quaint +towers and turrets that are lanced from the Seine shores, +have already become as familiar features of modern French +landscape, as the cone-shaped hills of Flanders and the flat +windmill-dotted fields of Holland, which makes the character +of the landscape in Dutch and Flemish canvasses.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f3"> +<img src="images/fig3.jpg" alt="seine"> +<p class="caption">THE SEINE</p> +</div> + +<p>I have spoken of the naturalness of the Seine landscape. +It is this which makes its lasting charm. Along these +banks Nature neither rises to the sublime nor does she appear +in too wild or dishevelled a state. There is a happy +blending of the cultivated and the uncultivated, of course +tamed and yet enjoying the wilder <i>abandon</i> of freedom. +Nowhere are the scenes too grand or too wide for the pencil; +the hills suggest, but do not attain, the majestic; the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> +wide, flat fields and the long stretches of meadows are +broken into possible distances by a gently sloping ground, +or an avenue of tall poplars. The villages and farm-houses +dotted along its banks wear a thoroughly rustic air; the +villas and <i>châteaux</i> crowning its low hills become naturally +a part of the landscape by their happy adaptation, architecturally, +to the character of their surroundings; while the not +infrequent ruins of monastery or ancient castle group charmingly +with the fluffy foliage and dense shrubbery.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the impressionist’s most ideal landscape would be +found among the villages of the upper Seine, that part of +the Seine which flows between Fontainebleau and Rouen, +as beyond Rouen the river takes on a stronger and bolder +character both in its breadth and in the quality of its +scenery.</p> + +<p>First in point of beauty among the villages contiguous to +Fontainebleau, is Grètz, a little village not directly upon +the Seine, but upon its tributary, the Loing. Grètz can be +reached in an hour’s drive from the town or palace of Fontainebleau. +This charming village must have grown here, +close to the low sweet level of the winding river’s banks, +with a view to its being sketched. Not a feature necessary +to the making of a picture is wanting. The village street +lies back some distance from the shore, the backs of the +houses fronting on the river, the village and river life made +one by the straggling rose, fruit, and vegetable gardens running +down between their high stone-wall enclosures to the +very edges of the swiftly flowing streams. As one views +the village from the mid-stream, one has the outlined irregularity +of the village houses limned against the sky. To +the right, between the tall grenadier-like poplars, or the +higher branches of the willow, rises a beautiful group of old<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> +buildings; the blue spaces of the sky are seen through the +arches and ruins of the old <i>château</i> of La Reine Blanche, +that queen having made, centuries ago, Grètz her dwelling +place. The massive, simple lines of the castle’s Norman +tower contrast finely with the belfry of the still more ancient +church close beside it, the dark façades of these old buildings +being relieved by the gay touches of colour upon the +adjacent houses. A queer old bridge appears to leap directly +from the very courtyard of the <i>château</i> to the opposite +shore, and on the bridge is constantly moving some +picture of rustic life, peasants with loads of grapes or +fagots, a herd of oxen laboriously dragging the teeming hay-cart, +a group of chattering villagers, or the shepherd leading +his flock to richer pastures. The river banks themselves +are not wanting in the beauty of human activity. In the +gardens, as our boat drifted along the banks, were half-a-dozen +bent old women weeding, sowing, and plucking. +Farther down, beyond the bridge, is the washerwomen’s +stand, the bare arms, short skirts, and gay kerchiefs of these +sturdy peasant women, with the bits of colour their home-spun +linens yield, making delightful contrasts with the delicate +arabesques which light foliage made against the sky.</p> + +<p>The upper valley of the Seine, that portion of the river +lying between Paris and Rouen, seems at a first glance to be +a country as sterile in artistic resources as it is interesting +to the average tourist. But the French artist, so far from +finding the flat, wide stretches of field and meadow, the +scanty foliage, and the scattered group of farm-houses which +border the river banks, either too prosaic or too trite for his +pencil, has discovered from a close study of this apparently +common-place valley scenery a new feature of landscape +beauty. This feature has been the present original treatment<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> +of the flat surfaces of ground and of large sunlit +spaces. The character of all this valley scenery may be +summed up in a few words; tilled fields running down to +the water’s edge; wild uncultivated fields and rank dank +meadows, their flatness broken here and there by a clustering +group of low shrubbery, by rows of the slim, straight +French poplars, or an avenue of stunted, bulbous-trunk +willows, with their straight, reed-like branches. The entire +landscape has but two lines, the horizontality of the +meadows and the perpendicular uprising of the trees, except +that far off in the distance run the waving outlines of the +hills of Normandy. Such is the aspect of the country in +which some of the first among contemporaneous French +artists have found new sources of inspiration. Those wide, +sunlit meadows, breathing the rich luxuriance of nature in +undisturbed serenity; the golden spaces of the air shimmering +like some netted tissue between tree and tree; the +shadows cast by a single tree across the length of the field; +an intimate knowledge and study of this landscape have +taught the French brush the secret of its power in painting +a flat picture, and in wresting from sunlight the glory of its +gold. The peculiar qualities of the atmosphere at certain +seasons of the year make the Seine valley entrancing, +especially to Art Students. In the spring, nothing can exceed +the delicacy, purity and fineness of the colouring of +the foliage, and the tones of light are marvellous in their +dainty refinement and suggestiveness. Nature seems to be +making a sketch in outline of a picture, which summer is +to fill in, so pure are the outlines of foliage and landscape in +that wonderful medium of delicately coloured ether. In +summer, sunlight fairly drenches the fields. Autumn +colours, also, here seem richer, firmer, more glowing than in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> +other parts of France, and the October twilights in their +brilliance and duration approach an American tint.</p> + +<p>The first breaks in the monotony of the valley scenery +are the approaches to, and the immediate suburbs about, +Rouen. The river banks just below are particularly +picturesque. The river between Rouen and La Bouille assumes +a character different from that which marks it above +a city. It was my special good fortune to traverse this +portion sometime before sunrise. We left the city behind +us masked in grey mist, only the iron <i>flèche</i> of the cathedral +piercing the cottony wrappings. On the motionless Seine +not a ripple was astir, and the morning fog held leaves and +trees in a close, breathless embrace. But at Croisset, with +the shooting of the sun above the horizon came the melting +hues and freshening breath of morning. As the clouds, +slowly rolled apart, gave us glimpses of the magnificent +panorama of Rouen set in its circlet of hills, the effect was +that of the gradual lifting of a drop-curtain upon some fine +scenic landscape. The river itself was a jewel of colour, +reflecting the faintly tinted shipping along the wharves, the +rich emerald of the trees, and the shadowy grasses along +the shore. The steamer on its way steers in and out among +a hundred little islands which give a magical effect of enchantment, +so fairy-like and exquisite are their shapes and +forms. With Croisset, Hautot, Loquence, and Sahurs, the +majesty of the Rouen quays, wharves, spires, and cathedral +towers gives place to the richer, softer beauty of rural village +loveliness. But the most beautiful picture greeted our +eyes as we approached La Bouille, which is picturesquely +set against the greenery of a hilly back-ground, its bright, +light-coloured houses so close to the water’s edge that the +river was like a broken rainbow of colour, reflecting their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> +tints in its ripples. Across the river was a magnificent expanse +of meadow and tilled field, with a poplar now and +then to serve as a sentinel guarding the bursting grain. +The banks of the river are delightfully diversified by +clusters of old thatched farm-houses, spreading fishing-nets, +and old boats moored in tiny creeks. As we passed the last +of the village houses, there were some wonderful effects of +light and colour; all the confused indecision of light scurrying +clouds piled above the meadows; the uncertain vagueness +of a mist rolling still, like the skirts of a fleecy robe, +over the distant river bends; and immediately above us the +warmth, brilliance, and goldenness of sunrise in its early +splendour. Couched amidst the mysterious shade of some +dense foliage was the bending form of an old woman, filling +her pitcher at the river-side, scarlet kerchiefed and dun +skirted. Off in the grey distance was the figure of a +peasant woman carrying her child upon her back, her tall, +straight form magnified into strange attitude by the misty +atmosphere. A brush capable of strong handling, and an +eye trained to seize the more fleeting beauties of nature, +would have found in this La Bouille picture a poem of +colour and tenderness.</p> + +<p>I have already mentioned the naturalness of the rustic +life of the Seine fields and farm-houses. The sturdy +simplicity of the Normandy peasant is his well-known +characteristic. The farmers at the plough, the fishermen +mending their nets, the shepherd tending his flocks, are not +the least poetic of the elements which make the charm of +this river scenery. There reigns here an Arcadian calm, +a certain patriarchal simplicity. The complicated ingenuities +and labour-saving machines of modern invention have +not as yet become the fashion among the Normandy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> +peasant-farmers, and thus every agricultural implement, +seen out-of-doors, seems available for an artist’s purpose. +The ploughs are marvels of ancient construction; oxen and +horses are harnessed in ways known only to those who +have learned the science as a secret handed down from sire +to son; and carts, threshing-machines, rakes, and hoes have +an air of venerability that matches well with the old gabled +houses and worn rustic dress of the farmers. It is this +aspect of age which imparts such beautiful low tones of +colour to the pictures of human life along these shores. +There are no flaring, flashing hues, no brilliant dashes of +colour; instead, the tones of landscape, sky, atmosphere, +and the human life blend in a beautiful harmony of soft +low tints. In matters of toilet, the Normandy peasant’s +taste is perfect. The farmers wear blouses of dark, sober +blues; the women short skirts of dull green, brown or +home-spun grey; their aprons are snuff-colour or lilac, and +their close-fitting embroidered cap, or the coloured kerchief +tied over their heads, brings into admirable relief their brilliant +complexions, strong prominent features, and flaxen +tresses.</p> + +<p>In that morning’s journey from Rouen to Havre we enjoyed +a delightful variety of out-door life. In the early +sunrise hours there were visible the first symptoms of the +farm-house in early rising. The farmer was seen striding +over the dew-wet meadows to open barns or to drive forth +the cattle; women were busy milking, and the children +trudging to the river with pails and pitchers to be filled. +Later, the fields were alive with the ploughmen’s cries, and +men and women were starting out, rakes and scythes in +hand, for their day’s work; children stood up to their chins +in the yellow grain, in the midst of the scarlet <i>coquelicots</i> and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> +the star-eyed daisies. Towards noon there was a pretty +picture of a farmer wheeling along the river bank a huge +load of green grass, atop of which were seated two round, +moon-faced children whose laps and hands were full of the +brilliant field-flowers. Behind them walked the mother +with a rake slung over her shoulder, her short skirts and +scant draperies permitting a noble freedom of step and +movement, her head poised as only the head of a woman +used to the balancing of heavy burdens is ever held. Hers +was altogether a striking figure, and the brush of Vollen or +of Breton would have seized upon her to embody the type +of one of his rustic beauties, whose mingled fierceness and +grace make their peasants the rude goddesses of the plough.</p> + +<p>One of the chief charms of the Seine scenery is the +variety and contrast its shores present. One passes directly +from the calm and the rural naturalness of sloping meadows +fringed with osiers, willows, and poplars, to the walled +quays of Caudebec, with its spires, broad avenues, and +garden-enclosed houses. Caudebec is characterized by an +imposing <i>château</i> crowning its hillside, by beautiful gardens, +terraces, its long row of “striped” houses stretching along +its quays, and the beauty of its cathedral spire rising above +the tree-trops.</p> + +<p>Perhaps Villequier may be said to be the culminating +point of beauty upon the Seine. Here the river seems only +like a large lake, a fact which invests the landscape with its +noble uprising hills and the beautiful, thickly wooded spurs +of the hillocks, with something of the rounded finished aspect +which belongs to lake scenery. The lovely village of +Villequier itself peeps in and out of its encompassing trees +as if with a conscious air of coquetry. The bright, gaily +coloured houses grouped upon the water’s edge give a touch<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> +of Italian brilliancy to the scene, while its fine <i>château</i> +of Villequier and the old Gothic spire of the village church +add the noble lines to the <i>ensemble</i>.</p> + +<p>This bay of Villequier is the beginning of the bolder +beauty of the Seine scenery. Its quieter aspects lie above +Villequier. The artist in search of striking scenes and a +rich variety of contrasts will find this part of the river +afford fine material. On the way to Quillebœuf and Tancarville +the shores of the river assume a hundred different +aspects. There is the forest of Bretonne, the lovely valley +of the Bolbec, the beautiful <i>château</i> of Etalan, and the +ruins of the Twelfth Century church. Quillebœuf itself +stands boldly out into the river, perched upon a spur of +rising ground, and is, perhaps, the most pretentious town +upon the Seine. After Quillebœuf and Tancarville the +loftier hills and thickly wooded shores of the river give +place to wide, flat marshes and open valleys. The marshes +just beyond Quillebœuf are, to our taste, its most distinguishing +beauty; they run directly out to the most distant +points of the horizon, and the rich yellow-green grass, with +its brilliant bouquets of wild flowers scattered profusely over +the flat treeless surface, makes a kaleidoscope of colour under +the broad unbroken splendour of the noon-day sun. +Cattle in large herds, horses, and sheep, pasture upon the +rich meadows, so that the animal-painter finds here a superb +landscape for the setting of his ruminating cows, fleecy +sheep, or wild unbridled colts.</p> + +<p>Just beyond these meadows the Seine loses all the character +of a river. It has assumed, before its final plunge +into the ocean, the turbulent, tumultuous aspect of a small +sea, and like a lover wearing his lady’s colours, the river +turns to the deeper greys and colder blues of the sea’s dark<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> +tint. The boat stops long enough at the wonderful old +seaport town of Honfleur for one to catch a glimpse of its +quaint turreted houses, its crooked narrow streets, its +wharves with their picturesque assemblage of lateen-shaped +sails. Then Havre is reached, and with those swarming +quays and bright pebbly shores the Seine is lost in the great +Atlantic.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c3">THE GANGES</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">SIR WILLIAM W. HUNTER</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">O</span>F all great rivers on the surface of the globe, none +can compare in sanctity with the Ganges, or +Mother Gangá, as she is affectionately called by devout +Hindus. From her source in the Himálayas, to her mouth +in the Bay of Bengal, her banks are holy ground. Each +point of junction of a tributary with the main stream has its +own special claims to sanctity. But the tongue of land at +Allahábád, where the Ganges unites with her great sister +river the Jumna, is the true <i>Prayág</i>, the place of pilgrimage +whither hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus repair to +wash away their sins in her sanctifying waters. Many of +the other holy rivers of India borrow their sanctity from a +supposed underground connection with the Ganges. This +fond fable recalls the primitive time when the Aryan race +was moving southward with fresh and tender recollections +of the Gangetic plains. It is told not only of first-class +rivers of Central and Southern India, like the Narbadá, but +also of many minor streams of local sanctity.</p> + +<p>An ancient legend relates how Gangá, the fair daughter +of King Himálaya (Himávat) and of his queen, the air-nymph +Menaka, was persuaded, after long supplication, to +shed her purifying influence upon the sinful earth. The +icicle-studded cavern from which she issues is the tangled +hair of the god Siva. Loving legends hallow each part of +her course; and from the names of her tributaries and of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> +the towns along her banks, a whole mythology might be +built up. The southern offshoots of the Aryan race not only +sanctified their southern rivers by a fabled connection with +the holy stream of the north. They also hoped that in the +distant future, their rivers would attain an equal sanctity +by the diversion of the Ganges waters through underground +channels. Thus, the Bráhmans along the Narbadá maintain +that in this iron age of the world (indeed, in the year 1894 +<span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span>) the sacred character of the Ganges will depart from +her now polluted stream, and take refuge by an underground +passage in their own Narbadá river.</p> + +<p>The estuary of the Ganges is not less sacred than her +source. Ságar Island at her mouth is annually visited by a +vast concourse of pilgrims, in commemoration of her act of +saving grace; when, in order to cleanse the 60,000 damned +ones of the house of Ságar, she divided herself into a hundred +channels, thus making sure of reaching their remains +with her purifying waters, and so forming the delta of +Bengal. The six years’ pilgrimage from her source to her +mouth and back again, known as <i>pradak-shina</i>, is still performed +by many; and a few devotees may yet be seen +wearily accomplishing the meritorious penance of “measuring +their length” along certain parts of the route. To +bathe in the Ganges at the stated festivals washes away +guilt, and those who have thus purified themselves carry +back bottles of her water to their kindred in far-off provinces. +To die and be cremated on the river bank, and to +have their ashes borne seaward by her stream, is the last +wish of millions of Hindus. Even to ejaculate “Gangá, +Gangá, at the distance of one hundred leagues from the +river,” said her more enthusiastic devotees, might atone for +the sins committed during three previous lives.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f4"> +<img src="images/fig4.jpg" alt="ganges"> +<p class="caption">THE GANGES</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span></p> + +<p>The Ganges has earned the reverence of the people by +centuries of unfailing work done for them. She and her +tributaries are the unwearied water-carriers for the densely-peopled +provinces of Northern India, and the peasantry +reverence the bountiful stream which fertilizes their fields +and distributes their produce. None of the other rivers of +India comes near to the Ganges in works of beneficence. +The Brahmaputra and the Indus have longer streams, as +measured by the geographer, but their upper courses lie beyond +the great mountain wall in the unknown recesses of +the Himálayas.</p> + +<p>Not one of the rivers of Southern India is navigable in +the proper sense. But in the north, the Ganges begins to +distribute fertility by irrigation as soon as she reaches the +plains, within 200 miles of her source, and at the same +time her channel becomes in some sort navigable. Thenceforward +she rolls majestically down to the sea in a beautiful +stream, which never becomes a merely destructive torrent +in the rains, and never dwindles away in the hottest summer. +Tapped by canals, she distributes millions of cubic +feet of water every hour in irrigation; but her diminished +volume is promptly recruited by great tributaries, and the +wide area of her catchment basin renders her stream inexhaustible +in the service of man. Embankments are in but +few places required to restrain her inundations, for the +alluvial silt which she spills over her banks affords in most +parts a top-dressing of inexhaustible fertility. If one +crop be drowned by flood, the peasant comforts himself +with the thought that the next crop from his silt-manured +fields will abundantly requite him.</p> + +<p>The Ganges has also played a preëminent part in the +commercial development of Northern India. Until the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> +opening of the railway system, from 1855 to 1870, her +magnificent stream formed almost the sole channel of traffic +between upper India and the seaboard. The products not +only of the river plains, but even the cotton of the Central +Provinces, were formerly brought by this route to Calcutta. +Notwithstanding the revolution caused by the railways, the +heavier and more bulky staples are still conveyed by the +river, and the Ganges may yet rank as one of the greatest +waterways in the world.</p> + +<p>The value of the upward and downward trade of the interior +with Calcutta, by the Gangetic channels, may be +taken at about 400,000,000 of rupees per annum, of which +over 153,000,000 go by country-boats, and nearly 240,000,000 +by steamers (1891). This is exclusive of the sea-borne +commerce. But the adjustments which have to be +made are so numerous that the calculation is an intricate +one. As far back as 1876, the number of cargo boats +registered at Bámangháta, on one of the canals east of Calcutta, +was 178,627; at Hugli, a river-side station on a single +one of the many Gangetic mouths, 124,357; and at +Patna, 550 miles from the mouth of the river, the number +of cargo boats entered in the register was 61,571. The +port of Calcutta is itself one of the world’s greatest emporia +for sea and river-borne commerce. Its total exports and +imports landward and seaward amounted in 1881 to about +1,400,000,000 of rupees (Rx. 140,000,000) and to 1,523,000,000 +of rupees (Rx. 152,363,583) in 1891.</p> + +<p>Articles of European commerce, such as wheat, indigo, +cotton, opium, and saltpetre, prefer the railway; so also do +the imports of Manchester piece goods. But if we take +into account the vast development in the export trade of +oil-seeds, rice, etc., still carried by the river, and the growing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> +interchange of food-grains between interior districts of +the country, it seems probable that the actual amount of +traffic on the Ganges has increased rather than diminished +since the opening of the railways. At well-chosen points +along her course, the iron lines touch the banks, and these +river-side stations form centres for collecting and distributing +the produce of the surrounding country. The Ganges, +therefore, is not merely a rival, but a feeder of the railway. +Her ancient cities, such as Allahábád, Benares, and Patna, +have thus been able to preserve their former importance; +while fishing villages like Sahibganj and Goalanda have +been raised into thriving river marts.</p> + +<p>For, unlike the Indus and the Brahmaputra, the Ganges +is a river of great historic cities. Calcutta, Patna, and +Benares are built on her banks; Agra and Delhi on those +of her tributary, the Jumna; and Allahábád on the tongue +of land where the two sister streams unite. Many millions +of human beings live by commerce along her margin. +Calcutta, with its suburbs on both sides of the river, contains +a population of nearly a million. It has a municipal +revenue of four and one-fourth millions of rupees; a sea-borne +and coasting commerce in 1891 of 770,000,000 of +rupees, with a landward trade of over 750,000,000. These +figures vary from year to year, but show a steady increase. +Calcutta lies on the Hugli, the most westerly of the +mouths by which the Ganges enters the sea. To the +eastward stretches the delta, till it is hemmed in on the +other side by the Meghná, the most easterly of the mouths +of the Ganges. More accurately speaking, the Meghná is +the vast estuary by which the combined waters of the Brahmaputra +and Gangetic river-systems find their way into +the Bay of Bengal.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c4">MORNING ON THE GANGES</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">PIERRE LOTI</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">N</span>EARLY all the streets lead to the Ganges, where +they grow wider and become less gloomy. Here, +suddenly, the magnificent palaces and all the brightness +of the day dawn upon us.</p> + +<p>These massive tiers of steps, which stretch along the +banks and reach to the water’s edge even in these times of +drought, where fallen temples emerge from their slimy bed, +were made in honour of the Ganges, and on each landing +there are little granite altars, shaped like niches, in which +diminutive gods are placed. These images are like those +of the temples, but they are of more massive construction, +so as to withstand the swirl of the waters which cover +them during the annual rains.</p> + +<p>The sun has just risen from the plain through which +old Ganges wanders, a plain of mud and vegetation still +overshadowed by the mists of night; and waiting there +for the first red rays of dawn lie the granite temples of +Benares, the rosy pyramids, the golden shafts, and all the +sacred city, extended in terraces, as if to catch the first +light and deck itself in the glory of the morning.</p> + +<p>This is the hour which, since the Brahmin faith began, +has been sacred to prayer and to religious ecstasy, and it is +now that Benares pours forth all its people, all its flowers, +all its garlands, all its birds, and all its living things on to the +banks of the Ganges. Awakened by the kiss of the sun, +all that have received souls from Brahma rush joyously<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> +down the granite steps. The men, whose faces beam with +calm serenity, are garbed in Kashmir shawls, some pink, +some yellow, and some in the colours of the dawn. The +women, veiled with muslins in the antique style, form +white groups along the road, and the reflection from their +copper ewers and drinking vessels shimmer amongst the +silvery glints of their many bracelets, necklets, and the +rings which they wear round their ankles. Nobly beautiful +both of face and gait, they walk like goddesses, while +the metal rings on their arms and feet murmur musically.</p> + +<p>And to the river, already encumbered with garlands, +each one comes to offer a new wreath. Some have twisted +ropes of jasmine flowers which look like white necklets, +others garlands of Indian pinks whose flowers of golden +yellow and pale sulphur gleam in contrast, resembling the +changing colours of an Indian veil.</p> + +<p>And the birds that had been sleeping all along friezes +of the houses and the palaces awake too and fill the air +with chirpings and with song in the mad joy of dawn.</p> + +<p>In all the temples the gods have their morning serenades, +and the angry roar of the tom-toms, the wail of the bag-pipes, +and the howling of the sacred trumpets, are heard +from every side.</p> + +<p>Naked children holding each other by the hand come +in gay throngs; yoghis and slowly-moving fakirs descend +the steps; the sacred cattle advance with deliberate steps, +while people stand respectfully aside offering them fresh +wreaths of reeds and flowers. They, too, seem to look +on the splendours of the sun, and in their harmless fashion +appear to understand and pray.</p> + +<p>Next come the sheep and goats; then dogs and monkeys +hurry down the steps.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span></p> + +<p>All the granite temples scattered on the steps that +serve as niches and altars, some for Vishnu, some for the +many-armed Ganesa, protrude into the sunlight their +squat little gods—gods which are grey with mud, for +they have slept many months under the troubled waters +of the river to which the ashes of the dead are consigned.</p> + +<p>Now that the rays of the sun are fierce the people +shelter under large umbrellas whose shade awaits them. +For these huge parasols, which resemble gigantic mushrooms +clustering under the walls of the city, are always +left open.</p> + +<p>The many rafts and the lower steps are thronged with +Brahmins, who, after setting down their flowers and +ewers, hasten to disrobe. Pink and white muslins and +cashmeres of all colours lie mingled on the ground, or are +hung over bamboo canes, and now the matchless nude +forms appear, some of pale bronze, others of a deeper +shade.</p> + +<p>The men, slim and of athletic build, plunge to their +waists into the sacred waters. The women, still wearing +a veil of muslin round their shoulders and waists, +merely plunge their many-ringed arms and ankles into +the Ganges; then they kneel at the extremest edge and +let fall their long unknotted coils of hair into the water. +Then, raising their heads once more, they allow the +water dripping from their drenched hair to fall upon their +necks and bosoms. And now with their tightly-clinging +draperies they look like some statue of a “winged Victory,” +more beautiful and more voluptuous than if they had been +nude.</p> + +<p>From all sides the bowing people shower their garlands +and their flowers into the Ganges; all fill their ewers and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> +jars and then, stooping, fill their hollowed hand and drink. +Here religious feeling reigns supreme, and no sensual +thought ever seems to assail these beauteous mingled forms. +They come into unconscious contact with each other, but +only heed the river, the sun, and the splendour of the morning +in a dream of ecstasy. And when the long ritual is +ended, the women retire to their homes, while the men, +seated on the rafts amid their garlands dispose themselves +for prayer.</p> + +<p>Oh! the joyful awakenings of this primeval race, praying +in daily unison to God, where the poorest may find +room amongst the splendours of the sun, the waters, and the +flowers.</p> + +<p>All the life of Benares centres round the river. People +come from the palaces and jungles to die on its sacred +banks, and the old and the sick are brought here by their +families to await their end. The relatives never return to +their homes in the country after the death has taken place, +and so Benares, which already contains three hundred +thousand inhabitants, increases rapidly in size. For those +who feel their end approaching this is the spot so eagerly +desired.</p> + +<p>Oh! to die at Benares. To die on the banks of the +Ganges! To have one’s body bathed for the last time, and +then to have one’s ashes strewn into the river!</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c5">THE COLORADO</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">HENRY GANNETT</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE country drained by the Colorado River is a +peculiar region. It is a country of plateaus and +canons, the plateaus mainly arid and sterile, where the few +streams flow in deep gorges far below the surface.</p> + +<p>The longest and most northern branch of the Colorado +is Green River, which heads in the Wind River Mountains, +against the sources of the Bighorn and Snake Rivers. +This stream, in its long course towards the south, receives +the waters of the Uinta from the west, and the Yampa +and White Rivers from the east. Near latitude 38° 15′ +and longitude 110° it is joined by Grand River, a stream of +nearly equal size, which heads in Middle Park, Colorado, +drawing its first supplies of water from the snowfields of +Long Peak. The stream below the junction of these two +forks is known as the Colorado.</p> + +<p>Below their junction, the principal branches of the +Colorado from the east are the San Juan, the Colorado +Chiquito, Williams Fork, and the Gila; on the west, the +“Dirty Devil,” Paria, and Virgin.</p> + +<p>This region is limited on the east, north, and north-west +by high mountain ranges. Its surface is nearly flat, but by +no means unbroken. There is little rolling or undulating +country. Changes of level take place by very gentle, +uniform slopes, or by abrupt, precipitous steps. A large +part of the surface consists of bare rocks, with no soil or +vegetation. A part is covered with a thin sandy soil, which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>supports a growth of sage and cacti, or even a few pinon +pines and cedars. The only vegetation is that characteristic +of an arid country.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f5"> +<img src="images/fig5.jpg" alt="colorado"> +2027 +<p class="caption2"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1902, by Detroit Photographic Company</span></p> +<p class="caption">THE COLORADO</p> +</div> + +<p>This aridity has modified orographic forms to an astonishing +degree. Where, under different climatic conditions, +there would be produced a region similar in most respects +to the prairies of the Mississippi valley, we find a country, +flat indeed, or inclined at low angles, but one whose water-courses +are far beneath the general level, deep down in +cañons, hundreds, thousands of feet beneath the surface.</p> + +<p>Great cliffs, thousands of feet in height, and extending +like huge walls for hundreds of miles, change the level of +the country at a single step.</p> + +<p>Isolated buttes and mesas, of great height, are scattered +over the plateaus, indicating the former height of the plain +of which they formed parts.</p> + +<p>“The landscape everywhere, away from the river, is of +rock—cliffs of rock, tables of rock, terraces of rock, +crags of rock—ten thousand strangely carved forms. +Rocks everywhere, and no vegetation: no soil, no land. +When speaking of these rocks, we must not conceive of +piles of boulders, or heaps of fragments, but a whole land +of naked rock, with giant forms carved on it; cathedral-shaped +buttes, towering hundreds or thousands of feet; +cliffs that cannot be scaled, and cañon walls that shrink the +river into insignificance, with vast hollow domes and tall +pinnacles, and shafts set on verge overhead, and all highly +coloured—buff, grey, red, brown, and chocolate; never +lichened, never moss-covered, but bare and often +polished.”</p> + +<p>The above description by Major J. W. Powell, who +has explored the cañons of the Colorado, gives a graphic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> +pen-picture of the lower and more arid plateaus of this +region.</p> + +<p>Nearly every watercourse, whether the stream be perennial +or not, is a cañon; a narrow valley, with precipitous walls. +In many cases, these cañons are so numerous that they cut +the plateau into shreds—a mere skeleton of a country. Of +such a section Lieutenant Ives, who explored the course of +lower Colorado, writes: “The extent and magnitude of +the system of cañons in that direction is astounding. The +plateau is cut into shreds by these gigantic chasms, and +resembles a vast ruin. Belts of country, miles in width, +have been swept away, leaving only isolated mountains +standing in the gap; fissures so profound that the eye cannot +penetrate their depths are separated by walls whose +thickness one can almost span; and slender spires, that +seem tottering on their base, shoot up a thousand feet from +vaults below.”</p> + +<p>But few of these cañons contain water throughout the +year. Most of them are dry at all times, excepting for a +few days in the early spring, or for a few minutes or hours +at most after a heavy shower. It is characteristic of +Western North America, as of all arid countries, that the +streams, away from their sources in the mountains, lose +water, rather than gain it, in traversing the lower country. +The dry atmosphere and the thirsty soil absorb it, and, in +many cases, large streams entirely disappear in this way. +This is the case to a great extent in the plateau country, +and still more so in the Great Basin, where these are the +only outlets to the drainage.</p> + +<p>Those who have long and carefully studied the Grand +Cañon of the Colorado do not hesitate for a moment to pronounce +it by far the most sublime of all earthly spectacles.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> +If its sublimity consisted only in its dimensions, it could be +sufficiently set forth in a single sentence. It is more than +200 miles long, from five to twelve miles wide, and from +5,000 to 6,000 feet deep. There are in the world valleys +which are longer and a few which are deeper. There are +valleys flanked by summits loftier than the palisades of the +Kaibab. Still the Grand Cañon is the sublimest thing on +earth. It is not alone by virtue of its magnitudes, but by +virtue of the whole—its <i>ensemble</i>.</p> + +<p>The space under immediate view from our stand-point, +fifty miles long and ten to twelve wide, is thronged with a +great multitude of objects so vast in size, so bold yet majestic +in form, so infinite in their details, that as the truth +gradually reveals itself to the perceptions it arouses the +strongest emotions. Unquestionably the great, the overruling +feature is the wall on the opposite side of the gulf. +Can mortal fancy create a picture of a mural front a mile +in height, seven to ten miles distant, and receding into space +in either direction? As the mind strives to realize its proportions +its spirit is broken and its imagination completely +crushed. If the wall were simple in its character, if it were +only blank and sheer, some rest might be found in contemplating +it; but it is full of diversity and eloquent with grand +suggestions. It is deeply recessed by alcoves and amphitheatres +receding far into the plateau beyond, and usually +disclosing only the portals by which they open into the +main chasm. Between them the promontories jut out ending +in magnificent gables with sharp mitred angles. Thus +the wall rambles in and out, turning numberless corners. +Many of the angles are acute, and descend as sharp spurs +like the forward edge of a ploughshare. Only those alcoves +which are directly opposite to us can be seen in their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> +full length and depth. Yet so excessive, nay, so prodigious, +is the effect of foreshortening, that it is impossible to realize +their full extensions.</p> + +<p>Numerous detached masses are also seen flanking the +ends of the long promontories. These buttes are of gigantic +proportions, and yet so overwhelming is the effect of the +wall against which they are projected that they seem insignificant +in mass, and the observer is often deluded by them, +failing to perceive that they are really detached from the +wall and perhaps separated from it by an interval of a mile +or two.</p> + +<p>At the foot of this palisade is a platform through which +meanders the inner gorge, in whose dark and sombre depths +flows the river. Only in one place can the water surface +be seen. In its winding the abyss which holds it extends +for a short distance towards us and the line of vision enters +the gorge lengthwise. Above and below this short reach +the gorge swings its course in other directions and reveals +only a dark, narrow opening, while its nearer wall +hides its depth. This inner chasm is 1,000 to 2,000 feet +deep. Its upper 200 feet is a vertical ledge of sandstone +of a dark rich brownish colour. Beneath it lies the granite +of a dark iron-grey shade, verging towards black, and +lending a gloomy aspect to the lowest deeps. Perhaps half +a mile of the river is disclosed. A pale, dirty red, without +glimmer or sheen, a motionless surface, a small featureless +spot enclosed in the dark shade of the granite, is all of it +that is here visible. Yet we know it is a large river, 150 +yards wide, with a headlong torrent foaming and plunging +over rocky rapids.</p> + +<p>The walls of the Grand Cañon and the level of the +plateau descend by a succession of great steps, produced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> +by faults, until the level of the river is reached at the mouth +of the Grand Wash; and thus ends the Grand Cañon.</p> + +<p>Below the Grand Wash, a dry stream bed which enters +the Colorado from the north, the river turns south again and +enters the Black Cañon of Lieutenant Ives’ report—a cañon +which would be a remarkable feature were it not brought +into such close juxtaposition with that described above.</p> + +<p>Below it the river runs in narrow valleys and low cañons +to its mouth.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c6">THE AVON</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">JOHN WILSON CROKER</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HERE are Avons and Avons. Of course, Shakespeare’s +Avon is the famous stream which takes +precedence of all others. It rises at Naseby, in the yard of +a small inn near the church. So for two things is that village +of Naseby renowned. A good many years ago a hospitable +agriculturist, resident near Naseby, asked me to +come over and see the battle-field and source of the Avon. +I came and saw. The battle-field, truth to say, impressed +me in no degree more than the river-head; I saw a quantity +of ploughed land, undulating in true Northamptonshire +fashion. Doubtless grim old Oliver and hot Prince Rupert +saw a good deal more; and that heavy land is responsible +for many oaths on the part of the prince, and prayers from +the ever-prayerful lips of the Roundhead general. But +Naseby field is very much like all the rest of Northamptonshire. +There is not a hill in the country, or a brook that +a boy cannot leap, or a church spire that a boy cannot +throw a stone over, or enough level ground for a game of +cricket. Yet it is a capital hunting county nevertheless.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f6"> +<img src="images/fig6.jpg" alt="avon"> +<p class="caption">THE AVON</p> +</div> + +<p>Descending the Avon from Naseby, we pass through +much dreary Northamptonshire scenery. At a village +called Catthorpe, we are reminded of a certain poetaster +named Dyer. Poetry was in a poor state when the author +of <i>Grongar Hill</i> could be considered a poet. He was an +amiable clergyman, who wrote mediocre verse; but +Horace’s opinion of such verse is peculiarly popular in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>present day. The first town of any consequence which +the pedestrian reaches is Lutterworth; and concerning +Lutterworth there is little to be said, except that Wicliffe +was once its rector; and the ashes of the great reformer +were disinterred by certain ecclesiastical vultures, and +thrown into the brook which runs into the Avon at Lutterworth. +So says Fuller, whom Wordsworth has followed: +“This brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into +Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main +ocean. And thus the ashes of Wicliffe are the emblem of +his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.”</p> + +<p>The next town is Rugby; an immortal town, forever +connected with the greatest of school-masters.</p> + +<p>The scenery about Avon begins to improve near Newnham +Regis; a small village, remarkable for having nothing +of the church left except the tower. The rector of Church +Lawford is also vicar of King’s Newnham; and as the two +villages cannot count five hundred inhabitants, we perhaps +need not regret the destruction of the ancient church.</p> + +<p>The city of Coventry lies not very far from the Avon. +It is, I think, the dirtiest place in England, Bristol and +Birmingham not excepted. In days gone by it had great +fame, this <i>Coventria civitas</i>; and its earl, Leofric, who used +to stride about his hall among his dogs,</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“His beard a foot before him, and his hair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A yard behind,”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>was a worthy ancestor of Lord Palmerston; and we all remember +who wrote,</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“I waited for the train at Coventry;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I hung with grooms and porters on the bridge,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To watch the three tall spires.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span></p> + +<p>What strikes me in this city of Coventry—when I look +at those noble spires, which Tennyson has immortalized +(St. Michael’s is second to Salisbury only), and at the +splendid city-hall—is the wonderful change between the +past and the present. It is now one of the most sordid +and miserable towns in the empire. What generous and +magnificent inhabitants must it have had when the spires of +St. Michael’s and Trinity were raised heavenwards! I’ll +be hanged if Godiva the beautiful would have</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Unclasped the wedded eagles of her belt”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>for the present population of Coventry. I fear that among +its makers of watches and ribbons there are goodly number +of “low churls, compact of thankless earth.”</p> + +<p>The beauty of Avon begins where it enters the park of +Stoneleigh Abbey, seat of Lord Leigh. The first baron, +when Mr. Chandos Leigh, published some elegant poetry. +His title to the estate was at one time questioned; and an +inventive attorney produced a most marvellous case against +him, accusing him and Lady Leigh of pulling down one +side of Stoneleigh Church, to get rid of some genealogical +testimony furnished by the Monuments, and of causing a +huge stone to be dropped on some men who were engaged +in building a bridge across the river Sow, it being important +to suppress their evidence; I forget how many murders this +lawyer (who very justly suffered imprisonment) charged +against one of the gentlest and most amiable of men. Of +the old abbey nothing is left but a gateway; and the great +mansion of the Leighs, though doubtless magnificent and +luxurious within, has no external beauty. But the park is +redolent of <i>As you like it</i>. All this Warwickshire woodland +breathes of Shakespeare. Under these stately oaks, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span> +noblest I have ever seen, beside this sparkling river, how +sweet it were to moralize with melancholy Jaques, to while +away the golden time with joyous Rosalind! As the traveller +lies beneath a patrician tree, amid the magical noontide, +well might he fancy the mellow voice of Amiens in +the distance, cheering the banished Duke with music. Of +Stoneleigh village I have only to say, that when last there +I found it impossible to obtain a glass of ale; Lord Leigh +having an objection to that wholesome liquid. An English +village without ale is awful to think of.</p> + +<p>Two miles through field and woodland, and we are at +Kenilworth. Wise were the monks when they settled +down in that green valley. Very quaint is the village that +clusters round the old church; traditions of monastic and +baronial times linger there; the exteriors of several of the +antique houses made me wish to catch a glimpse of the interiors +and their inhabitants, which I was not lucky enough +to do. They are just the sort of houses where a good dinner +and a bottle of rare port is the order of the day. The +end of the village near the church is quite another affair; +instead of seeming coeval with the castle and the priory, it +appears to have sprung up simultaneously with the railway-station. +Extremes meet at Kenilworth: in these modern +villas you would expect to find no inhabitant less active +than a commercial traveller; in the old houses at the other +end you would hardly be startled by an interview with Sir +Walter Raleigh or rare Ben Jonson.</p> + +<p>Of course I ought to describe Kenilworth Castle; but I +cannot do it, that’s a fact; besides which, the thing has been +done a hundred times. It is a glorious ruin; and as one +lies on the turf on a summer day in the shadow of its grey +stonework, watching the flying clouds, and the choughs<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> +in the ivy, and the little river shimmering through the +meadows, and the immoveable old towers decaying in their +stately strength, there descends upon the spirit a mystic and +unutterable feeling, worth more than all the poetry ever +written, ay, or all the claret ever pressed from Bordeaux +grapes.</p> + +<p>Avon winds back into Stoneleigh Park after leaving +Kenilworth, and passes the little village of Ashow, where +I tasted the juiciest mulberries I ever ate,—blood-ripe as +those wherewith the laughing Naiad Ægle stained the +temples of Silenus. Cool and peaceful is that pleasant village, +where Avon murmurs softly amid reedy islets. Passing +onward, we see a cross upon a wooded hill: there poor +Piers Gaveston was beheaded, some five centuries and a +half ago. There is a capitally written inscription on the +cross. Somewhat farther is Milverton Church, with a +quaint wooden tower: they say it is not worth while to +build a stone one, as the lightning strikes it so often. But +Guy’s Cliff!</p> + +<p>Perhaps I had better let those three words stand as sole +suggestion of what that exquisite residence is. The strange +legend of Guy of Warwick, vanquisher of Colbrand the +Dane, and of the Dun Cow, hovers around this delightful +old place. But I don’t know whether Mr. Bertie Percy’s +poetic dwelling is not surpassed by the mill close thereto.</p> + +<p>Few places I have seen dwell in my memory like this +beautiful old mill, surrounded by a wealth of water, a luxury +of leafage. If there be mills in fairy-land, they are built +on this pattern. If the miller’s daughter, “so dear, so +dear” to the Laureate that he plagiarized from Anacreon +for her sake, had any actual existence, it must have been at +a mill like this of Guy’s Cliff.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span></p> + +<p>I scarce dare approach Warwick after Nathaniel Hawthorne. +The reaction from a fast, loud, vulgar, sordid life, +makes the most refined and poetic natures of America +dreamers of dreams. Such, with especial emphasis, was +Hawthorne. To him the ideal was more real than reality. +What visions he saw in Warwick, where the great castle +“floats double” in the lucid Avon; where a strange old-world +tranquillity broods over the famous Earl of Leicester’s +antique hospital! After Windsor (and I do not forget +Alnwick), I think Warwick the noblest castellated building +in England. Built into the solid rock, it overhangs Avon +with a wild sublimity. As you look down from the windows +of the great hall upon the river far beneath, you +think that thus may Guinevere and Lancelot have looked, +when the angry Queen cast into the water the nine great +diamonds, while the doomed barge bore to her burial the +lily maid of Astolat. Why over that old broken bridge, +green with the ivy of a thousand years, may not the blameless +King have passed, and Merlin the sage, and Tristram +of Lyonnesse, leading Iseult of Ireland? Who knows? +Are these things fables? Are ye enchanters, Alfred Tennyson +and Matthew Arnold?</p> + +<p>The Earl of Warwick’s courtesy throws the castle open +to the public two or three days a week. Rumour says that +the late Earl’s housekeeper, whose monument may be seen +in Warwick Church, left her master sixty thousand pounds, +accumulated by visitors’ fees! At the very gateway you +are met by wonders,—an iron porridge-pot of the great Sir +Guy, holding a hogshead or two, I suppose. The old +knight must have had a rare appetite for breakfast. There +is also his sword, a gigantic weapon, which I defy Jacob +Omnium to wield with both hands. As for the contents<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> +of the castle, I will not say a word about them; though of +historical portraits, Vandykes and Rubenses, there is a fine +collection. I commend the traveller upon looking out +upon Avon from those wondrous rooms, to call back, if he +can, the heroic and poetic times when it was possible to +build such a castle; when it seemed fit habitation for those +who dwelt in it,—for Neville the Kingmaker, to wit, who +fills a marvellous page, brilliant with gold and stained with +blood, in England’s history; and who well deserved to be +found in Shakespeare’s peerless portrait-gallery.</p> + +<p>Warwick town is very quaint, and has two old-fashioned +hostelries, the Warwick Arms and the Woolpack, at either +of which a hungry and thirsty traveller will find ample refreshment +of the right sort. From the top of Warwick +Church tower there is a magnificent view over a rich +country. The church’s chief glory is the Beauchamp +Chapel, just 400 years old, a perfect poem in stone, an absolute +triumph of the good old artist-workmen, who find +no rivals in the days when artists are never workmen, +and workmen never artists. Its dead inhabitant was last +of the Beauchamp Earls, and that crowned saint, +Henry VI., conferred the earldom upon the Kingmaker; +thus commencing the third line of its holders, for the first +Earl was a Newburgh, or Neuburg, of the Conqueror’s +creation; then, two centuries later, it passed through a +female to the Beauchamps; two centuries more, and the last +Beauchamp was succeeded by a Nevil; on Nevil’s death, +“false, fleeting, perjured Clarence” had the earldom, whose +son, last of the Plantagenets, ended the fourth line, when he +and Perkin Warbeck died on Tower Hill; next came the +Dudleys, creatures of Henry VIII., the elder of whom, +Lady Jane Grey’s father-in-law and worst enemy, is better<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> +known as Duke of Northumberland; then Lord Rich, +whose great grand-son married Cromwell’s daughter, was +created Earl of Warwick by James I.; and finally George +II. conferred the title on Greville, Earl Brooke, ancestor +of the present Earl. Thus six families at least have held +this famous earldom.</p> + +<p>The traveller will of course turn aside to Leamington, +town of fashion and frivolity, about a mile and a half from +the poetic stream. Leamington owes its existence, as anything +beyond a village, to one Dr. Jephson, who hit on the +brilliant notion that the mineral waters of the place would +cure all possible diseases. A great hotel sprang up, the +Regent, which for years was a kind of hospital for Dr. +Jephson’s patients. This medical genius is quite deified in +the town. There are pleasant gardens dedicated to him, +to which none are admitted save subscribers of a guinea, or +something of the sort. It is a downright apotheosis (or +apodiabolosis) of physic. But other causes concurred to +bring Leamington into the first rank of pleasure towns: +there is capital hunting in the neighbourhood, and a first-rate +pack of hounds. It is almost the metropolis of archery, a +pastime which young ladies wisely patronize, since a pretty +girl cannot look prettier than in her toxophilite costume of +Lincoln-green. Nothing can be more beautiful than the +walk by the margin of Avon through Lord Warwick’s +park. After passing through several pleasant villages, full of +Warwickshire quaintness, we reach Charlecote House, the +seat of the Lucy family. It has always appeared to me +that Haydon more admirably than any man expressed the +feeling which is produced in poetic minds by the places +sacred to Shakespeare. Painting under the stress of a +noble ambition, with the sad certainty that the age could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> +not perceive his greatness, had injured his health; instead +of joining “the vulgar idlers at a watering-place” he sought +change of scene at Stratford. How the man enjoyed it, +and how vigorously he depicts his enjoyment! “To +Charlecote,” says he, “I walked as fast as my legs could +carry me, and crossing the meadow, entered the immortalized +park by a back pathway. Trees, gigantic and +umbrageous, at once announce the growth of centuries: +while I was strolling on, I caught a distant view of the old +red-bricked house, in the same style and condition as when +Shakespeare lived; and on going close to the river-side, +came at once on two enormous old willows, with a large +branch across the stream, such as Ophelia hung to. Every +blade of grass, every daisy and cowslip, every hedge-flower +and tuft of tawny earth, every rustling, ancient and +enormous tree which curtains the sunny park with its cool +shadows, between which the sheep glitter on the emerald +green in long lines of light, every ripple of the river with +its placid tinkle,</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It overtaketh in its pilgrimage,”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>announced the place where Shakespeare imbibed his early, +deep, and native taste for forest scenery. Oh, it was delightful, +indeed! Shakespeare seemed to hover and bless all +I saw, thought of, or trod on. Those great roots of the +lime and the oak, bursting, as it were, above the ground, +bent up by the depth they had struck into it, Shakespeare +had seen—Shakespeare had sat on.</p> + +<p>In the same spirit of delight, and with the same realizing +power, did the great painter—one of those</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Mighty poets in their misery dead,”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span></p> +<p>“of whom the world was not worthy”—enjoy Stratford itself. +Thus does he write of what he felt as sunset descended +on the church where lies all that was mortal of God’s +greatest human creature. “I stood and drank into enthusiasm +all a human being could feel; all that the most ardent +and devoted lover of a great genius could have a sensation +of; all that the most tender scenery of river, trees, and sunset +sky together could excite. I was lost, quite lost; and +in such a moment should wish my soul to take its flight (if +it please God) when my time is finished.” God willed +otherwise; that great soul took flight in a moment, not of +delight, but of agony.</p> + +<p>There seem to be always American visitors at Stratford. +The refined and thoughtful Americans, like Washington +Irving and Hawthorne, have by the intensity of their +reverie, thrown a halo of fresh beauty around many places +sacred to genius. But too many of these trans-atlantic +travellers merely visit a place like Stratford just to say they +have been there; and people of that kind are singularly unpleasant +to meet. There is a story that one Yankee offered +an enormous sum of money for Shakespeare’s house, to take +it to the States for exhibition.</p> + +<p>I must hurry on. Village after village, quaint and +beautiful, lie along the margin of Avon; the keen eye will +notice whence Shakespeare drew his choicest descriptions of +nature; the longest summer-day will not be too long to +loiter around the vicinity of Stratford. One of the best +proofs that Avon River flows through rich and lovely +country is the multitude of monastic institutions which have +left their names to the villages, with here and there a noble +tower or graceful gateway.</p> + +<p>Founders of abbeys loved a pleasant river flowing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> +through fertile meadows; salmon and trout and eels for fast-days +were as important as beeves and deer for festivals. +So there are more conventual remains between Naseby and +Tewkesbury than in almost any equal distance of which I +have knowledge; and the glory of those old ecclesiastic +foundations is peculiarly realized as the noble bell-tower of +Evesham Abbey rises above the town. The great monastery +had lasted more than a thousand years when the ruthless +hand of Henry VIII. fell upon it. The bell-tower +and a most delightful old gateway are the only relics of it +left.</p> + +<p>The pilgrim through the beautiful Vale of Evesham +comes upon another battle-field, where, 600 years ago, fell +a famous leader of the Commons against the Crown. +Simon de Montfort fought for the right, so far as we can +judge at this remote period; but his antagonist was the +greatest general of the day, and afterwards became England’s +greatest king. He was but twenty-six when he won +the immortal victory known as the Murder of Evesham. +If Montfort gave England its first parliament, Edward +gave us Wales and Scotland, and made the priests pay taxes +in defiance of the Pope. A poetic prince, as well as a +gallant; for did he not, when Eleanora the Castilian died in +Lincolnshire, cause Peter l’Imagineur to build a stately +cross wherever her corpse rested on its way to Westminster? +Thanks to the poetry of a railway company, +London sees the last and stateliest of those crosses rebuilt in +what was once the quiet village of Charing.</p> + +<p>There was another abbey at Pershore, which takes its +name from its abundant pear-trees. Bredon Hill, not far +from this town, is worth climbing, for its fine view towards +the Malverns. At the village of Strensham the author of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> +<i>Hudibras</i> was born. I must not be retarded by reminiscences +of that most humorous writer of wonderful doggerel; +but pass on to Tewkesbury, last of the towns on the Avon, +which here falls into the wide and shining Severn. Tewkesbury +had also its abbey and its famous battle; it has, moreover, +its legend of that unfortunate gentleman, Brictric of +Bristol, who, somewhere about the noon of the Eleventh +Century, made love to Matilda, daughter of Count Baldwin +of Flanders, and then jilted her. ’Twas the unluckiest +action of his life. For Matilda married a certain fierce and +resolute Duke of Normandy, who used to thrash her occasionally; +and this same duke became King of England by +the strong hand; and then Matilda coaxed him (nothing +loth, I guess) to seize all Brictric’s wide demesnes, and +imprison their owner. So the poor fellow died in Winchester +Castle; and his manors in half-a-dozen counties, as +may be seen by Domesday book, passed into the hands of +the queen. So much for the <i>spretæ injuria formæ</i>.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c7">DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">CHARLES DICKENS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">Q</span>UEENSTON, at which place the steamboats start +from Toronto (or I should rather say at which place +they call, for their wharf is at Lewiston, on the opposite +shore), is situated in a delicious valley, through which the +Niagara River, in colour a very deep green, pursues its +course. It is approached by a road that takes its winding +way among the heights by which the town is sheltered; +and seen from this point is extremely beautiful and picturesque.</p> + +<p>Our steamboat came up directly this had left the wharf, +and soon bore us to the mouth of the Niagara: where the +Stars and Stripes of America flutter on one side, and the +Union Jack of England on the other: and so narrow is the +space between them that the sentinels in either fort can +often hear the watchword of the other country given. +Thence we emerged on Lake Ontario, an inland sea; and +by half-past six o’clock were at Toronto.</p> + +<p>The country round this town being very flat, is bare of +scenic interest; but the town itself is full of life and motion, +bustle, business, and improvement. The streets are +well paved, and lighted with gas; the houses are large and +good; the shops excellent. Many of them have a display +of goods in their windows, such as may be seen in thriving +county towns in England; and there are some which would +do no discredit to the metropolis itself.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f7"> +<img src="images/fig7.jpg" alt="st. lawrence"> +<p class="caption">THE ST. LAWRENCE</p> +</div> + +<p>The time of leaving Toronto for Kingston is noon. By +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span>eight o’clock next morning, the traveller is at the end of +his journey, which is performed by steamboat upon Lake +Ontario, calling at Port Hope and Coburg, the latter a +cheerful, thriving little town. Vast quantities of flour form +the chief item in the freight of these vessels. We had no +fewer than one thousand and eighty barrels on board, between +Coburg and Kingston.</p> + +<p>We left Kingston for Montreal on the tenth of May, at +half-past nine in the morning, and proceeded in a steamboat +down the St. Lawrence River. The beauty of this +noble stream at almost any point, but especially in the +commencement of this journey when it winds its way among +the Thousand Islands, can hardly be imagined. The number +and constant successions of these islands, all green and +richly wooded; their fluctuating sizes, some so large that +for half an hour together one among them will appear as +the opposite bank of the river, and some so small that they +are mere dimples on its broad bosom; their infinite variety +of shapes; and the numberless combinations of beautiful +forms which the trees growing on them present: all form +a picture fraught with uncommon interest and pleasure.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon we shot down some rapids where the +river boiled and bubbled strangely, and where the force +and headlong violence of the current were tremendous. At +seven o’clock we reached Dickenson’s Landing, whence +travellers proceed for two or three hours by stage-coach: +the navigation of the river being rendered so dangerous and +difficult in the interval, by rapids, that steamboats do not +make the passage. The number and length of those <i>portages</i>, +over which the roads are bad, and the travelling slow, +render the way between the towns of Montreal and Kingston +somewhat tedious.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p> + +<p>Our course lay over a wide, uninclosed tract of country +at a little distance from the riverside, whence the bright +warning lights on the dangerous parts of the St. Lawrence +shone vividly. The night was dark and raw, and the way +dreary enough. It was nearly ten o’clock when we reached +the wharf where the next steamboat lay; and went on +board, and to bed.</p> + +<p>She lay there all night, and started as soon as it was day. +The morning was ushered in by a violent thunder-storm, +and was very wet, but gradually improved and brightened +up. Going on deck after breakfast, I was amazed to see +floating down with the stream, a most gigantic raft, with some +thirty or forty wooden houses upon it, and at least as many +flag-masts, so that it looked like a nautical street. I saw +many of these rafts afterwards, but never one so large. All +the timber, or “lumber,” as it is called in America, which +is brought down the St. Lawrence, is floated down in this +manner. When the raft reaches its place of destination, it +is broken up; the materials are sold, and the boatmen return +for more.</p> + +<p>At eight we landed again, and travelled by a stage-coach +for four hours through a pleasant and well-cultivated country, +perfectly French in every respect: in the appearance +of the cottages; the air, language, and dress of the peasantry; +the signboards on the shops and taverns; and the +Virgin’s shrines, and crosses, by the wayside. Nearly every +common labourer and boy, though he had no shoes to his +feet, wore round his waist a sash of some bright colour: +generally red: and the women, who were working in the +fields and gardens, and doing all kinds of husbandry, wore, +one and all, great flat straw hats with most capacious brims. +There were Catholic Priests and Sisters of Charity in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> +village streets; and images of the Saviour at the corners of +cross-roads, and in other public places.</p> + +<p>At noon we went on board another steamboat, and reached +the village of Lachine, nine miles from Montreal, by three +o’clock. There we left the river, and went on by land.</p> + +<p>Montreal is pleasantly situated on the margin of the St. +Lawrence, and is backed by some bold heights, about which +there are charming rides and drives. The streets are generally +narrow and irregular, as in most French towns of +any age; but in the more modern parts of the city, they are +wide and airy. They display a great variety of very good +shops; and both in the town and suburbs there are many +excellent private dwellings. The granite quays are remarkable +for their beauty, solidity and extent.</p> + +<p>There is a very large Catholic cathedral here, recently +erected; with two tall spires, of which one is yet unfinished. +In the open space in front of this edifice, stands a +solitary, grim-looking, square brick tower, which has a +quaint and remarkable appearance, and which the wiseacres +of the place have consequently determined to pull down +immediately. The Government House is very superior to +that at Kingston, and the town is full of life and bustle. +In one of the suburbs is a plank road—not foot-path—five +or six miles long, and a famous road it is, too. All the rides +in the vicinity were made doubly interesting by the bursting +out of spring, which is here so rapid, that it is but a +day’s leap from barren winter, to the blooming youth of +summer.</p> + +<p>The steamboats to Quebec perform the journey in the +night; that is to say, they leave Montreal at six in the +evening, and arrive in Quebec at six next morning. We +made this excursion during our stay in Montreal (which exceeded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> +a fortnight), and were charmed by its interest and +beauty.</p> + +<p>The impression made upon the visitor by this Gibraltar +of America: its giddy heights; its citadel suspended, as it +were, in the air; its picturesque steep streets and frowning +gateways; and the splendid views which burst upon the +eye at every turn: is at once unique and lasting. It is a +place not to be forgotten or mixed up in the mind with +other places, or altered for a moment in the crowd of scenes +a traveller can recall. Apart from the realities of this most +picturesque city, there are associations clustering about it +which would make a desert rich in interest. The dangerous +precipice along whose rocky front Wolfe and his brave +companions climbed to glory; the Plains of Abraham, +where he received his mortal wound; the fortress, so chivalrously +defended by Montcalm; and his soldier’s grave, +dug for him while yet alive, by the bursting of a shell; +are not the least among them, or among the gallant incidents +of history. That is a noble Monument, too, and +worthy of two great nations, which perpetuates the memory +of both brave generals, and on which their names are +jointly written.</p> + +<p>The city is rich in public institutions and in Catholic +churches and charities, but it is mainly in the prospect +from the site of the Old Government House, and from the +Citadel, that its surpassing beauty lies. The exquisite expanse +of country, rich in field and forest, mountain-height +and water, which lies stretched out before the view, with +miles of Canadian villages, glancing in long white streaks, +like veins along the landscape; the motley crowd of gables, +roofs, and chimney-tops in the old hilly town immediately +at hand; the beautiful St. Lawrence sparkling and flashing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> +in the sunlight; and the tiny ships below the rock from +which you gaze, whose distant rigging looks like spiders’ +webs against the light, while casks and barrels on their +decks dwindle into toys, and busy mariners become so many +puppets: all this, framed by a sunken window in the fortress +and looked at from the shadowed room within, forms one +of the brightest and the most enchanting pictures that the +eye can rest upon.</p> + +<p>In the spring of the year, vast numbers of emigrants who +have newly arrived from England or from Ireland, pass between +Quebec and Montreal on their way to the backwoods +and new settlements of Canada. If it be an entertaining +lounge (as I very often found it) to take a morning stroll +upon the quay at Montreal, and see them grouped in hundreds +on the public wharfs about their chests and boxes, it +is matter of deep interest to be their fellow-passenger on +one of these steamboats, and, mingling with the concourse, +see and hear them unobserved.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c8">THE TIGRIS</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">GEORGE RAWLINSON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Tigris, like the Euphrates, rises from two principal +sources. The most distant, and therefore the +true source is the western one, which is in latitude 38° 10′ +longitude, 39° 20′, nearly, a little to the south of the high +mountain lake called Göljik, in the peninsula formed by +the Euphrates where it sweeps round between Palon and +Telek. The Tigris’s source is near the south-western angle +of the lake, and cannot be more than two or three miles +from the channel of the Euphrates. The course of the +Tigris is at first somewhat north of east, but after pursuing +this direction for about twenty-five miles it makes a sweep +round to the south, and descends by Arghani Maden upon +Diarbekr. Here is a river of considerable size, and it is +crossed by a bridge of ten arches a little below that city. +It then turns suddenly to the east, and flows in this direction +past Osman Kieui to Til where it once more alters +its course and takes that south-easterly direction, which it +pursues with certain slight variations, to its final junctions +with the Euphrates. At Osman Kieui it receives the second +or Eastern Tigris, which descends from Niphates, with +a due course south, and, collecting on its way the waters of +a large number of streams, unites with the Tigris half-way +between Diarbekr and Til, in longitude 41° nearly. Near +Til a large stream flows into it from the north-east, bringing +almost as much water as the main channel ordinarily holds.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> +The length of the whole stream, exclusive of meanders, is +reckoned at 1,146 miles. From Diarbekr to Samara the +navigation is much impeded by rapids, rocks and shallows, +as well as by artificial bunds or dams, which in ancient +times were thrown across the stream, probably for purposes +of irrigation. The average width of the Tigris in this +part of its course is 200 yards, while its depth is very considerable. +From the west the Tigris obtains no tributary +of the slightest importance, for the Tharthar, which is said +to have once reached it, now ends in a salt lake, a little below +Tekrit. Its volume, however, is continually increasing +as it descends, in consequence of the great bulk of water +brought in from the east, particularly by the Great Zab and +the Diyaleh.</p> + +<p>The Tigris, like the Euphrates, has a flood season. Early +in the month of March, in consequence of the melting of +the snow on the southern flank of Niphates, the river rises +rapidly. Its breadth gradually increases at Diarbekr from +100 or 120 to 250 yards. The stream is swift and turbid. +The rise continues through March and April, reaching its +full height generally in the first or second week of May. +At this time the country about Baghdad is often extensively +flooded, not, however, so much from the Tigris as from the +overflow of the Euphrates, which is here poured into the +eastern stream through a canal. About the middle of May +the Tigris begins to fall, and by midsummer it has reached +its normal level.</p> + +<p>We find but little mention of the Tigris in Scripture. It +appears indeed under the name of Hiddekel, among the +rivers of Eden, and is there correctly described as “running +eastward to Assyria.” But after this we hear no more +of it, if we except one doubtful allusion in Nahum, until<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> +the Captivity, when it becomes well known to the prophet +Daniel, who had to cross it in his journeys to and from +Susa. With Daniel it is “the Great River”—an expression +commonly applied to the Euphrates; and by its side he +sees some of his most important visions. No other mention +seems to occur except in the apocryphal books; and +there it is unconnected with any real history. The Tigris, +in its upper course, anciently ran through Armenia and +Assyria. Lower down, from above the point where it +enters on the alluvial plain, it separated Babylonia from Susiana. +In the wars between the Romans and the Parthians +we find it constituting, for a short time (from <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 114 to +<span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 117), the boundary line between these two empires. +Otherwise it has scarcely been of any political importance. +The great chain of Zagros is the main natural +boundary between Western and Central Asia; and beyond +this, the next defensible line is the Euphrates. Historically +it is found that either the central power pushes itself westward +to that river; or the power ruling the west advances +eastward to the mountain barrier.</p> + +<p>The water of the Tigris, in its lower course, is yellowish, +and is regarded as unwholesome. The stream abounds +with fish of many kinds, which are often of a large size. +Abundant water-fowl float on the waters. The banks are +fringed with palm trees and pomegranates, or clothed with +jungle and reeds, the haunt of the wild-boar and the lion.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c9">THE OISE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE river was swollen with the long rains. From +Vadencourt all the way to Origny, it ran with ever +quickening speed, taking fresh heart at each mile, and racing +as though it already smelt the sea. The water was yellow +and turbulent, swung with an angry eddy among half-submerged +willows, and made an angry clatter along stony +shores. The course kept turning and turning in a narrow +and well-timbered valley. Now, the river would approach +the side, and run grinding along the chalky base of the hill, +and show us a few open colza fields among the trees. +Now, it would skirt the garden-walls of houses, where we +might catch a glimpse through a doorway and see a priest +pacing in the chequered sunlight. Again the foliage closed +so thickly in front, that there seemed to be no issue; only +a thicket of willows, overtopped by elms and poplars, under +which the river ran flush and fleet, and where a kingfisher +flew past like a piece of the blue sky. On these different +manifestations, the sun poured its clear and catholic looks. +The shadows lay as solid on the swift surface of the stream +as on the stable meadows. The light sparkled golden in +the dancing poplar leaves, and brought the hills into communion +with our eyes. And all the while the river never +stopped running or took breath; and the reeds along the +whole valley stood shivering from top to toe.</p> + +<p>There should be some myth (but if there is, I know it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> +not) founded on the shivering of the reeds. There are +not many things in nature more striking to man’s eye. It +is such an eloquent pantomime of terror; and to see such +a number of terrified creatures taking sanctuary in every +nook along the shore, is enough to infect a silly human +with alarm. Perhaps they are only a-cold, and no +wonder, standing waist deep in the stream. Or perhaps +they have never got accustomed to the speed and fury of +the river’s flux, or the miracle of its continuous body. +Pan once played upon their forefathers; and so, by the +hands of the river, he still plays upon these later generations +down all the valley of the Oise; and plays the same +air, both sweet and shrill, to tell us of the beauty and the +terror of the world.</p> + +<p>The canoe was like a leaf in the current. It took it up +and shook it and carried it masterfully away, like a Centaur +carrying off a nymph. To keep some command on our +direction, required hard and diligent plying of the paddle. +The river was in such a hurry for the sea! Every drop +of water ran in a panic, like as many people in a frightened +crowd.</p> + +<p>There was never any mistake about the Oise, as a +matter of fact. In these upper reaches, it was still in a +prodigious hurry for the sea. It ran so fast and merrily, +through all the windings of its channel that I strained my +thumb, fighting with the rapids, and had to paddle all the +rest of the way with one hand turned up. Sometimes it +had to serve mills; and being still a little river, ran very +dry and shallow in the meanwhile. We had to put our +legs out of the boat, and shove ourselves off the sand of +the bottom with our feet. And still it went on its way +singing among the poplars and making a green valley in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> +the world. After a good woman and a good book, and +tobacco, there is nothing so agreeable on earth as a river. +I forgave it its attempt on my life; which was after all +one part owing to the unruly winds of heaven that had +blown down the tree, one part to my own mismanagement, +and only a third part to the river itself, and that +not out of malice, but from its great preoccupation over +its business of getting to the sea. A difficult business, +too; for the <i>détours</i> it had to make are not to be counted. +The geographers seem to have given up the attempt; for +I found no map representing the infinite contortion of its +course. A fact will say more than any of them. After +we had been some hours, three if I mistake not, flitting by +the trees at this smooth, breakneck gallop, when we came +upon a hamlet and asked where we were, we had got no +farther than four kilometres (say two miles and a half) +from Origny. If it were not for the honour of the thing +(in the Scotch saying), we might almost as well have been +standing still.</p> + +<p>Moy (pronounce Moÿ) was a pleasant little village +gathered round a <i>château</i> with a moat. The air was +perfumed with hemp from neighbouring fields. At the +Golden Sheep we found excellent entertainment. German +shells from the siege of La Fère, Nürnberg figures, gold +fish in a bowl, and all manner of knick-knacks embellished +the public room. The landlady was a stout, plain, short-sighted, +motherly body, with something not far short of +a genius for cookery.... We made a very short +day of it to La Fère; but the dusk was falling and a small +rain had begun before we stowed the boats....</p> + +<p>Below La Fère the river runs through a piece of open +pastoral country; green, opulent, loved by breeders; called<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> +the Golden Valley. In wide sweeps, and with a swift +and equable gallop, the ceaseless stream of water visits +and makes green the fields. Kine and horses, and little +humorous donkeys browse together in the meadows, and +come down in troops to the riverside to drink. They +make a strange feature in the landscape; above all when +startled, and you can see them galloping to and fro, with +their incongruous forms and faces. It gives a feeling as +of great unfenced pampas and the herds of wandering +nations. There were hills in the distance upon either +hand; and on one side the river sometimes bordered on +the wooded spurs of Coucy and St. Gobain....</p> + +<p>All the time, the river stole away like a thief in straight +places, or swung round corners with an eddy, the willows +nodded and were undermined all day long; the clay banks +tumbled in; the Oise, which had been so many centuries +making the Golden Valley, seemed to have changed its +fancy, and be bent upon undoing its performance. What a +number of things a river does, by simply following Gravity +in the innocence of its heart!</p> + +<p>Noyon stands about a mile from the river, in a little +plain surrounded by wooded hills, and entirely covers an +eminence with its tile roofs surmounted by a long, straight-backed +cathedral with two stiff towers. As we got into +the town, the tile roofs seemed to tumble up hill one upon +another, in the oddest disorder; but for all their scrambling, +they did not attain above the knees of the cathedral, +which stood upright and solemn, over all. As the streets +drew near to this presiding genius, through the market-place +under the Hotel de Ville, they grew emptier and +more composed. Blank walls and shuttered windows were +turned to the great edifice and grass grew on the white<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> +causeway. “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the +place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” The Hôtel +du Nord, nevertheless, lights its secular tapers within a +stone cast of the church, and we had the superb east end +before our eyes all morning from the window of our bedroom....</p> + +<p>The most patient people grow weary at last with being +continually wetted with rain; except of course in the +Scotch Highlands, where there are not enough fine intervals +to point the difference. That was like to be our +case the day we left Noyon. I remember nothing of the +voyage; it was nothing but clay banks and willows and +rain; incessant, pitiless, beating rain; until we stopped to +lunch at a little inn in Pimprez, where the canal ran very +near the river.... That was our last wetting. The +afternoon faired up: grand clouds still voyaged in the sky, +but now singly and with a depth of blue around their path; +and a sunset, in the daintiest rose and gold, inaugurated a +thick night of stars and a month of unbroken weather. At +the same time, the river began to give us a better outlook +into the country. The banks were not so high, the +willows disappeared from along the margin, and pleasant +hills stood all along its course and marked their profile on +the sky.</p> + +<p>In a little while, the canal, coming to its last lock, began +to discharge its water-houses on the Oise; so that we had +no lack of company to fear. Here were all our old friends; +the Deo Gratias of Condé and the Four Sons of Aymon +journeyed cheerily down stream along with us; we exchanged +waterside pleasantries with the steersman perched +among the lumber, or the driver hoarse with bawling to his +horses; and the children came and looked over the side as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> +we paddled by. We had never known all this while how +much we missed them; but it gave us a fillip to see the +smoke from their chimneys.</p> + +<p>A little below this junction we made another meeting of +yet more account. For there we were joined by the Aisne, +already a far travelled river and fresh out of Campagne. +Here ended the adolescence of the Oise; this was his marriage +day; thenceforward he had a stately, brimming march, +conscious of his own dignity and sundry dams. He became +a tranquil feature in the scene. The trees and towns +saw themselves in him, as in a mirror. He carried the +canoes lightly on his broad breast; there was no need to +work hard against an eddy: but idleness became the order +of the day, and mere straightforward dipping of the paddle, +now on this side, now on that, without intelligence or effort. +Truly we were coming into halcyon weather upon all accounts, +and were floated towards the sea like gentlemen.</p> + +<p>We made Compiègne as the sun was going down: a fine +profile of a town above the river. Over the bridge, a regiment +was parading to the drum. People loitered on the +quay, some fishing, some looking idly at the stream. And +as the two boats shot in along the water, we could see them +pointing them out and speaking one to another. We +landed at a floating lavatory, where the washerwomen were +still beating the clothes.</p> + +<p>We put up at a big, bustling hotel in Compiègne, where +nobody observed our presence.... It is not possible +to rise before a village; but Compiègne was so grown a town +that it took its ease in the morning; and we were up and +away while it was still in dressing-gown and slippers. The +streets were left to people washing door-steps; nobody was +in full dress but the cavaliers upon the town-hall; they were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> +all washed with dew, spruce in their gilding and full of intelligence +and a sense of professional responsibility. Kling, +went they on the bells for the half-past six, as we went by. +I took it kind of them to make me this parting compliment; +they never were in better form, not even at noon upon a +Sunday.</p> + +<p>There was no one to see us off but the early washerwomen—early +and late—who were already beating the linen +in their floating lavatory on the river. They were very +merry and matutinal in their ways; plunged their arms +boldly in and seemed not to feel the shock. It would be +dispiriting to me, this early beginning and first cold dabble, +of a most dispiriting day’s work. But I believe they would +have been as unwilling to change days with us, as we could +be to change with them. They crowded to the door to +watch us paddle away into the thin sunny mists upon the +river; and shouted heartily after us till we were through the +bridge.</p> + +<p>There is a sense in which those mists never rose from off +our journey; and from that time forth they lie very densely +in my note-book. As long as the Oise was a small rural +river, it took us near by people’s doors and we could hold +a conversation with natives in the riparian fields. But now +that it had gone so wide, the life along shore passed us by +at a distance. It was the same difference as between a +great public highway and a country by-path that wanders in +and out of cottage gardens. We now lay in towns, where +nobody troubled us with questions; we had floated into +civilized life, where people pass without salutation. In +sparsely inhabited places, we make all we can of each encounter; +but when it comes to a city, we keep to ourselves, +and never speak unless we have trodden on a man’s toes.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> +In these waters, we were no longer strange birds, and nobody +supposed we had travelled further than from the last +town. I remember when we came into L’ Isle Adam, for +instance, how we met dozens of pleasure-boats, outing it for +the afternoon, and there was nothing to distinguish the true +voyager from the amateur, except, perhaps, the filthy condition +of my sail. The company in one boat actually +thought they recognized me for a neighbour. Was there +ever anything more wounding! All the romance had come +down to that. Now, on the upper Oise, where nothing +sailed as a general thing but fish, a pair of canoeists could +not be thus vulgarly explained away; we were strange and +picturesque intruders; and out of people’s wonder sprang +a sort of light and passing intimacy all along our +route....</p> + +<p>In our earlier adventures there was generally something +to do, and that quickened us. Even the showers of rain +had a revivifying effect, and shook up the brain from torpor. +But now, when the river no longer ran in a proper sense, +only glided seaward with an even, outright, but imperceptible +speed, and when the sky smiled upon us day after day +without variety, we began to slip into that golden doze of +the wind which follows upon much exercise in the open +air. I have stupefied myself in this way more than once; +indeed, I dearly love the feeling; but I never had it to the +same degree as when paddling down the Oise. It was the +apotheosis of stupidity....</p> + +<p>We made our first stage below Compiègne to Pont +Sainte Maxence. I was abroad a little after six the next +morning. The air was biting and smelt of frost. In an +open place a score of women wrangled together over the +day’s market; and the noise of their negotiation sounded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> +thin and querulous like that of sparrows on a winter’s morning. +The rare passengers blew into their hands and +shuffled in their wooden shoes to set the blood agog. The +streets were full of icy shadow, although the chimneys were +smoking overhead in golden sunshine. If you wake early +enough at this season of the year, you may get up in +December to break your fast in June.</p> + +<p>At Creil, where we stopped to lunch, we left the canoes +in another floating lavatory, which, as it was high noon, +was packed with washerwomen, red-handed and loud-voiced; +and they and their broad jokes are about all I remember of +the place.... The church at Creil was a nondescript +place in the inside, splashed with gaudy lights from the +windows and picked out with medallions of the Dolorous +Way. But there was one oddity, in the way of an <i>ex voto</i>, +which pleased me hugely: a faithful model of a canal boat, +swung from the vault, with a written aspiration that God +should conduct the <i>Saint Nicholas</i> of Creil to a good haven.</p> + +<p>We made Précy about sundown. The plain is rich with +tufts of poplar. In a wide, luminous curve, the Oise lay +under the hillside. A faint mist began to rise and confound +the different distances together. There was not a +sound audible but that of the sheep-bells in some meadows +by the river and the creaking of a cart down the long road +that descends the hill. The villas in their gardens, the +shops along the street, all seemed to have been deserted the +day before; and I felt inclined to walk discreetly as one +feels in a silent forest.</p> + +<p>Of the next two days’ sail little remains in my mind, and +nothing whatever in my note-book. The river streamed +on steadily through pleasant riverside landscapes. Washerwomen +in blue dresses, fishers in blue blouses, diversified<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> +the green banks; and the relation of the two colours was +like that of the flower and leaf in the forget-me-not. A +symphony in forget-me-not; I think Théophile Gautier +might thus have characterized that two days’ panorama. +The sky was blue and cloudless; and the sliding surface of +the river held up, in smooth places, a mirror to the heaven +and the shores. The washerwomen hailed us laughingly +and the noise of trees and water made an accompaniment to +our dozing thoughts, as we fleeted down the stream.</p> + +<p>The great volume, the indefatigable purpose of the river +held the mind in chain. It seemed now so sure of its end, +so strong and easy in its gait, like a grown man full of +determination. The surf was roaring for it on the sands of +Havre.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c10">THE HUDSON</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ESTHER SINGLETON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Hudson is considered the most beautiful river of +the United States. Its scenery is so enchanting +that it has been called the “Rhine of America.” Its hills +and banks are dotted with palatial residences. To the historian +they are eloquent of the brave generals and their +armies who fought for Liberty and they charm the dreamer +by the legends that cluster around them. It is no trouble +for him to see the Phantom Ship scudding across the Tappan +Zee, or to people Sleepy Hollow with vanished forms.</p> + +<p>George William Curtis pronounced the Rhine of +America even grander than the Rhine. He says: “The +Danube has in part glimpses of such grandeur. The Elbe +has sometimes such delicately pencilled effects. But no +European river is so lordly in its bearing, none flows in +such state to the sea.”</p> + +<p>The Hudson’s course of three hundred miles told briefly +is as follows:</p> + +<p>It rises in the Adirondacks about 4,000 feet above the +sea, where innumerable little streams fed by mountain +lakes unite to form the headwaters of the noble river +that begins a tortuous course and receives the outlet of +Schroon Lake and the Sacondaga River. Turning to the +east, it finally reaches Glen’s Falls, where it drops fifty +feet. From thence to Troy, it is much broken by rapids, +and it is not until it reaches Albany, six miles below Troy,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> +that the Hudson becomes wide and flows through elevated +and picturesque banks. Then, in its journey, it passes by +the Catskills, or as the Indians called them—the Ontioras +(Mountains of the Sky) which are but seven miles from its +banks. A short distance below Newburg, sixty-one miles +from New York, it begins its passage through the noble +hills called The Highlands, an area of about sixteen by +twenty-five miles. In the midst of this beautiful scenery +on a bold promontory stands the United States Military +Academy at West Point. The river then widens into +Haverstraw Bay, immediately below which is Tappan Zee, +extending from Teller’s Point to Piermont, twelve miles +long and from three to four miles wide. Just below Piermont, +a range of trap rock—the Palisades—extends to Fort +Lee, a distance of about fifteen miles. From Fort Lee to +its mouth the Hudson is from one mile to two miles long. +The Hudson has been called Shatemuck, the Mohegan, the +Manhattan, the Mauritius (in honour of Prince Maurice of +Nassau) the Noordt Montaigne, the North River (to distinguish +it from the Delaware or South River) the River of +the Mountains, and, finally, the Hudson in honour of its +discoverer.</p> + +<p>Although Verrazano practically discovered this river in +1524, its first navigator was Henry Hudson who in the +service of the Dutch West India Company on his voyage +in the <i>Half Moon</i> passed through the Narrows in 1609, +entered New York Bay and sailed up the Mohegan River +as far as Albany.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f8"> +<img src="images/fig8.jpg" alt="hudson"> +<p class="caption2"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1905, by Detroit Publishing Company</span></p> +<p class="caption">THE HUDSON</p> +</div> + +<p>The Hudson was divided by the old navigators into fourteen +reaches, one of which, Claverack (Clover Reach), has +survived. First came the Great Chip-Rock Reach (the +Palisades); then the Tappan Reach where dwelt the Manhattans, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>the Saulrickans and the Tappans; the next reach +ended at Haverstroo; following came Seylmaker’s Reach, +Crescent Reach, Hoges Reach and Vorsen Reach which +extended to Klinkersberg (Storm King). Fisher’s Reach, +Claverack, Backerack, Playsier and Vaste Reach as far as +Hinnenhock; then Hunter’s Reach to Kinderhook; and +Fisher’s Hook near Shad Island, where dwelt the Mohegans.</p> + +<p>No river in America presents so animated a scene as the +Hudson from the Battery to the beginning of the Palisades. +Ocean steamers, ferry-boats, excursion boats, private yachts, +and craft of all sizes and kinds sail or steam down the narrow +channel or cross between the shores of Manhattan and +New Jersey. The river is always gay and beautiful in +sunshine and fog, winter and summer.</p> + +<p>On ascending the river, the first point of interest is +Weehawken, on the west, where, on a narrow ledge of +rock, Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, +July 11, 1804. Next, and on the eastern shore, is Spuyten +Duyvel Creek, associated with the earliest history of the +river. This is a narrow stream formed by the in-flowing tide-water +of the Hudson and joining at Kingsbridge with the +so-called Harlem River, which is a similar in-flowing of the +tide-water of Long Island Sound. Here a bridge was built +in 1693; and here, on the 2d of October, Henry Hudson +had a severe fight with the Indians who attacked the <i>Half +Moon</i>. The origin of the name is unknown; but Irving’s +legend clings to the spot as a limpet to a rock. He tells +the story that the trumpeter, Antony van Corlear, was dispatched +one evening on a message up the Hudson. When +he arrived at this creek, the wind was high, the elements +were in an uproar, and no boatman was at hand. He declared<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> +he would swim across <i>en spijt en Duyvel</i> (in spite of +the Devil), but was drowned on the way.</p> + +<p>Yonkers is the next point of interest on this side of the +river, supposed to have derived its name from <i>yonk-herr</i>, +the young heir. After passing Hastings and Dobbs Ferry +(named after an old ferryman), the river widens into a +beautiful bay. Across the river, opposite Spuyten Duyvel, +is Fort Lee, from which Washington watched the battle +that resulted in the loss of Fort Washington. From this +point the Palisades begin. This range of rocks is from two +hundred and fifty to six hundred feet high and extends +about fifteen miles from Fort Lee to the hills of Rockland +County.</p> + +<p>Opposite Dobbs Ferry, the northern boundary line of +New Jersey strikes the Hudson; and from this point north +the river runs solely through the state of New York. At +this point is Piermont; and near it Tappan, where André +was hanged. Directly opposite Piermont is Irvington, +twenty-four miles from New York, where close to the +water’s edge stands <i>Sunnyside</i>, the charming home of Washington +Irving, “made up of gable-ends and full of angles +and corners as an old cocked hat,” to quote the description +of the author, who bought and beautified an old Dutch +dwelling called <i>Wolfert’s Roost</i>.</p> + +<p>Three miles north is Tarrytown, a name derived from +the Dutch Tarwen-Dorp, or wheat town, and not, as +Diedrich Knickerbocker said, because husbands would +tarry at the village tavern. A mile north of Tarrytown is +the romantic Sleepy Hollow, where still stands the old +Dutch Church. Six miles above Tarrytown and Sing Sing, +now called by its original name, <i>Ossin</i> (a stone) and <i>ing</i> (a +place) is reached. The name is derived from the rocky<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> +and stony character of the bank. Here the State Prison is +situated.</p> + +<p>Rockland and the old “tedious spot”—Verdietege Hook—of +the old Dutch sailors are opposite, and a little above +the latter, Diedrich Hook, or Point No Point. Croton +River meets the Hudson about a mile above Sing Sing and +forms Croton Bay. Croton Point, on which the Van Cortlandt +Manor House stands, juts out here and separates +Tappan Zee from Haverstraw Bay, and at the end of +which, once called Teller’s Point, a great Indian battle is +said to have taken place. The spot is haunted by the +ghosts of warriors and sachems. Three miles more, and +we reach Stony Point on the west; and, passing Verplanck’s +Point on the east, come to Peekskill, where Nathan Palmer, +the spy, was hanged. This was also the headquarters of +General Israel Putnam.</p> + +<p>Turning Kidd’s Point, or Caldwell’s landing, with Peekskill +opposite, we pass through the “Southern Gate of the +Highlands.” It is at this spot that Captain Kidd’s ship is +supposed to have been scuttled. Here the Dunderberg, or +Thunder Mountain rises abruptly from the river; and, +as the latter turns to the west (now called for a brief time +The Horse Race), another bold mass of rock, Anthony’s +Nose (1,228 feet), looms into view.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the river is Fort Montgomery +Creek, once called Poplopen’s Kill, and here stood Fort +Montgomery and Fort Clinton on either side of the mouth. +From Fort Montgomery to Anthony’s Nose a chain of +iron and wood was stretched across the river during the +Revolutionary War to prevent the passage of British boats.</p> + +<p>Opposite Anthony’s Nose is the Island of Iona; and now +we see the Sugar Loaf, not one hill, as first appears, but a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> +series of hills. At the foot of Sugar Loaf stood Beverly +House, where Arnold lived at the time of his treason.</p> + +<p>Half a mile below West Point, on the west side of the +river, a small stream, rushing down the rocky precipice, +forms a snowy cascade, known as Buttermilk Falls.</p> + +<p>West Point, with its academy buildings and parade +ground on a plateau two hundred feet above the river—the +“Gibraltar of the Hudson”—near which may be seen the +ruins of old Fort Putnam on Mount Independence, five +hundred feet above the river, takes us into historic ground +and beautiful scenery. We pass a succession of lofty hills +on the same side of the river, the chief of which is Old +Cro’ Nest (1,418 feet). Its name was given to it from a +circular lake on the summit suggesting a nest in the mountains; +and it is thus described by Rodman Drake, in the +<i>Culprit Fay</i>:</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“’Tis the middle watch of a summer night.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The earth is dark, but the heavens are bright,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The moon looks down on Old Cro’ Nest—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She mellows the shade on his shaggy breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And seems his huge grey form to throw</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a silver cone on the wave below.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>To the north of Cro’ Nest comes Storm King, the highest +peak of the Highlands (1,800 feet). First it was called +Klinkersberg and then Boterberg (Butter Hill) and renamed +Storm King by N. P. Willis. Storm King with Breakneck +(1,187 feet), on the opposite side form the “Northern +Gate of the Highlands.” The river here is deep and +narrow as it cuts its way through what is practically a +gorge in the Alleghany Mountains.</p> + +<p>The Highlands now trend off to the north-east and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> +New Beacon or Grand Sachem Mountain (1,685 feet) and +the Old Beacon (1,471 feet). The names are explained by +the fact that signal fires were kindled on their summits +during the Revolution. The Indians called them Matteawan +and sometimes referred to the whole range of Highlands +as Wequehachke (Hill Country). They also believed +that the great Manito confined here rebellious spirits whose +groans could often be heard.</p> + +<p>On the west shore are situated the towns of Cornwall and +Newburg, where Washington had his headquarters in the +old Hasbrouck House.</p> + +<p>Opposite Newburg is Fishkill Landing and above Newburg +on the west side is the Devil’s Danskammer, or +Devil’s Dancing Chamber, where the Indians celebrated +their religious rites. Several villages and towns are passed +on both sides of the river.</p> + +<p>One spot of romantic interest on the west shore is Blue +Point, where on moonlight nights a phantom ship is often +seen at anchor beneath the bluff. It is supposed to be the +<i>Half Moon</i>, which one day passed the Battery and sailed +up the river without paying the slightest heed to signals. +The “Storm Ship,” as she is called, is often seen in bad +weather in the Tappan Zee and in Haverstraw Bay; but +more frequently she appears at rest beneath the shadow of +Blue Point.</p> + +<p>Across the river is Poughkeepsie, so called from the +Indian word Apokeepsing, meaning safe harbour. At this +point is the only bridge that crosses the river between New +York and Albany.</p> + +<p>Six miles above Poughkeepsie, the river makes a sudden +turn. The Dutch called this point Krom Elleboge +(Crooked Elbow), now Crum Elbow. Ten miles further<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> +is Rhinebeck Landing, the approach to the old Dutch +village of Rhinebeck, founded by William Beckman in +1647. On the opposite side of the river are Rondout and +Kingston on Esopus Creek, which flows north and joins +the Hudson at Saugerties.</p> + +<p>North of Rhinebeck comes Lower Red Hook Landing +or Barrytown, North Bay where the <i>Clermont</i> was built by +Robert Fulton, and then Tivoli.</p> + +<p>The next point of interest on the west side is Catskill +Landing, just above the mouth of the Kaaterskill Creek. +On the east bank is the city of Hudson; on the west bank +Athens. Nearly opposite Four Mile Point Lighthouse is +Kinderhook River or Creek on whose banks Martin Van +Buren lived. Opposite Kinderhook is Coxsackie and +above this New Baltimore and Coeymans. On the eastern +bank are Schodack Landing, Castleton and Greenbush or +East Albany. A bridge leads across to Albany on the west +bank of the river. Six miles above Albany is the city of +Troy, on the east bank. Above Cohoes on the west bank +the Hudson receives the Mohawk, its largest tributary (150 +miles long). Above Troy navigation is interrupted by +many rapids and falls.</p> + +<p>During the winter the river constantly freezes and it is +not uncommon in the upper reaches to see skaters and +sleighs crossing the ice. The breaking up of the ice is a +marvellous spectacle.</p> + +<p>In her <i>Memoirs of an American Lady</i>, Mrs. Grant of +Laggan has vividly described this “sublime spectacle.” +She notes that the whole population of Albany was down +at the riverside in a moment when the first sound was heard +like a “loud and long peal of thunder.” She writes:</p> + +<p>“The ice, which had been all winter very thick, instead<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> +of diminishing, as might be expected in spring, still increased, +as the sunshine came, and the days lengthened. +Much snow fell in February, which, melted by the heat of +the sun, was stagnant for a day on the surface of the ice, +and then by the night frosts, which were still severe, was +added, as a new accession to the thickness of it, above the +former surface. This was so often repeated, that, in some +years, the ice gained two feet in thickness, after the heat of +the sun became such as one would have expected should +have entirely dissolved it. So conscious were the natives of +the safety this accumulation of ice afforded, that the sledges +continued to drive on the ice when the trees were budding, +and everything looked like spring; nay, when there was so +much melted on the surface that the horses were knee-deep +in water while travelling on it, and portentous cracks on +every side announced the approaching rupture. This could +scarce have been produced by the mere influence of the sun +till midsummer. It was the swelling of the waters under +the ice, increased by rivulets, enlarged by melted snows, +that produced this catastrophe; for such the awful concussion +made it appear. The prelude to the general bursting +of this mighty mass, was a fracture, lengthways, in the +middle of the stream, produced by the effort of the imprisoned +waters, now increased too much to be contained +within their wonted bounds. Conceive a solid mass, from +six to eight feet thick, bursting for many miles in one continued +rupture, produced by a force inconceivably great, +and, in a manner, inexpressibly sudden. Thunder is no +adequate image of this awful explosion, which roused all the +sleepers, within reach of the sound, as completely as the +final convulsion of nature, and the solemn peal of the awakening +trumpet might be supposed to do. The stream in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> +summer was confined by a pebbly strand, overhung with +high and steep banks, crowned with lofty trees, which were +considered as a sacred barrier against encroachments of this +annual visitation. Never dryads dwelt in more security +than those of the vine-clad elms, that extended their ample +branches over this mighty stream. Their tangled roots, +laid bare by the impetuous torrents, formed caverns ever +fresh and fragrant; where the most delicate plants flourished, +unvisited by scorching suns, or snipping blasts; and +nothing could be more singular than the variety of plants +and birds that were sheltered in these intricate and safe recesses. +But when the bursting of the crystal surface set +loose the many waters that had rushed down, swollen with +the annual tribute of dissolving snow, the islands and lowlands +were all flooded in an instant; and the lofty banks, +from which you were wont to overlook the stream, were +now entirely filled by an impetuous torrent, bearing down, +with incredible and tumultuous rage, immense shoals of ice; +which, breaking every instant by the concussion of others, +jammed together in some places, in others erecting themselves +in gigantic heights for an instant in the air, and seeming +to combat with their fellow-giants crowding on in all +directions, and falling together with an inconceivable crash, +formed a terrible moving-picture, animated and various beyond +conception; for it was not only the cerulean ice, +whose broken edges, combating with the stream, refracted +light into a thousand rainbows, that charmed your attention; +lofty pines, large pieces of the bank torn off by the ice with +all their early green and tender foliage, were driven on like +travelling islands, amid this battle of breakers, for such it +seemed. I am absurdly attempting to paint a scene, under +which the powers of language sink.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span></p> + +<p>Since the days of the old Dutch settlers the Hudson has +witnessed all the triumphs of modern ship-building and +navigation. It was on the Hudson that Robert Fulton +made his first experiments in steam navigation and into the +Hudson have come the new turbine steamships that have +crossed the Atlantic in five days; and beneath its waters +tunnels have lately been opened.</p> + +<p>Many changes have taken place on its banks since +Washington Irving wrote: “I thank God that I was +born on the banks of the Hudson. I fancy I can trace +much of what is good and pleasant in my own heterogeneous +compound to my early companionship with this glorious +river. In the warmth of youthful enthusiasm, I used to +clothe it with moral attributes, and, as it were, give it a +soul. I delighted in its frank, bold, honest character; its +noble sincerity and perfect truth. Here was no specious, +smiling surface, covering the shifting sand-bar and perfidious +rock, but a stream deep as it was broad and bearing +with honourable faith the bark that trusted to its waves. I +gloried in its simple, quiet, majestic, epic flow, ever straight +forward, or, if forced aside for once by opposing mountains, +struggling bravely through them, and resuming its onward +march. Behold, thought I, an emblem of a good man’s +course through life, ever simple, open and direct, or if, +overpowered by adverse circumstances, he deviate into +error, it is but momentary; he soon resumes his onward and +honourable career, and continues it to the end of his pilgrimage.”</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c11">THE TIBER</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">STROTHER A. SMITH</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HOUGH the Tiber is insignificant in size, compared +with the great rivers of the world, it is one of the +most famous, and even its tributaries, down to the smallest +brook, have some historical or poetic association connected +with them, or exhibit some singular natural peculiarity. +Its stream is swelled by the superfluous waters of the +historic Thrasymene; its affluents, the Velino and the +Anio, form the celebrated Cascades of Terni and Tivoli; +the Clitumnus and the Nar are invested with poetic interest +by the verses of Virgil, Ovid, and Silius Italicus; while +the Chiana presents the singular phenomenon of a river +which, within the historic period, has divided itself into +two, and now forms a connecting link between the Arno +and the Tiber, discharging a portion of its waters into +each. The smaller streams, also, the Cremera, the Allia, +and the Almo, have each their legend, historical, or +mythological; while the rivulet of the Aqua Crabra, or +Marrana, recalls the memory of Cicero and his litigation +with the company which supplied his establishment at +Tusculum with water from the brook.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f9"> +<img src="images/fig9.jpg" alt="tiber"> +<p class="caption">THE TIBER</p> +</div> + +<p>The Tiber rises nearly due east of Florence, and on +the opposite side of the ridge which gives birth to the +Arno. It issues in a copious spring of limpid water, +which at the distance of a mile has force enough to turn +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span>a mill. If we are to believe Bacci, it exhales so warm a +vapour that snow, notwithstanding the elevation of the +region, will not lie along its course within half a mile. +For a distance of fifty-six miles it flows in a south-easterly +direction through an elevated valley, in the upper part of +which the cold, according to Pliny the younger, who had +a villa there, was too great for the olive, and where the +snow often accumulates to a considerable depth. Not far +from Perugia it turns to the south, and about fourteen +miles lower down by the windings of the stream, receives +its first affluent, the Chiascia, which brings with it the +Topino (anciently Tineas), and the waters of the classic +Clitumnus, known to the readers of Virgil, Propertius, +and Silius Italicus as the river on whose banks were bred, +and in whose stream were washed, “the milk-white oxen +which drew the Roman triumphs to the temples of the +gods,” and the same which is so picturesquely described by +the younger Pliny. At a place called La Vene, one of the +sources of the Clitumnus rises at the foot of a hill. Like +the fountain of Vaucluse, it issues a small river from the +earth, and according to Pliny, had sufficient depth of water +to float a boat. It is clear as crystal, delightfully cool in +summer, and of an agreeable warmth in winter. Near it +stands a temple once sacred to the river god, but now +surmounted by the triumphant cross. It seems to have +been a favourite place of resort for the Romans, as far as +their limited means of locomotion would permit; since +even the ferocious Caligula, as Suetonius tells us, attended +by his body-guard of Batavians, was among the visitors +to these celebrated springs. The beauty of the scenery +appears to have been the attraction; for there were no +mineral sources, and a refined superstition would have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> +prevented the Romans from availing themselves of the +agreeable temperature of the water to indulge in the luxury +of bathing, rivers near their sources being accounted +sacred, and polluted by the contact of a naked body. Of +all the misdeeds of Nero none, perhaps, contributed more +to his unpopularity than his swimming, during one of his +drunken frolics, in the source of the Aqua Marcia, the +same which is brought by the aqueduct to Rome, and +which rises in the mountains of the Abruzzi, where Nero +was staying at the time.</p> + +<p>When the news of this act of profanation arrived in the +city it created a great sensation; and an illness with which +he was shortly afterwards seized was attributed to the +anger of the god.</p> + +<p>Seven miles lower down on the right, the Tiber receives +the Nestore, a large and impetuous torrent, or <i>torrentaccio</i>, +as it is called by the Italians. The Nestore, where it +enters the Tiber flows in a bed of sand and shingle no less +than a third of a Roman mile in width, and after heavy +rains must bring down an enormous body of water. Into +the Cina, one of its tributaries, by means of a tunnel, the +overflow of the lake of Thrasymene is discharged. The +emissary originates in the south-eastern bay of the lake, +but when, or by whom, the work was executed is a matter +of dispute. Thirty and a half miles further on, the Tiber +is joined by the Chiana (anciently Clanis), which, after +uniting with the Paglia, flows into it on the same side as +the Nestore and in the neighbourhood of Orvieto.</p> + +<p>The Paglia rises in the high volcanic mountain of +Monte Amiata, and in summer is nearly dry; but its +broad stony channel at Acquapendente shows what a contribution +it must bring to the main stream in time of floods.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> +The Chiana, which from the black and muddy colour of its +waters has received the name of the Lethe of Tuscany, +but which might with more propriety be called the Tuscan +Cocytus, was once a single stream originating in the +neighbourhood of Arezzo, and flowing southward into the +Tiber. But in the Middle Ages a large portion of the +valley in which it flowed was filled up by the <i>débris</i> which +in time of floods was brought down by the lateral torrents. +A sort of plateau was thus formed, sloping at its edges +towards the valleys of the Tiber and the Arno. The +streams which entered this plateau stagnated in the level +which it formed, converting it into an unproductive and +unhealthy marsh, the abode of malaria and the pest-house +of Dante’s <i>Purgatorio</i>. They then flowed over the northern +and southern edges of the plateau, and, uniting with +others, formed two distinct rivers called the Tuscan and +Roman Chianas.</p> + +<p>The torrent of the Tresa, rising not far from the lake +of Thrasymene, and now diverted into the lake of Chiusi, +may be considered as the head waters of the Tuscan Chiana, +the torrent of the Astrone, rising in the direction of Montepulciano, +as the main branch of the Roman Chiana. The +two are connected by canals and wet ditches, so that it is +conceivable that a small piece of wood thrown into one of +these might, according to circumstances and the direction +of the wind, find its way to Florence or to Rome.</p> + +<p>The district which I have described, the celebrated +Val di Chiana, is now one of the most productive regions +of Italy, green with vineyards and pastures, and golden +with waving crops. Nor is it unhealthy, except in the +immediate vicinity of the lakes. The change was effected +by canalizing the streams, and by the process called warping,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> +which is the method adopted in Lincolnshire for reclaiming +land from the sea. A certain space was enclosed +with banks, into which the streams were diverted when +they were swollen and charged with mud. The opening +was then closed with a floodgate, and the water left to deposit +the matter which it held in suspension. In this way +an inch or two of soil was gained every year, until the +land became sufficiently dry and firm. It was then sown +with crops, and planted with trees, which served still +further to purify the air by decomposing with their leaves +and fixing in their tissues the vapours which had given the +Val di Chiana so deadly a name.</p> + +<p>Turning again to the south-east and at a distance of +136½ miles from its source, the Tiber is swelled by the +united streams of the Neva, the Velino, and the Salto. The +Neva, the “<i>sulphurea Nar albus aqua</i>” of Virgil, and +“<i>Narque albescentibus undis</i>” of Silius Italicus, rises at the +foot of the lofty peak of Monte Vettore, part of the Sibylline +range, and is the tributary which is most affected by +the melting of the snows.</p> + +<p>The Velino also has its source in the great central chain +of the Apennines, and after being joined by the Salto and +Turano, forms the cascade of Terni by dashing over the +precipice which terminates the valley, and hastens to meet +the Neva. The Salto, rising in the kingdom of Naples, +flows northward for fifty miles, and after passing beneath +the lofty range of Monte Velino, and receiving a contribution +from its snows, mingles its waters with the Velino. +Swelled by these tributaries the Neva rolls along a full and +rapid stream, and sweeping past Terni and Narni, loses +itself in the Tiber.</p> + +<p>About sixty-four miles lower down, and four and a half<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> +above Rome by the river, the Tiber is joined by the Anio, +or Teverone, the most important, with the exception of the +Neva, of all its tributaries. No river is better known than +the Anio. The scenery of its valley, the classical associations +of its neighbourhood, and the celebrated cascades of +Tivoli, have made it the favourite resort of tourists. The +Anio rises in the mountains of the Hernici, part of the +modern Abruzzi, and after flowing for about thirty-six +miles through a narrow valley whose general course is to the +west, precipitates itself into the gorge which is overlooked +by the town of Tivoli; emerging from which it turns west-south-west +and joins the Tiber, after a further course of +twenty miles. Midway between its source and Tivoli, it +passes the town of Subiaco, anciently Sublaqueum, which +derives its name from three picturesque lakes, “<i>tres lacus +amœnitate nobilis</i>.” Tivoli is well known to have been the +favourite retreat of the wealthy Romans from the turmoil, +and what Horace calls the “fumus,” of Rome. The names +and ruins of these villas yet remain, but no trace is left of +those which once adorned the banks of the Tiber, and perhaps +of the Anio in the lower part of its course.</p> + +<p>Pliny the younger calls the Anio “<i>delicatissimus amnium</i>,” +“softest and gentlest of rivers”; and adds “that it was +for this reason invited, as it were, and retained by the +neighbouring villas” for their own exclusive use. Yet, +this “delicate river” indulged occasionally in the wildest +escapades, and Pliny himself, in this very letter, describes +an inundation in which it swept away woods, undermined +hills, and committed extraordinary havoc among the neighbouring +farms. From this time to the year 1826 it was a +source of apprehension to the people of Tivoli, and an +anxiety to the government at Rome, which expended considerable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> +sums in trying to prevent some great calamity, or +in repairing the damage which had been done. Once since +the time of Strabo the river is thought to have changed its +course, discharging itself at a lower level into the Grotto of +Neptune, but still forming a lofty and picturesque cascade.</p> + +<p>At different periods it had destroyed buildings, undermined +the foundation of others, and defied every effort to +control its violence. At length these floods culminated in +the great inundation of 1826, which entirely altered the +character of the cascade, and necessitated the formation of +the tunnel through Monte Catillo.</p> + +<p>The work was let on contract to two rival firms, and +pushed forward with such vigour that, though it was considered +a most arduous undertaking in those times, it was +completed in 1836, during the Pontificate of Gregory XVI.</p> + +<p>From the Anio, or its tributaries, was drawn the water +which supplied the principal aqueducts of Rome, the Anio +Vetus, the Marcia, the Anio Novus, and the Claudia. +When the original Aqua Appia and Anio Vetus were +found insufficient for the increasing wants of Rome, it +was resolved to seek for a fresh supply. This was found +in a stream of limpid water rising about thirty-six miles +from Rome in the Marsian Mountains, and flowing into +the Anio. As the water of the Vetus was often turbid +after rain, and even the Piscina, or reservoir, through which +it was made to pass, often failed to purify it, Quintus +Marcius Rex, who was appointed to superintend the work, +was desirous that the water of the new aqueduct should be +taken from one of the tributaries of the river, and as near +as possible to its source.</p> + +<p>As the source was in the country beyond the Anio, the +aqueduct was of course more expensive than any of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> +preceding ones, and the entire length of it was no less than +sixty-one miles, of which several were on arches, the rest +being subterranean. But, if the expense was greater, the +quality of the water was superior to that of any other +with which Rome was acquainted.</p> + +<p>The aqueducts of the Anio Novus, and the Aqua +Claudia, of which I have spoken, were completed in the +reign of Claudius. The Aqua Claudia, which came from +springs, was nearly equal in quality to the Marcia, while +the two Anios were often turbid, even in fine weather, +from the falling in of their banks. But Claudius improved +the quality of the Anio Novus, by abandoning the river at +the point from which the water had been drawn, and taking +it from a lake, out of which the stream issues limpid, after +having deposited the greater part of its impurities.</p> + +<p>Altogether, according to the calculation of Fea, half the +volume of Anio was abstracted by the four aqueducts +which have been mentioned.</p> + +<p>Four tributaries remain to be described—the Cremera, +the Allia, the Aqua Crabra, and the Almo—streams insignificant +in size, but famous in the annals of Rome, or possessing +an interest for the classical scholar and the archæologist. +The Cremera, a mere brook, over which an +active person might leap, rises in the little lake Baccano, +and flowing past the site of Veii, crosses the Flaminian way +about six miles from Rome.</p> + +<p>This brook must not be confounded with another a little +higher up, and which is a rivulet unknown to fame. The +Cremera is associated, as every student of Roman history is +aware, with the patriotic devotion of the Fabii.</p> + +<p>On the banks of the Allia, the “<i>flebilis Allia</i>” of Ovid, +a still smaller stream, though dignified by the historians<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> +with the name of river, was fought a battle with the Gauls, +in which the Romans sustained a signal defeat.</p> + +<p>The Allia cannot be identified with certainty, but it is +supposed to be a small stream flowing in a deep ravine, +which joins the Tiber on the side opposite to Veii, and +about three miles above Castel Guibileo, the site of the +ancient Fidenæ. This stream agrees with the description +of Livy.</p> + +<p>The Aqua Crabra is generally known by the name of +the Marrana, but is also called Aqua Mariana, and Marrana +del Maria; Marrana being a name frequently given to +brooks by the modern Romans. Thus we have Marrana +della Caffarella, another name for the Almone, and Marrana +di Grotta perfetta. The rivulet anciently known by the +name of the Aqua Crabra rises in the heart of the Alban +hills, and after passing beneath the heights on which Tusculum +and Frascati are situated, turned northwards in obedience +to the configuration of the ground and flowed into +the Anio. But, at some unknown period after the fall of +the Roman Empire, it was diverted by means of a tunnel +into the channel in which it at present runs, for the purpose +of turning mills and irrigating the land. The little stream, +also, which flows in the valley between Marino and the +ridge encircling the Alban lake, whose source is considered +by some to be the Aqua Ferentina of Livy, is conveyed +through a similar tunnel to swell the scanty waters of the +Aqua Crabra. In ancient times this rivulet was considered +of such importance to the people of Tusculum, who lived +out of the way of the great aqueducts, that Agrippa, as +Frontinus tells us, consented not to turn it into the “caput,” +or well head, of the Aqua Julia, as he had originally proposed. +It was looked upon as a treasure to be doled out in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> +measures to the thirsty people of Tusculum, and was often +contended for by legal proceedings. Cicero, in his <i>Oration +de lege Agraria, III, 2</i>, informs us that he paid rates to the +authorities of Tusculum for his share of the precious fluid. +And in his <i>Oration pro Balbo, ch. 22</i>, he refers to a litigation +with the municipality which furnished the water, probably +on account of the deficient supply. In this action “he was +in the habit,” he tells us, “of consulting the lawyer, Tugio, +on account of his long experience in similar cases.” Tugio +seems to have justified his choice, and to have frightened +the municipality into granting a more abundant supply, for +we find Cicero in his letter to Tiro, observing, “that now +there was more water than enough.” “I should like to +know,” he says, “how the business of the Aqua Crabra is +going on, though now indeed there is more water than +enough.”</p> + +<p>The Almo is the stream which flows in the valley of +Caffarella, close to the Nymphæum, which does duty for +the grotto of Egeria. Its most remote source is about six +miles from Rome, in the direction of Albano, and this is +usually dry; so that the Almo is with great propriety called +“<i>brevissimus</i>,” in comparison with the other rivers which +Ovid is enumerating. The perennial source is at Aqua +Santa, not more than three miles from the city. The +stream that rises in the valley between Marino and the Alban +lake is represented in most maps as flowing into the +Almo. It is really diverted by a tunnel into the Aqua +Crabra. At the junction of the Almo with the Tiber were +washed every year, the statue of the Goddess Cybele, her +chariot and the sacred instruments of her worship.</p> + +<p>Among the remaining tributaries of the Tiber may be +enumerated the Farfarus, which is a torrent joining the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> +Tiber a little above Correse. Also the little stream, the +Aqua Albana, which is discharged by the emissary of +the Alban Lake, a work executed 393 years before +Christ.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c12">THE SHANNON</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ARTHUR SHADWELL MARTIN</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE greatest body of running water in the British Isles +has long claimed and received the love, admiration +and praise of natives and foreigners. Its banks are fringed +with ruins of castles, round towers, abbeys and churches, and +its islands and hills reek with historical associations, pagan +folklore and mediæval tradition. Steamers now run practically +from its mouth to its source, and to the tourist all its +beauties are now displayed. The enthusiasm of foreigners +over the beautiful stream equals that of Erin’s own sons. +Writing in 1844, Johann Georg Kohl said:</p> + +<p>“Well may the Irish speak of the ‘<i>Royal</i> Shannon,’ for +he <i>is</i> the king of all their rivers. A foreigner, when he +thinks of some of our large continental streams, may at first +consider the epithet somewhat of an exaggeration, but let +him go down this glorious river and its lakes, and he will +be at no loss to understand that royal majesty, in the matter +of rivers, may be quite independent of length or extent.</p> + +<p>“The British Islands certainly can boast of no second +stream, the beauties of whose banks could for a moment be +compared to those of the Shannon.</p> + +<p>“At his very birth he is broad and mighty, for he starts on +his course strong with the tribute of a lake (Lough Allen), +and traverses the middle of Ireland, in a direction from +north-east to south-west. Thrice again he widens out into +a lake; first into the little Lough Boffin, then into the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> +larger Lough Ree, and lastly, when he has got more than +half way to the ocean, into the yet longer Lough Derg. +Below Limerick he opens into a noble estuary, and when +at length he falls into the sea between Loop Head and +Kerry Head, the glorious river has completed a course of +two hundred and fourteen English miles. The greater part +of the Shannon runs through the central plain which +separates the mountainous north from the mountainous +south.</p> + +<p>“It was on a beautiful day that I embarked to descend +the Shannon. Flowing out of a lake, and forming several +other lakes in its progress, the water is extremely clear and +beautiful. The movement is in general equable, excepting +a few rapids which are avoided by means of canals. The +banks, too, are pleasing to the eye. Large green meadows +stretch along the sides of the river, and villages alternate +with handsome country seats, surrounded by their parks. +Herons abound along the margin, and many of these beautiful +birds were continually wheeling over us in the air, +their plumage glittering again in the rays of the sun.</p> + +<p>“We arrived at Banagher. Then gliding along by Redwood +Castle and the beautiful meadows of Portumna, we +left the town of Portumna to our right, and entered the +waters of Lough Derg. The steamer in which we had +hitherto travelled was of small dimensions, with a wheel +under the stern, to allow of its passing through some canals +of no great breadth; but on the broad lake a new and larger +vessel prepared to receive us. The two steamers came +close to one another, to exchange their respective passengers, +and their manœuvre, as they swept round on the wide +water, pleased me much.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f10"> +<img src="images/fig10.jpg" alt="shannon"> +<p class="caption">THE SHANNON</p> +</div> + +<p>“Of the lakes that like so many rich pearls are strung +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span>upon the silver thread of the Shannon, Lough Ree and +Lough Bodarrig, lying in a level country, and in a great +measure surrounded by bogs, present little that is pleasing +to the eye. Lough Allen is situated almost wholly within +the mountainous districts of the north, and a large portion +of Lough Derg is made picturesque by the mountains of the +south. Like all Irish lakes, Lough Derg contains a number +of small green islands, of which the most renowned is +Inniscaltra, an ancient holy place, containing the ruins of +seven venerable churches of great antiquity, and the remains +of one of those remarkable columnal erections known +in Ireland under the name of “round towers.” We passed +the sacred isle at the distance of a mile and a half, but we +could very distinctly make out all its monuments by the aid +of a telescope.”</p> + +<p>It is not every visitor to Shannon’s shores that has unqualified +praise for the scenery. Thus speaking of the +sites selected by the saints of old for their retreats, Cæsar +Otway exclaims: “What a dreary place is Glendalough! +what a lonely isle is Inniscaltra! what a hideous place +is Patrick’s Purgatory! what a desolate spot is Clonmacnoise! +From the hill of Bentullagh on which we +now stood, the numerous churches, the two round towers, +the curiously overhanging bastion of O’Melaghlin’s +Castle, all before us to the south, and rising in relief from +the dreary sameness of the surrounding red bogs, presented +such a picture of tottering ruins and encompassing +desolation as I am sure few places in Europe could parallel.”</p> + +<p>The traveller who wants to see the most accessible +beauties of the Shannon usually starts at Limerick and +leaves the river at Athlone, though some go as far as Carrick<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> +on Shannon. The chief loughs traversed are Derg +and Ree; and the only towns of any importance are Killaloe, +Portumna and Athlone.</p> + +<p>About eight miles above Limerick are the Rapids or Falls +of Doonass, where the Shannon pours an immense body of +water, which above the rapids is forty feet deep and 300 +yards wide, through and above a congregation of huge rocks +and stones that extend nearly half a mile, and offers not +only an unusual scene, but a spectacle approaching much +nearer to the sublime than any moderate-sized stream can +offer even in the highest cascade.</p> + +<p>Castleconnell is beautifully situated on the east bank. It +has a popular Spa, and is a famous centre for salmon fishing. +The castle, from which the town is named, stands on +an isolated rock in the middle of the town. It was +anciently the seat of the O’Briens. When Ginkell, +William the Third’s General, took the castle, he caused it +to be dismantled. Castleconnell is famous for its salmon +fishing and eel weirs. The Castleconnell fishing rods are +famed all over the world.</p> + +<p>Eight miles above Castleconnell near the entrance to +Lough Derg is Killaloe.</p> + +<p>The navigation from Limerick to Killaloe is carried on +by canal so as to avoid the rapids of Killaloe and Castleconnell. +Killaloe is a charmingly placed village, but it is +probably best known as the place above all others in Ireland +dear to the heart of the angler. The fine old cathedral, on +the site of a much older church, dates from the Twelfth +Century. The Choir is used as the parish church. Commencing +at Killaloe is Lough Derg, an expansion of the +Shannon to the proportions of a lake. The Duke and +Duchess of Cornwall and York made a trip up Lough Derg<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> +to Banagher in the summer of 1897, and the route is now +known as the “Duke of York” route.</p> + +<p>As every one knows, the Shannon is much the largest +river in the United Kingdom. Its breadth, where it expands +into the long narrow lakes that mark so much of its +course, stretches to as much as thirteen miles. Lough +Derg, the first of these expanded stretches, is twenty-three +miles long, and exceedingly picturesque. Its shining surface, +overshadowed by blue hills, is broken here and +there by woody islands famous in history and song. Killaloe +itself takes its name from the ruined church on the +island below the twelve-arched bridge (“the church on the +water”). The salmon fisheries here are very important +and profitable, and—which is probably more interesting to +the traveller—the river is free to every one who possesses +a rod and line.</p> + +<p>It was here, at the lower end of Lough Derg, that Brian +Boru’s palace of Kincora once stood, in the Ninth Century. +The mound on which it was built is all that remains of a +place that displayed, 1,200 years ago, the utmost glory of +the fierce, proud Irish kings. The ruined castle of Derry +crowns another small islet; and Holy Island, thirty acres in +extent, is a spot full of interest. Like Glendalough, it was +chosen out, early in the Christian era, for a retreat of piety +and learning. One cannot but observe the excellent taste +in scenery displayed by the monks of ancient days, in selecting +these peaceful refuges from a stormy world. What +can be more lovely than the vale of the seven churches, or +than Innisfallen Island? and Holy Island compares not at +all ill with these still more famous places. St. Caimin, in +the early part of the Seventh Century, settled here, and +built a monastery, which soon became famous for its learning.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> +Seven different churches afterwards grew up on the +island, and one of the most beautiful round towers in Ireland +still raises its head seventy feet above the waters of the +lake, among the ruins of these sacred places. This part of +the lake is crowded with islands, and the ruined castles and +monasteries are very numerous. At the town of Portumna, +some miles further on, another stop is made, as the castle +and abbey are particularly well worth seeing. This was +another spot celebrated for its learning. The monastery +of Tirdaglass, whence many manuscripts issued, was founded +by St. Columba in the Sixth Century. At Clonmacnoise, +further on, the traveller may see the cradle of the ancient +art and learning of Ireland, and the most important seat of +religion in early days. St. Cearan (early Sixth Century) is +especially associated with the spot; the great cathedral was +built in his honour, and the holy well, dedicated to the +Saint, is still the object of constant pilgrimage. Round +towers, ancient Irish crosses, ruined churches and monasteries, +are here in abundance. The ancient city of Clonmacnoise +has disappeared altogether. This is a place of +the greatest possible interest to antiquarians, and even ordinary +travellers will find much pleasure in the beauty of the +picturesque ruins.</p> + +<p>At Banagher is the fortified bridge of seven arches, protected +by two towers and a battery. This is all the more +interesting, for, not being an antiquity in any sense, it was +finished in 1843, as a matter of fact.</p> + +<p>Above Lough Derg, the country is fertile, but not especially +striking until Lough Ree is reached. This second +great expansion of the river fairly rivals the first in beauty. +Of its twenty-seven islands, the most attractive is Inis +Clothran, on which the famous Queen Maev of Connaught<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span> +spent her declining years. She is said to have built a +splendid stone house for herself here, and lived on the +island until she died, at the age of a hundred and two. +Some ruins still remain to mark the spot, although the date +of Queen Maev goes back nearly two thousand years. +Antiquarians consider that Shakespeare’s fairy Queen Mab +was a development of the many legends told about this +powerful, wicked, and fascinating Queen of far-off days.</p> + +<p>Portumna, at the head of the lake, commands fine views +of Lough Derg, and the hilly land to the west. After +leaving this town the scenery becomes dull and monotonous +till we reach Meelick, where the river is so devious that a +canal rejoins the Shannon at the mouth of the Little Brosna. +Immediately above, the stream begins to divide and becomes +very tortuous till Banagher is reached.</p> + +<p>At the upper end of Lough Ree is Lanesborough, a small +town with a fine bridge of six arches and a swivel arch. +From this point the sail to Tarmonbarry presents little +beauty or interest. The country is generally a wide extent +of bog, abounding in remains of trees and the extinct Irish +elk. Opposite Tarmonbarry, the Royal Canal, communicating +with Dublin, joins the Shannon. When the river +again widens into Lough Forbes, the Seven Churches of +Kilbarry come into view: only three and part of a round +tower are now standing. Lough Forbes is triangular in +shape, and the shores are low boggy land not destitute of +a certain quiet beauty. Lough Boderg shaped like a T is +the only remaining sheet of water before reaching Carrick +on Shannon where the tourist’s voyage generally ends.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c13">THE DANUBE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">I. BOWES</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">N</span>EXT to the Volga, the Danube is the largest river in +Europe, and for volume of water and commercial +importance it far exceeds that river. It is estimated that +the Danube carries more water to the sea than all the rivers +of France.</p> + +<p>The river rises at the head of a pleasant little valley high +up in the mountains of the Black Forest; coming tumbling +down the rocks a tiny stream of clear water, and, gathering +strength and volume from numerous springs and rivulets, it +cuts a deep channel into the rich soil and dances gaily +along, presently to be joined by the Brigach and its twin-sister, +the Brege, which rise about ten miles further to the +south. These are the highest sources of the mighty River +Danube, the great water highway of Europe, celebrated for +ages in legend and song and in ancient and modern history +for important military events, and, in its flow of nearly +2,000 miles to the Black Sea, unfolding the most remarkable +panoramas of natural beauty known to the geographer; +whilst on its banks may be found groups of the most interesting +nationalities of the world.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f11"> +<img src="images/fig11.jpg" alt="danube"> +<p class="caption">THE DANUBE</p> +</div> + +<p>Donaueschingen, a tidy little town in the Grand Duchy +of Baden, is sometimes called the source of the Danube. +It is situated about a mile and a half below the point where +the Brigach and the Brege join the river, which from this +point is called the Donau or Danube, and it is the head of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span>the navigation for small boats on the upper river. Between +here and Ulm there are twenty-one weirs and dams, and +many pleasant villages, pretty little towns, ruined castles, and +princely residences; amongst the latter may be named +Hohenzollern, near Sigmaringen, the seat of the Imperial +family of Prussia. The scenery in the locality of the castle +is of great beauty, and the town, pleasantly situated on the +banks of the river, has a charming appearance.</p> + +<p>The river below Sigmaringen flows through a broad, +fertile valley, and with a quicker current, as the banks have +been partially canalized; and small towns, with names +of wondrous length and ponderous sound, such as Munderkingen, +Kiedlingen, Reichenstein, etc., suggest places that +are or have been of great importance. In the distance the +great tower of the Cathedral of Ulm is seen rising up out +of the low horizon. Ulm is a great military stronghold, +and the old town a maze of narrow, crooked streets. The +Cathedral is said to be next in size to that at Cologne, and +is a fine specimen of Gothic architecture, with the highest +stone tower in the world.</p> + +<p>Below Ulm several smaller towns are passed before +reaching Ratisbon, a city of 40,000 inhabitants, famous for +many historical events. The Cathedral of Saint Peter is +one of the architectural glories of Germany. Freight +steamers, barges, tugboats, and passenger steamers abound +on this part of the river. Long flat boats sixty feet long, +such as we see on the Rhine, pass down to the Lower +Danube, laden with grain, timber, etc.</p> + +<p>Linz, with its 500,000 inhabitants, is an interesting +town; and the river scenery, between here and Vienna, is +said to rival the Rhine scenery, the hills being more varied +in outline and the slopes richer in verdure.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span></p> + +<p>At Vienna the river is more crowded still, and is crossed +by some fine road and railway bridges; and many show +sights are here, such as cathedrals, historical buildings, etc., +and more than a fair share of <i>cafés</i>, theatres and music-halls. +In this respect it rivals Paris, and, some say, exceeds +it in wickedness.</p> + +<p>After leaving Vienna, Hainburg, Kieben and Presburg +(with its 50,000 inhabitants), where the Hungarian kings +have for ages been crowned, are passed; then Komorn, and +through the fertile plains of Hungary to Buda Pesth, a +beautiful, prosperous city, with a population of 500,000. +It is said that the extensive quays facing the river and the +imposing buildings are the finest on the whole course of the +Danube. Lower down the river the inhabitants on either +bank show distinct traces of Magyar descent.</p> + +<p>And now leaving the Hungarian territory for Servia, +Belgrade with its great fortress comes in sight. Many +parts of the city are Turkish in appearance, and the inhabitants +are a mixture of Hungarians, Turks and Servians.</p> + +<p>About sixty miles below Belgrade the river leaves the +Hungarian plains, and at Bazias the chief hindrances to the +navigation of the Danube begin and extend to Sibb, a distance +of about eighty-two miles. The obstructions may be +divided into four sections, viz:—No. 1. The Stenka +Rapids; No. 2. The Kozla Dojke; No. 3. The Greben +Section; and No. 4. The Iron Gates. The first named +rapids are about 1,100 yards long; nine miles lower down +the second section—about one and a half miles long—begins, +and the river is narrowed from about 1,000 yards in +width to about 300 and in some places 170 yards. These +rapids are caused by rocks in the bed of the river, some of +which are almost dry at low water, extending nearly across<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> +it, and causing sudden alterations in the currents and +dangerous whirlpools and eddies.</p> + +<p>At Greben, four miles lower down, there were formidable +obstacles to be overcome, and some of the heaviest +work in the undertaking had to be faced; for at this point +a spur of the Greben Mountain juts out into the river, and +suddenly reduces its width at low water. When the snow +and ice in the upper reaches of the river melt, or in heavy +rain, the river rapidly rises, and, being blocked by these obstacles, +causes damaging floods in the fertile valleys of +Hungary.</p> + +<p>Below the Greben rapids the river widens out to about +one and a half miles, and passing the cutting and training +walls at the rapids of Jucz enters the Kazan defile, which +is said to be the most picturesque part of the Lower Danube. +The cliffs, of great height, approach nearer and nearer to +each other, until the river is contracted to 120 yards wide.</p> + +<p>Passing through this dark and sombre defile into the +valley of Dubova, it widens to 500 metres; the mountains +again approach and reduce the width to about 200 yards. +The depth at these straits varies from ten metres to fifty +metres. It was through this defile that Trajan, nearly +2,000 years ago, made riverside roads and towing paths in +continuation of the small canals and waterways to evade the +rocks and currents and to facilitate the transport of his +armies and military trains for the Roman campaigns in +Central Europe. The ruins of these works are a proof +of the great labour expended upon them, and also of the +skill in engineering possessed by the Romans in those days. +The tablets engraved on the rocks, still in part visible, commemorate +their heroic deeds.</p> + +<p>Following our course down the river, at ten kilometres<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> +from the Kazan, we come to Orsova, a rather important +place of call for steamers and trading-vessels; and, now +that the river is navigable for larger vessels, this place is +destined, from its railway communications, etc., to become +a great trading centre.</p> + +<p>At a distance of eight kilometres from Orsova, the Iron +Gate, situated between Roumania and Servia begins, and is +for a length of about three kilometres the largest and most +dangerous obstacle on the Lower Danube. The rocks in +the channel impede the current, forming dangerous eddies +and cataracts.</p> + +<p>The Prigrada Rock rises above low water with a width +of 250 metres and a length of about two kilometres, +stretches in a crooked line across the river to the Roumanian +shore, with a narrow channel, through which vessels +of light draught only can be navigated with difficulty. +The river, pouring over this rock, forms dangerous whirlpools +and cataracts, requiring the greatest watchfulness, +care, and experience on the part of the navigator to overcome +the dangers of what has well been called “The Iron +Gates.” Hundreds of steamers and vessels have been +wrecked in attempting this dangerous passage.</p> + +<p>Like many other great projects many schemes had been +proposed and plans for carrying them out by different +authorities had been considered, but nothing definite was +done until in 1888, the Hungarian Government, under +rights conferred upon it by the Berlin Treaty of 1878, and +the London Treaty of 1871, undertook the work of construction +and administration under the conditions of the +treaties which gave them the power to levy tolls on trade +ships for covering the expenses of the works.</p> + +<p>The ceremony of the inauguration took place on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> +27th of September, 1896, when the Emperor of Austria, +King Charles of Roumania, and King Alexander of Servia, +with an immense gathering of bishops, generals and diplomatic +representatives, etc., met at Orsova, and proceeded +through the Iron Gates and the beautiful and romantic +Kazan Pass with a procession of six vessels, which included +a monitor and torpedo boat, and accompanied by a continuous +discharge of artillery and the loud huzzas of the +immense gathering of soldiers, visitors and inhabitants.</p> + +<p>Below the Iron Gates the river broadens out and the +scenery is tame and uninteresting, for the vast plains of +Roumania extend from the foot of the hills here to the +shores of the Black Sea, and the maritime and commercial +aspects of the surroundings begin to manifest themselves—the +river becomes more crowded with craft of all kinds as +we approach the towns on the Lower Danube.</p> + +<p>We pass Widin, and, lower down, Sistova where, in the +Russo-Turkish war, the Russians crossed the river to +Plevna and the Balkan passes. Thirty-five miles lower +down we reach Rustchuk, the most important Bulgarian +town on the river, and fast becoming a great emporium of +trade, being on the main line of railway to Constantinople, +<i>viâ</i> Varna.</p> + +<p>We then pass Silistria and approach the longest railroad +bridge in the world. This bridge crosses the Danube below +Silistria, and carries the railway from Kustendji on the +Black Sea into Roumania.</p> + +<p>Braila, 125 miles from the mouth of the river, is the +chief port for the shipment of produce, etc., from the grain-growing +regions of Roumania and Northern Bulgaria. +Here are extensive docks, grain elevators, and thousands of +men of all nationalities engaged in loading steamers and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> +sailing vessels from all countries. The British flag is +everywhere present. As a commercial port the place is +fast outstripping its neighbour, Galatz, fifteen miles lower +down.</p> + +<p>From Galatz to the sea, the navigation of the river, the +dredging, removing of obstacles, levying of tolls, etc., is +controlled by an International Commission established by +treaty in 1878, since which date great improvements have +been made, chiefly in the lower reaches and the Sulina +mouth of the river, by the construction of groynes, revetments +and cuttings to avoid the bends, and constant dredgings +by powerful dredgers are carried on.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c14">THE NIGER</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">J. HAMPDEN JACKSON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>T will probably be a century hence before men fully +realize the extent of the world’s debt to those English +noblemen and gentlemen who in the last decade of the last +century, sent forth Mungo Park as their emissary to find +and trace specifically upon the map all he might discover as +to this mysterious river. Their choice of the man was exceptionally +fortunate.</p> + +<p>I pass over all their disappointments, and the persistent +courage with which they bore them, and need only remind +you that these Englishmen of the African Association—soon +afterwards to become the Royal Geographical Society—not +only found and equipped Park and Clapperton and +Lander, but it was at <i>their</i> cost, on <i>their</i> business and for +<i>their</i> entertainment alone, that Barth, the German explorer +(whose brilliant and most accurate explorations are in our +day constantly credited to his own nation instead of ours), +undertook and finished his great journeys into Hausaland +from North Africa.</p> + +<p>We follow Park from his first discovery of the Niger at +Sego, look with him on the breadth at that spot of its +stream, realize his disappointment at having to return to +England; his joy at coming for the second time to Bambarra, +and then his voyage in the little craft bearing his +country’s flag down to the devious waters of the unexplored +river; past Kabara, from whose hill-top he might have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> +seen Timbuktu had he but known and had he not been attacked +there by the people on trying to land. Next we +sail with Park past Birni, close to the capital of the former +Songhay Empire, past Say, up the stream to Boussa, the +capital of Borgu, 650 miles from the sea; and here on that +memorable day of 1806 we see poor Park meet his death, +and I hope it may not be long ere some worthy obelisk at +the spot shall set forth indelibly the great record of his mission.</p> + +<p>We come now to Richard Lander, and in like manner I +take you over the route of this famous voyager, from +Badagry (whence he struck inland) to Boussa, where he +found the relics of Park, and then in his boats down +stream past Mount Jebba—standing midway in the river, +with an elevation above sea level of some 300 feet—past +Rabbah—then the largest city on the Niger—to Egga, +where the great ferry of the Kano-Ilorin traffic makes prosperous +the chief port of Nupé, and now—in the distance—appears +the table-topped Mount Patteh, rising 1,300 feet +from the right bank, and as we sail with Lander under its +shadow there opens out before us the noble confluence at +Lokoja, where the Benué, the Niger’s mighty tributary, +pours its mile-broad current into this great West African +river. Next Lander passes between the jagged and stunted +peaks of the Nigretian Alps, and nearing Idda, sees its bold +precipices of red sandstone rear themselves on the left bank, +and admires the giant baobab trees, the clustered round-roofed +huts, and the busy throngs of Igara people passing +to and fro from the riverside. But our explorer has vowed +to follow the great Niger to its outflow, and we are still +some 280 miles from the sea.</p> + +<p>So Lander passes on in his boats, and nearing Asaba—now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span> +the seat of English government on the river—he notes +that the native houses are now all of rectangular shape, and +the people of Eboe type, and soon he is at Abo, and the +tidal waters are recognized just as the ruffians of the Brass +slaving fleet rush upon him and—capsizing his craft—Lander +barely escapes with his life to find his brother +drowning also. Rescued at last, John Lander is brought +prisoner, together with Richard to the Brass mouth of the +Niger, and their sufferings whilst waiting release and subsequently +until landed at Fernando Po may well have made +them dread the name of Brassmen. It may be that some +day at Brass, or Akassa, English hands will raise a fitting +and permanent memorial to this modest, uncultured and +sterling character, who solved for all mankind the greatest +geographical problem of his time, and opened the door for +European commerce and civilization into West Central +Africa. It must not be forgotten that MacQueen had all +along contended that the Niger would be found to issue +into the Atlantic through the swamps of the Bights of Benin +and Biafra, nor are the reasons now obscure that account +for that long hiding of geographical truth in the Gulf of +Guinea. The Niger Delta is one covering 14,000 square +miles; the Delta rivers creep into the sea almost unperceived +through the low-level mangrove swamp; the whole +region reeks with fevers and dysentery, and at the time of +Lander’s discovery the only trade to be done in that “God-forgotten +Guinea” was the slave-trade. Such white men +as ventured to the Delta, therefore, were bent on secrecy +rather than on discovery; and this had been the state of +things for centuries. No wonder that the Niger had been a +mystery, but it was a mystery no more.</p> + +<p>The next step for its exploration was taken by Liverpool.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> +Macgregor Laird raised a large fund among his merchant +friends on the exchange, and added thereto a large part of +his own fortune, built and equipped two steamships—the +<i>Quorra</i> and <i>Alburka</i>—and (with but little aid from the +Government) took charge personally of this bold expedition, +and in 1832 sailed for the Niger. Now, look at these +banks forty feet at least above the river level, and remember +that for three to four months of the year the villages +lining them are simply floating in the vast waste of the +Niger inundations. Mr. Laird found by a bitter experience +that it was all very well to steam up the Niger when the +stream was at flood, but when your crew were all down with +fever and the river began to fall at the rate of a foot per +day, the least accident—such as the stranding of the little +<i>Quorra</i>—locked you up bag and baggage for a whole +twelve months, and brought you face to face with terrible +dangers. The mortality on board the steamers was awful, +but Laird kept the expedition well in hand; he explored a +great part of the upper middle Niger, a considerable distance +up the Benué, and established the first English trading +factories, 350 miles from the mouth of the Niger, ere +his return to Liverpool. Like all other travellers who have +seen the Benué, Laird was greatly impressed with the volume +and purity of its waters, the beauty of its landscape on +either bank, and the rich promise of development in its already +quickened commerce. Look at the woodland beauty +at Ribago, for instance; or the fine cultivated plain at Yola; +and the impressive rock-fortress at Imaha. And see these +fine Hausa peoples who inhabit the Sokoto and Bornu countries +of the inter-riverine plateau. They are an ancient +race, grave and industrious, of fine physique and highly intellectual +phrenological type.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span></p> + +<p>Centuries ago Macrisi—the Egyptian historian—told of +their gourd-ferries, and the world laughed at such a “traveller’s +tale”; but here you see them for yourselves. Centuries +ago men wrote of the vast city of Timbuktu, but +what is Timbuktu to Kano, the Hausa capital? Look at +this wall surrounding Sokoto City, and think of the wall of +Kano being as high as that and fifteen miles round! The +Fulah aristocracy live at Sokoto, and their Sultan bears +spiritual rule over the greater part of Hausaland; his +temporal power is no myth, either, for in 1891 he raised +an army of 40,000 men—half of whom were cavalry—under +the eyes of Monteil. But the crumbling houses of +Sokoto tell their own tale of a city that has long passed its +zenith, and like Timbuktu, whose population has fallen from +200,000 to 7,000, like Katsena, whose population has fallen +from 100,000 to 6,000, so Sokoto is daily yielding its +temporal sceptre to Kano, the city of markets and manufactures, +the centre of literature as well as of prosperous +agriculture, the starting-point of the Soudan caravans, the +central slave market, cloth market, metal market and the +busy focus of all industries. See the great market square +in which 30,000 people assemble for commercial exchange +every week; these fourteen gates, through which the hosts +of organized caravans are ever issuing, most of them 600 +or 800 strong at the very least, and twenty of which go +every year to Salaga for Kola-nut alone! Think of the +Mecca pilgrims who all assembled here to form their great +cavalcades yearly; of the 60,000 artificers and cultivators +living in this Kano, with its enclosed fields of rich crops, +its leather factories, shoe and sandal factories, dyeing +works, cotton spinning and weaving, basket making, brass +manufacture and ornamentation, etc. And remember that,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span> +thanks to our English chartered companies, this Kano, and +these fine Hausa people—whose language has long been +the key-tongue of all trade in Central Africa—are brought +securely under the flag and influence of Great Britain. It +is, from our point of view, a drawback that Kano lies at an +unhealthy level, and its people defy every sanitary decency +in their abbatoir and cemetery arrangements, but that is +their way of being happy. Katsena is much more salubrious, +having 1,500 feet of elevation.</p> + +<p>Ere long, under British tutelage, and freed from dread of +the Fulah slave-raider, the rascal who raids his own people +for the mere joy of it, freed from this curse, the Hausa +States will rise to preëminence through the aptitude and capacity +for discipline inherent in that virile people.</p> + +<p>I must pass over Bornu and its great chief city of Kuka, +but would like to dwell for a moment on the deeply interesting +fact that here—in the Chartered State of British +Nigretia—we tread upon the dust of empires. At the time +of our Heptarchy this very Bornu was the seat of a Negro +empire covering a million and a half square miles, and extending +from the Niger to the Nile. And Sokoto and +Gandu—our Treaty states—formed but part of the Negro +empire of Songhay, having its capital at Gogo on the +Niger, and extending westward and northward as far as the +Atlantic and Morocco.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c15">THE AMAZON</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">JOSEPH JONES</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE main stream of the Amazon is about 4,000 miles +long—long enough that is to go in a circle twice +round the British Isles, or 600 miles longer than the voyage +from Liverpool to New York. For the lowest 250 miles +of its course it is fifty miles wide, or if the Island of Marajo +in its mouth be regarded as a huge sand bank, which is +what it really is, then it is 200 miles wide at its mouth. In +other words, one might take the whole of Scotland, push it +into the mouth of this river and leave only a small piece +projecting. The Amazon has nineteen very large tributaries, +each of which is really a gigantic river in itself, and +through these tributaries it is connected with the Orinoco +and the River Plata. The Amazon rises near the west +coast of South America, about sixty miles from Lima in +Peru, and runs into the Atlantic, traversing nearly the whole +width of the widest part of South America in its course. +Its depth in places is twenty fathoms or 120 feet. It drains +an area nearly the size of all Europe, and is the largest body +of fresh water in the world. Its average speed of flow is +two and a half miles per hour. Hence in going up-stream +a boat hugs the bank to avoid the current, whilst in descending +it sails in mid-stream in order to obtain full advantage +of the same. As may be guessed, progress is quicker down-stream +than up. The influence of its flow can be felt 150 +miles from the shore. On one occasion the mess-room<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span> +steward filled the filter direct from the sea when the ship +was long out of sight of land, yet the water was only very +slightly brackish. The inland navigation of the Amazon +and its branches extends over 20,000 miles. The name is +supposed to be derived from “Amassona,” the Indian word +for “boat-destroyer,” on account of the tidal wave which +rages in the channel to the north of the Island of Marajo, +and on account of which boats enter by the south channel.</p> + +<p>The river is high at the end of the rainy season and low +after the dry season, but even at low river the ship in which +I sailed, an ocean-going steamer, experienced no difficulty +in sailing as far as Manâos. The difference in level is a +matter of thirty feet, so that whereas in August you step +out of a small boat on to the landing-stage, in October, when +the river is about at its lowest, you have to walk on planks, +from the boat to the foot of the landing-stage, mount this +by a ladder and go ashore.</p> + +<p>Being so near the equator, the Amazon is in a warm +district. In the coolest part of the ship the temperature +used to rise to 84° Fahrenheit in the afternoon, whilst in +the sun 120° Fahrenheit was registered, and some of the +pitch in the seams of the deck was melted. This was when +ascending the river. There is a ten knot breeze from the +sea which makes it cooler on returning, but on the inward +journey when travelling with the wind and at practically +the same speed, one is of course in a dead calm and uncomfortably +hot. The river water itself at 6 <span class="allsmcap">A. M.</span>, was always +between 88° Fahrenheit and 89° Fahrenheit.</p> + +<p>Besides steamers the Amazon is navigated by battalongs, +wooden craft, about twelve yards in length, covered with +an awning of palm branches, which come from Peru and +elsewhere with native produce, are manned by Indians who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span> +live aboard, and which take two months to get back home +from Manâos against the stream. Smaller boats are driven +by square sails of blue and white cotton, which bear traces +of Manchester origin, and there are also native canoes propelled +by paddles.</p> + +<p>The Indians fish in an interesting manner by means of +bow and arrow, with a line attached to the arrow. If they +can get a couple of arrows firmly shot in they can usually +haul in a river turtle or other large fish. There is a large +fish with red flesh which serves the people in some parts +instead of beef (cattle being dear). Thus they don’t fulfil +the old definition of an angler as “a worm at one end and +a fool at the other.” River turtle when caught are laid on +their backs, in which position they are helpless, and one on +board the ship laid eighty-six eggs at one break whilst in +this position. The eggs are spherical, covered with a flexible +limy shell, and resemble in appearance a small tennis-ball. +They are a treat out there, where eggs are very +scarce. The flesh of this kind of turtle is rather tough and +not unlike pork.</p> + +<p>A great variety of animal life is to be found, including +mosquitoes, cockroaches, moths, butterflies, alligators, +snakes, tarantulas, centipedes, and grasshoppers.</p> + +<p>The savage people, who live some little distance from +the river, are of about our average height and build, +walnut-coloured, with long straight jet-black hair. In +war they fight with bamboo-headed spears and poisoned +arrows, the latter propelled by a powerful bow seven feet +long. The arrow-heads, of bone, are dipped in snake +venom and inflict a mortal wound. The venom is said to +be procured by boiling snakes’ heads to extract it from the +glands and evaporating the solution to almost dryness.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> +Right inland the tribes often have battles, and the victors +kill the women and children of the vanquished. They +have a horrible habit of cutting off the heads of girls, +skinning them, and curing the skin in such a way that it +shrinks, but retains its colour and texture, when they stuff +it, producing a head the size of one’s fist, but perfect in +shape. They sell them at from £12 to £30 to Europeans, +who ought to know better than to buy them.</p> + +<p>The civilized people speak the Portuguese language +and are of European habits. They are more polite than +the British, though this is noticeable by their habits being +different from ours rather than by being better. For instance, +I have seen a first-class passenger expectorate on +the saloon floor when at dinner and never blush, but he +would think himself dreadfully impolite if he wore his hat +in a restaurant. One is impelled to Max O’Rell’s conclusion +that “one nation is not better or worse than +another. One nation is different from another, that is all.”</p> + +<p>The money is mostly paper, and there is no paper legal +tender less than the milreis (2s. 3d. nominally, actually +about 7d.). In Pará small change is given in tram tickets.</p> + +<p>The vegetable kingdom numbers 17,000 species and is +a veritable fairy-land. Orchids, which with us are so +highly prized, are much cheaper there. Very many +varieties grow quite wild and are little esteemed. I know +one man who had an orange tree in his garden and considered +it a nuisance. It crowded out some valuable exotic +orchids. He would willingly have let any one take it away +but no one would have it. The whole country resembles a +gigantic greenhouse, and it is not without a touch of annoyance +that a Briton sees beautiful palms and other trees +wasted on people who do not appreciate them when they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> +would be welcome at home. The hanging roots or tendrils, +which grow downwards from the branches until they take +root in the ground, are quite strange to us, and they offer +great resistance to path-making. The most important tree +is the india rubber, <i>Herveia Brasilensis</i>, which is a large +tree, and entirely different from the <i>Ficus elasticus</i>, which +is commonly called “india rubber” here and grown in +rooms. The raw rubber is obtained by incising the bark +and collecting the “milk” in a can. A paddle is dipped +into this and the milk adhering to it smoked over some +burning nuts. This is done with successive dippings until +a piece the size of a ham is on the paddle, when a slit is +made in the side and the paddle withdrawn. It is quite +possible that the wily native may insert a pebble, when he +has withdrawn the paddle, since rubber is sold by weight. +The best quality is that obtained from the Island of Marajo +and known as Island Rubber. This is said to be because +a species of nut grows there the smoke of which cures the +rubber better than any other kind of smoke. It is said +that every kind of rubber requires some admixture of the +Pará variety to make it useful in commerce. Many of the +rubber cutters live in shanties on the river’s edge and keep +a canoe moored at the door. More inland the poorer +classes live in mud huts built on a framework of light wood. +Some of these when whitewashed make very presentable +houses, as seen in the view of the main street of Parentins, +where the post-office and neighbouring buildings are all of +this sort. The cathedrals are generally handsome buildings, +and the post-office at Pará is a pretty structure.</p> + +<p>The shops are open fronted and usually have no +windows, so that at a short distance one cannot tell of +what kind they are unless the goods are displayed outside.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span></p> + +<p>The streets are peculiarly named, for instance “Fifteenth +of November Square” (date of foundation of the Republic), +“Dr. Guimarez Lane,” and so on.</p> + +<p>The cities bear very evident traces of newness. You +may see a public square enclosing a tract of virgin soil and +except that the palms are planted in straight rows all the +vegetation is natural. There are handsome walnut counters +in whitewashed stores and burglar-proof safes inside offices +which you could demolish with your foot.</p> + +<p>Outside the cities the general appearance of the country +gives one an idea of what Britain must have been like at +the time of the Roman invasion, and shows how civilization +spread along the course of the rivers.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c16">THE YANGTSE CHIANG</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">W. R. CARLES</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE great river of China which foreigners call the +Yangtse Chiang, has its sources on the south-east +edge of the great steppes which form Central Asia. Rising +almost due north of Calcutta, it flows eastwards for some +500 miles, draining a very considerable area on its way, +and then turns southwards until it is penned in by the +great parallel ranges which until recent years have hidden +it and its great neighbours from European eyes. Even after +entering China its course has remained obscure, and the +deep rift through which it makes its way to the navigable +portion of its waters in Sze Chuen is, save here and there, +still unexplored. In the eastern half of Sze Chuen it receives +the drainage of another large area, before entering +the country commonly known as the Ichang Gorges, and +on leaving the Gorges its arms spread north and south +from the Yellow River to the Canton province, affording +easily navigable routes through the heart of China, and by +the Grand Canal to Tientsin.</p> + +<p>One of the largest rivers in the world, its importance +to China as a waterway in some of the wealthiest and most +thickly populated provinces of the empire completely overshadows +all the other river-systems of the country.</p> + +<p>The actual length of the Yangtse Chiang is at present +unknown. The navigable portion, <i>i. e.</i>, to Ping-shan +Hsien, is 1,550 miles. West of Ping-shan Hsien the river<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span> +attains its extreme southern and northern limits; but from +a careful measurement made for me of the best maps owned +by the Royal Geographical Society, its entire length is not +much more than 3,000 miles. The area of drainage is +probably between 650,000 and 700,000 square miles.</p> + +<p>Between the Tangla Mountains, whose south slopes +drain into the Tsang-po and the Salwin Rivers, and the +Kuenlun Mountains, which form the south buttress of the +Tsaidam steppes, the Yangtse Chiang, even at its source +near the 90th meridian, draws on a basin nearly 240 +miles in depth from north to south. Below the confluence +of the three main streams this basin is somewhat +contracted by the north-west south-east trend of the Baian +Kara range, and the river is gradually deflected southwards. +From the 99th meridian its course is almost due south, +passing through the country of the Tanguts, or St. Fans, +until at last it enters China.</p> + +<p>This part of its course is, roughly speaking, parallel with +the Mekong and Salwin Rivers. Penned in by high mountains, +which form an extension of the great plateau of +Central Asia, these rivers continue in close proximity to +each other for nearly two hundred miles.</p> + +<p>The immense depth of the gorges through which the +Yangtse Chiang has cut its way in Yun Nan and west Sze +Chuen, and the extraordinary freaks played by its tributaries +on the right bank, have prevented the course of the Yangtse +Chiang below the Ya-lung from being thoroughly ascertained. +Its course, as laid down by the Jesuits, appears to +have been mainly mere guesswork, and some corrections have +recently been made. Apparently it here attains its lowest +latitude—26° north. The strength of the stream and the +height of the banks above the river prevent much use being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> +made of it for boat traffic, even in the few portions where no +dangers exist. The grandness of these gorges culminates +in the “Sunbridge,” Tai-yang-chiao, a mountain at least +20,000 feet high, “which falls to the Yangtse Chiang in +a series of terraces, which from below appear like parallel +ridges, and abuts on the river into a precipice or precipices, +which must be 8,000 feet above its waters. The main +affluent on the right bank received in this part of its course +is the Niu-lan River, the gorges of which are also very +grand.</p> + +<p>Ping-shan is generally regarded as the head of continuous +navigation, but Mr. Hosie descended the river by +boat from Man-i-sau, forty <i>li</i> higher up.</p> + +<p>The Fu-ling, Chien Chiang, Kung-t’an or Wu-chiang, +which joins the Yangtse Chiang at Fu-Chau on the right +bank, is the last considerable tributary received before reaching +the gorges leading to Ichang. This river is important +as the first of the streams which form the great network of +water-communication which binds Peking and Canton with +Central China. By the Fu-ling Canton can be reached +with only two short portages, and a certain amount of trade +with Hankau is carried on by this and the Yuan River in +preference to taking goods up the Yangtse Chiang.</p> + +<p>The gorges which have shut in the Yangtse Chiang almost +from its source close in upon it again below Fu-Chau, and +continue to within a few miles of Ichang, contracting the +river at one or two points to a width of 150 yards.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1896, some forty miles below Wan +Hsien, a landslip occurred, which carried down into +the river a portion of the mountainside, estimated by +Mr. Bourne at 700 yards by 400 yards. This at present +forms a complete obstacle to any hope of steam navigation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> +between Ichang and Chung-King, and is much more formidable +than the Yeh-tan, Hsin-tan, or any of the other rapids +which had hitherto been in question. The Ching-tan, or +Hsin-tan, was similarly formed some two hundred and fifty +years ago, and it is probable, therefore, that other rapids +originated in the same way.</p> + +<p>Many rivers are received on either bank before Ichang is +reached, of which the most important is the Ching-Chiang, +which enters the Yangtse Chiang on the right bank below +Ichang.</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">At Sha-shih, the port of Chong-Chau Fu, the character of</span><br> +the country changes, and an extensive embankment thirty +feet high, and from seventy feet to three hundred feet wide at +the base, is necessary to protect the country from inundation. +The inland water communication extending from Ching-chau +to Hankau, on the east, and connecting with the +higher parts of the Han River, exposes an immense area to +suffering from floods, and the city itself was almost destroyed +on one occasion by freshets in the inland waters. The +facilities of communication afforded by these routes make +Sha-shih a centre of great commercial value, for, independent +of the great highway of the Yangtse Chiang and of the +canals already mentioned, there are also two large canals on +the right bank of the river connecting with the Tung-ting +Lake. + +<p>Driven onwards by the immense pressure from behind, the +waters of the Yangtse Chiang, though moving in an almost +perfect plane, have an average surface current throughout +the year of two knots at Hankau, where the river is 1,450 +yards broad, and has an average depth of forty-two feet. In +their course to the sea, the entrance to the Poyang Lake is +almost the only place below Wuhsueh at which a passenger<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span> +on a steamer can detect the influx of any other river. The +main river, its tributaries, and the inland canals all form a +part of one great network, which proclaims the delta of +the river. The rivers of East Hu Peh, North Kiang Si, +An Hui, and Kiang Su, which enter the Yangtse Chiang, +are very scarcely recognizable as fresh contributions. Even +the waters of the Yellow River drained into the Yangtse +Chiang in 1889 without for some time exciting any comment +on the addition to its volume.</p> + +<p>The coal fields of Hu Nan have of late concentrated attention +on the Tung-ting Lake and the valley of the Hsaing +as the future trade route between South and Central China; +but until recently the valley of the Kan, which is navigable +by boat from near the Mei-ling Pass on the frontier of +Kwang-Tung to the Poyang Lake, was the great official +waterway from Canton to Peking.</p> + +<p>The Shu or Chin Chiang, which passes Nan-Chang-Fu +to the north-west of the lake, and the Chin or Chin-Chia +Chiang, which descends from Kwang-Hsin-Fu on the +north-east, are the largest of the other rivers which drain +into the Poyang Lake, but part of the waters of Hui-chu-Fu +in An Hui are also received by it, and it is noteworthy +how many routes exist through the mountains on the +east to the Che Kiang and Fu Kein.</p> + +<p>The lake, which is reported to be 1,800 square miles in +extent, acts, like the Tung-ting Lake, as a great reservoir +to check inundations.</p> + +<p>On leaving Kiang Si and entering An Hui, the river at +Wuhu reaches the point where a branch in olden days +made its way southwards to the Chien-tang Gulf, near +Hang-Chau Fu. Its course is conjectured to have been +through a series of lagoons, known in ancient times as the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> +five lakes (the Chen-tse) and its delta is presumed not to +have extended further east than the Lang-shan Hills, but +the whole subject has been a fertile source of controversy. +Another branch must have passed by Sung-kiang Fu, and +thence near to Shanghai. The south bank of the present +course of the river seems to give indications that its bed +was in former days on a higher level than now, but at the +present day it is only by embankments that the Yangtse +Chiang is prevented from finding a way for some of its +surplus waters by the Tai Hu and Su-chau to the sea.</p> + +<p>The area of the Tai-Hu and the other lakes in the +southern delta of the Yangtse Chiang has been estimated at +1,200 square miles (out of a total area of 5,400 square +miles), and the total length of the small channels used for +irrigation and navigation at 36,000 miles. But these figures +are based upon imperfect maps of the country, and therefore +not thoroughly trustworthy.</p> + +<p>On the north bank of the river an even more marvellous +system of artificial waterworks exists. The Huai +River, which, with its seventy-two tributaries, is a most important +commercial route to north An Hui and Ho Nan, +used to find a natural course to the sea to the south of Shan +Tung, but has been diverted by a double series of lakes and +innumerable canals, and has now no existence as a river +east of the Grand Canal. The enlargement of some lakes +and the excavations of others were carried out with a view +to preventing too great a pressure on any one point of the +Grand Canal south of the old course of the Yellow River. +The greater part of the Huai now finds its way to the +Yangtse Chiang through different openings in a large canal, +which runs almost parallel with the river for a distance of +140 miles. North of this canal lies an immense parallelogram,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> +estimated by Père Gandar at 2,300,000 hectares +(8,876 square miles) in extent, which is below the water-level. +This is intersected by a series of waterways kept +under the most careful control, and constitutes one of the +most valuable rice fields in the country. To protect it +from inundations by the sea, immense dykes and a large +canal stretch north and south between the Yangtse Chiang +and the old course of the Yellow River. Through these +dykes are eighteen openings for canals to the sea, but the +main drainage is southwards to the Yangtse Chiang. Between +the dykes and the sea lie the flats which form the +great salt-fields of Central China.</p> + +<p>The Yangtse Chiang in its lower reaches is subject to +great and rapid changes, of which little trace is evident to +the eye after the lapse of a few years, though the depth of +the river in many parts is 140 feet and more. One of the +most notable instances is at Chin-Kiang. The earliest +European travellers to Peking by the Grand Canal speak +invariably of the city of Kua Chau, and only incidentally +refer to the passage of the Yangtse Chiang. At present +the nearest entrances to the northern and southern portions +of the Grand Canal are miles apart; the passage between +them, along the waters of the Yangtse Chiang, is often +tedious and sometimes impracticable. But at the time the +southern entrance to the canal was by a canal which ran +between Chin-Kiang and the river, and debouched opposite +Golden Island, which was within hailing distance of Kua +Chau.</p> + +<p>When our fleet ascended the Yangtse Chiang in 1842, +it was to the south of this island that it passed. Now to +the south of “the island” is cultivated land, studded with +trees and villages, and the only existing canal south of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> +Golden Island is so shallow as to be in winter not navigable +even to boats. On the north of the so-called island +(Golden Island) the city of Kua Chau has been completely +engulfed, and even its north wall has long since been lost +to sight.</p> + +<p>The changes which are taking place in the lower reaches +of the river, in the formation of islands and the alteration +of channels, are on an even larger scale. One of the best-known +instances is the island of Tsungming, near Shanghai, +the population which rose from 12,700 families at the end +of the Thirteenth Century to 89,000 at the beginning of the +Eighteenth, and is now estimated at 1,150,000 souls.</p> + +<p>The great river known to Europeans throughout its +whole length as the Yangtse, or Yangtse Chiang, from the +name which it bears on Chinese maps in its tidal portion +only, undergoes many a change of name. In its higher +waters in Tibet, the Murus, or Mur-usu, or Murui-osu +(“Tortuous River”) joins the Napchitai-ulan-muren and +Tokton-ai-ulan-muren, and below their confluence the +river is known as the Dre-chu, or Di-chu, variations of +which have reached us through different travellers in Bichu, +Bicui, Brichu, and the Brius of Marco Polo. Its Tibetan +name is Link-arab, and the Chinese name Tung-tien-ho. +Where the river forms the boundary between Tibet and +China, it is called by Chinese the Chin (or Kin) Sha +Chiang, and by the Tibetans the N’geh-chu; near the confluence +of the Yalung it is called the Pai-Shui-Chiang, or +White Water River; and as far as Sui Fu (or Sii-chu Fu) +the Chin Ho. In the gorges of Ichang it is the Ta-ch’a +Ho (river of great débris). At Sha-shih it has the name of +Ching Chiang, from Ching, an ancient Division of China, +through which it passes. Below Hankau it is called the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span> +Chiang, Ch’ang Chiang (Long River) Ta Chiang, or Ta-Kuan-Chiang +(Great Official River), and for the last two +hundred miles of its course it appears as the Yangtse +Chiang, a name which it gains from Yang, another of the +ancient divisions of the empire, and which is still retained +by Yang-chau-Fu.</p> + +<p>The fall of the river is very rapid. Mr. Rockhill assigns +an altitude of 13,000 feet to the place where he first crossed +it, some distance below the junction of the Mur-usu with +the Napchitai and Toktonai Rivers, and of 12,000 feet to +the ferry where he recrossed it eighty-four miles lower +down. From Batang (8,540 feet) to Wa-Wu, in Sze +Chuen (1,900 feet), the fall was estimated by Mr. Baber at +not less than eight feet per mile; thence to Huang-kuo-shu +(1,200 feet) at six feet per mile; below this to Ping-shan +(1,025 feet) about three feet; and from Ping-shan to +Chung-Ching (630 feet) approximately nineteen inches, +and in its lower course less than six inches. The fall between +Chung-Ching and Ichang (129 feet) is about thirteen +and a half inches; thence to Hankau (fifty-three feet) only +two and a half inches, and from Hankau to the sea little +more than one inch per mile.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c17">THE THAMES</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">CHARLES DICKENS, JR.</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>LTHOUGH scarcely any of the scenery of the +Thames above Oxford is to be mentioned in the +same breath with the beauties of Nuneham, of Henley, of +Marlow, or of Cliveden, there is still much to attract the +lover of nature who is content with quiet and pastoral landscapes +and to whom the peaceful solitude through which the +greater part of the journey lies, will have a peculiar charm. +It is not advisable to take boat at Cricklade. For some +distance below this little Wiltshire town the stream is narrow, +and in dry seasons uncomfortably shallow. Travellers, +therefore, who come to Cricklade, with the intention +of seeing as much of the river as possible, may be recommended +to take the very pretty walk of about ten miles +along the towing-path of the Thames and Severn Canal to +Lechlade. Here the river proper may be said to begin. +Half a mile after leaving Lechlade on the right is St. John’s +Lock with an average fall of three feet; and just below it +is the St. John’s Bridge, with the Trout Inn on the left +bank. For some distance below this stream is very narrow, +and generally weedy; and, after passing Buscot +Church, a couple of sharp turns brings us on the left to +Buscot Lock. A couple of miles lower down is the little +village of Eaton Hastings; Faringdon Hill, with its large +clump of Scotch firs being a conspicuous object on the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span>right bank and two miles further again is Radcot Bridge, +distant from Oxford twenty-six miles. The next point is +Old Man’s Bridge, twenty-five miles from Oxford, and after +about two miles of rather monotonous travelling, we +come sharp on the left to Rushy Lock and a mile further +to Tadpole Bridge, twenty-two miles from Oxford, with +the Trout Inn, a convenient place for luncheon. About a +couple of miles from Tadpole is Ten Foot Bridge and a +mile or so lower down are the village and ferry of Duxford. +A mile or so below this there is considerable shoaling and +half a mile further an island with Poplars, where the Berks +bank should be followed. After making two or three bends, +beyond this point, there is a prettily wooded bank on the +right, and a short mile of capital water for rowing brings us +to New Bridge from Oxford fifteen miles, which, notwithstanding +its name, is of great antiquity. Another mile +brings us to the bridge where was formerly Langley’s or +Ridge’s Weir. About four and a half miles from New +Bridge is Bablock Hithe Ferry, ten and a half miles from +Oxford, below which there is a fine stream, the scenery becoming +very good, with fine bold hills and the Earl of +Abingdon’s woods at Wytham. After passing Skinner’s +Weir, the river twists and turns about a good deal until we +reach Pinkhill Lock, eight and a half miles from Oxford, +with a fall of about three feet. Round a good many +corners and rather more than a mile off is Eynsham Bridge. +Good reaches for about three miles bring us to King’s +Weir, sharp on the right, the stream to the left going to +the Duke’s Lock, the junction with the Oxford Canal. +Passing presently under Godstow Bridge, are seen the +ruins of Godstow Nunnery and Godstow Lock, three +and a half miles from Oxford, on leaving which a pretty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> +view of the city is obtained. Three hundred yards further +is Osney Lock. A little further is Folly Bridge, Oxford.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f12"> +<img src="images/fig12.jpg" alt="thames"> +<p class="caption">THE THAMES</p> +</div> + +<p>The towing-path after leaving Folly Bridge, Oxford, +follows the right bank. On the left are the boat-rafts and +the barges of the various colleges moored off Christ Church +Meadows, where in the winter, after a flood, there is sometimes +capital skating. About three-quarters of a mile from +Folly Bridge are the long bridges across a backwater, which +reënters the Thames—in this part of its course sometimes +called the Isis—half a mile below Iffley. Half a mile below +Iffley is the iron bridge of the Great Western Railway, +from beneath which is a very pretty view of the spires of +Oxford, particularly of the tower of Magdalen College. +Along the left bank for some distance is one of those grand +pieces of woodland scenery for which the Thames is so renowned. +The woods extend as far as the iron railway +bridge, after passing which the spire of Abingdon church +appears above the trees to the right. Rather more than a +mile below the cottages at Nuneham is the fall on the left +where the old and present channels divide. Half a mile +further and sharp to the left is Abingdon Lock, average fall +six feet, from London 104½ miles, from Oxford seven and +one-quarter miles. The river here runs through flat meadows. +The view of Abingdon, with the spire of St. Helen’s, +is very pretty. Culham Lock, a good stone lock with an +average fall of seven feet; Clifton Lock with an average +fall of three feet; and Days Lock with an average fall of +four feet six inches, are passed. A little over a mile on the +left bank is Dorchester with its famous abbey church. +The footpath crosses the Roman remains known as The +Dyke Hills. On Sinodun Hill on the right is a fine Roman +camp. Below the ferry on the right is Bensington<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> +Lock, with an average fall of six feet six inches. The +country from here to Wallingford is charmingly wooded.</p> + +<p>Wallingford, from London ninety and three-quarter miles, +from Oxford twenty and three-quarter miles is a very convenient +place to break the journey, and the breakfasts and +ale at the “Lamb” deserve particular attention. From +Cleeve Lock there is a lovely view of the hills and woods +above Streatley. Goring Lock is a favourite place for +campers. Further on to the right are Basildon church and +village and further still, opposite the beech woods and on +the brow of the hill to the right is Basildon Park. At this +point a fine stretch of water runs almost in a straight line +for a considerable distance; the banks on either side are +well wooded, and the view up or down is one of the most +sylvan on the river. Just before making the bend before +Pangbourne Reach is Coombe Lodge with its beautiful +park, and at the end of the chalk ridge on the right is Pangbourne, +from London eighty and three-quarter miles, from +Oxford thirty and three-quarter miles.</p> + +<p>Below Whitchurch Lock a wooden bridge connects +Whitchurch and Pangbourne, and at its foot is the pretty +house known as Thames Bank. After leaving Mapledurham +Lock on the right, there is a charming view. +Caversham Bridge, the nearest point for Reading, and +Caversham Lock, Sonning Lock and Sonning Shiplake +Lock and Wargrave and Marsh Lock bring us distant from +London sixty-six miles.</p> + +<p>A mile from Marsh Lock we come to Henley. A handsome +bridge spans the river here; the tow-path crosses to +the right bank. A short half mile below greenlands on +the right is Hambleden Lock. At the next bend in the +river the red brick house on the right is Culham Court,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> +and here the view up the river to the poplars and wooded +hills above Hambleden is very charming. Passing Culham +keep to the left bank, leaving the island known as Magpie +Island on the right. Half a mile farther, on the top of the +high wooded hill on the left, is a farmhouse on a site where +has been a farm since Domesday Book was compiled. +Two miles from the lock is Medmenham Abbey, with the +Abbey Hotel, a well-known and convenient place for water-parties.</p> + +<p>On the right bank at Hurley Lock is the village of +Hurley with Lady Place, so well known in connection +with Lord Lovelace in the revolution of 1688. About +half a mile further is Marlow, with its graceful suspension +bridge and ugly church. Three hundred yards below the +bridge is Marlow Lock. Another three-quarters of a mile +brings us to Cookham. Cookham Lock is the most beautifully +situated on the river, just under the woods of Hedsor +and Cliveden. The scenery down the next reach and past +the islands is exceedingly beautiful and is generally considered +the finest on the river. Not quite two and a half +miles from Cookham Lock is Boulter’s Lock, from London +fifty miles.</p> + +<p>Below Maidenhead Bridge is the Great Western Railway +bridge, supposed to be the largest brick bridge in the +world. A mile from Maidenhead is the pleasant village of +Bray. Rather more than a quarter of a mile on the left +is Bray Lock. Half a mile further is Monkey Island, and +here for a little distance there is a good stream. Two +miles and a half from Bray Lock, on the right bank, is +Surly Hall, an inn well known to Etonians. About +another half mile brings us to Boveney Lock on the left. +On the right is Windsor racecourse, and three-quarters<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span> +of a mile down is Athens, the bathing-place of the senior +Eton boys. The Great Western Railway bridge and the +Brocas clump on the left are next passed, and we arrive +at Windsor on the right bank and Eton on the left. The +river is here crossed by an iron and stone bridge of three +arches. After passing through Windsor bridge, the right +bank on which is the tow-path should be kept. The rapid +and dangerous stream to the left runs to the weir and the +neighbourhood of the Cobbler, as the long projection from +the island is called, is undesirable when there is much +water in the river. Not half a mile below Windsor bridge +is Romney Lock. After passing through Romney Lock, +beautiful views of Eton College, the playing-fields and +Poet’s walk are obtained on the left, and on the right are +Windsor Castle and the Home Park. Farther down is +the Victoria Bridge, one of two which cross the river at +each extremity of the park, and about a mile and a half +from Romney Lock is Datchet on the left bank. After +the second of the royal bridges, the Albert, is passed, the +right bank must be kept, and a long narrow cut crossed +half way by a wooden bridge leads to Old Windsor Lock. +Three-quarters of a mile from the lock, in pretty scenery, +is the well-known “Bells of Ousely” tavern. Half a mile +farther down Magna Charta Island, with its cottage is on +the left. Runnymead is on the right bank, which should +be followed to Bell Weir Lock.</p> + +<p>The Colne enters the Thames on the left between Bell +Weir Lock and Staines. Two or three hundred yards farther +are Staines Bridge and the town of Staines. After Penton +Hook Lock about one and three-quarter miles from Staines +is Laleham and the ferry. Still keeping to the left bank, +we next come to Chertsey Lock. Hence the river winds<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> +very much between flat banks to Shepperton Lock on the +left. Here the Wey enters the Thames. Three-quarters +of a mile below Halliford are Coway or Causeway Stakes, +and immediately afterwards comes Walton Bridge which +consists of four arches. On the right below is Mount +Felix and the village of Walton. Half a mile on the left +is a tumbling bay, whose neighbourhood will best be +avoided, and half a mile below this on the right, is the +cut leading to Sunbury Lock. About one and a half +miles below the lock is an island, either side of which may +be taken. On the right are Molesey Hurst and racecourse +and on the left, Hampton. Here is a ferry, and +on the left bank below the church Garrick’s Villa. Below +Molesey Lock is Hampton Court Bridge, an ugly iron +erection, Hampton Court being on the left and East +Molesey, with the railway station, on the right. Nearly +a mile below the bridge, on the right, is Thames Ditton. +Passing Messenger’s Island we come to Surbiton, and +nearly a mile lower down to Kingston Bridge. The next +point is Teddington Lock. On the left Teddington and +an almost uninterrupted line of villas extends along the +bank as far as Twickenham. There is an iron foot bridge +from Teddington to the lock. About a mile from the +lock is Eel Pie Island, opposite which are Petersham, and +Ham House, the seat of the Earl of Dysart, almost hidden +among the trees. On the left is Orleans House, and down +the river rises Richmond Hill, crowned with the famous +“Star and Garter.” Making the bend just below the next +island is, on the right bank, the ivy-clad residence of the +Duke of Buccleuch. Not quite three miles from Teddington +Lock is Richmond Bridge. A short distance below +the Bridge is Richmond Lock, ninety-six and a half miles<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span> +from Oxford and fifteen and a half miles from London. +The trip is generally concluded here, the banks of the +river below this point presenting little or nothing to attract +the visitor.</p> + +<p>Passing Isleworth, Sion House, the seat of the Duke of +Northumberland, Brentford, Kew with its Palace, Church +and Observatory, the famous Kew Gardens, Chiswick and +Chiswick Eyot (famous for its swans), we arrive at Hammersmith +with its long bridge, opened in June, 1887, and +are practically in London. From here we note Fulham +Episcopal Palace, the summer home of the Bishops of London +who have been lords of the manor from an early date, +Putney, Hurlingham House, Wandesworth, Battersea Park, +Chelsea and its iron bridge, Vauxhall, Lambeth Palace, the +London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Westminster +Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster +Abbey, Charing Cross Railway Bridge, the Victoria Embankment +with Cleopatra’s Needle, Waterloo Bridge, +Somerset House, The Temple Gardens, Blackfriar’s Bridge, +St. Paul’s Cathedral, Southwark Bridge, St. Saviour’s and +come to London Bridge, opened by King William IV. and +Queen Adelaide in 1831. Here old London Bridge stood +for more than six hundred years, a quaint structure adorned +“with sumptuous buildings and statelie and beautiful houses +on either syde”; and at the gatehouse of the bridge the +heads of traitors were exposed. On leaving London Bridge +we enter the Pool, which extends to Limehouse and is divided +into the Upper and Lower Pool by an imaginary +line drawn across the Thames at Wapping. The Pool is +always crowded with steamers, sailing-vessels and barges. +On the left bank stands The Monument, commemorating +the Great Fire of 1666, which began in the house of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> +King’s baker in Pudding Lane. Not far from it is Billingsgate +Fish Market, then follows the Custom House and +the massive, solemn and impressive Tower. Tower +Bridge, the foundation stone for which was laid in 1886, is +passed, below which begin the great docks. Wapping Old +Stairs, made classic by Dibdin’s song, and Shadwell are +passed before we leave the Pool and enter Limehouse +Reach.</p> + +<p>The Thames now bends to the south and we pass the +great West India docks, the wall of which includes an area +of nearly three hundred acres. We pass Greenwich, famous +for its Hospital (the old Palace), Observatory and Park, +after which the river takes a northerly course. Woolwich +with its Arsenal and Barracks, Shooter’s Hill, from which +a fine view of London is obtained and now the river turns +south, for the Thames is a river of many windings. At +length we reach Tilbury and its Docks and Gravesend, and +here we are at the mouth of the river. The Midway enters +the Thames between the Isle of Grain and the Isle of +Sheppey and is now a muddy river with nothing beautiful +on either bank. Half way across the estuary, and fifty +miles from London Bridge, is the Nore Lightship, established +in 1730.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c18">THE CONNECTICUT</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">TIMOTHY DWIGHT</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>ONNECTICUT RIVER rises in New Hampshire. +Its fountains are between 44°, 50′ and 45° north +latitude, and nearly in 71° west longitude from London; +about twenty-five miles eastward from its channel, where +in the same latitude it divides Stuart<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and Colebrook from +Canaan in Vermont. These fountains, which are at the +distance of two or three miles from each other, flow in two +small converging rivulets; one of which empties its waters +into a pond, covering about six acres, whence it proceeds +to a lake, which from its resemblance to the numerical figure +8, I shall name Double Lake. The other rivulet, also, +unites with the same lake; which is two miles long and +half a mile wide; and covers between five and six hundred +acres. Hence the waters flow in a single channel, about +seven miles, into another lake, which from its figure I shall +call Heart Lake;<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> about six miles long and three broad, and +covering between nine and ten thousand acres. From +Heart Lake with a material addition to its current, the river +runs north-westward for four miles and a half; and is a +continual rapid through the whole distance. In one part +of this reach it descends fifty feet in a course of three hundred. +Below the rapid, it receives from the northward a +stream called Perry’s Brook; and a little further down,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span> +another, called Cedar Brook. About two miles further on +it receives another from the south, called Dear Water +Brook; and, about a mile further, a fourth from the north +called Back Brook, conveying into it the waters of a small +lake, called Back Lake. That portion of the Connecticut, +which is between Perry’s Brook and Back Brook, four +miles in length, is named the <i>Dead Water</i>: the ground on +either side being low and level; and the stream winding, +sluggish and deep. After receiving the waters of Back +Brook, it runs for one mile over a succession of rocks, +termed the Great Falls; in one part of which it descends, +perpendicularly, over a ledge twelve feet.</p> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Now Stewartstown.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Now Connecticut Lake.</p> + +</div> + +<p>Before its junction with Indian River, the Connecticut +runs about the same distance with that stream, and discharges +more than twice its quantity of water into the common +channel. Hall’s River is sensibly less than Indian +River.</p> + +<p>The course of the Connecticut to Perry’s brook, between +twenty-five and thirty miles is north-westward; thence to +the forty-fifth degree of north latitude west-south-west; +thence to the city of Hartford south-south-west, and thence +to the Sound about south-east.</p> + +<p>The length of this river is about four hundred and ten +miles. From Griswold’s point, in Lyme, to the forty-fifth +degree of north latitude, the distance measured by its waters, +is about three hundred and seventy-four; and thence to the +head-waters from thirty-five to forty. Its meanders +throughout a great part of its course are almost perpetual.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f13"> +<img src="images/fig13.jpg" alt="connecticut"> +<p class="caption2"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1900, by Detroit Photographic Company</span></p> +<p class="caption">THE CONNECTICUT</p> +</div> + +<p>The number of its tributary streams is very great. The +waters which form the Connecticut are remarkably pure +and light, such as we commonly term the best water for +washing. The tributary streams, almost without an exception, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span>issue from hills formed of stone, covered with a +gravelly soil; and roll over a gravelly and stony bed +through their whole progress. The waters of the parent +stream are, therefore, everywhere pure, potable, perfectly +salubrious, and inferior to none in the world for the use of +seamen in long voyages.</p> + +<p>As a navigable water, this river is inferior to many others +of a smaller size. This is owing to two causes; falls and +shallows. The falls are the following: Little Falls, Great, +Indian, Judd’s, Fifteen-mile, Lebanon, Waterqueechy, Bellow’s, +Miller’s, South Hadley, Enfield.</p> + +<p>The Fifteen-mile falls, Waterqueechy, and Enfield, and +the greatest part of the distance attributed to the others, are +mere rapids; and there are also other small rapids, which are +of no consequence.</p> + +<p>The Valley of the Connecticut is a tract of land, extending +from the Sound to Hereford Mountain; five miles +beyond the forty-fifth degree of latitude. In the largest +sense it includes the tract which is bounded by the Lyme +range on the east, and by a confused cluster of hills, commencing +at the Sound, and terminating below Middletown, +then by the Middletown range, then by that of Mount +Tom, and then by that of the Green Mountains, on the +west. In this sense it is of very different breadths, from +five miles perhaps to forty-five; and its surface is composed +of an indefinite succession of hills, valleys and plains. +But there is another sense in which the phrase is used with +more obvious propriety and in which it denotes that portion +of this vast extent, which appears as a valley to the eye, +moving in the road along its course from its mouth to the +great bend in the northern part of the township of Stuart.</p> + +<p>The Valley of the Connecticut extends through almost<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> +four degrees of latitude, and is bounded on the north by +Hereford Mountain; a magnificent eminence, ascending +five miles beyond the line. The superior limit of this +mountain is an arch more gracefully formed than that of +any other within my remembrance. Its elevation is about +2,000 feet above the neighbouring country.</p> + +<p>The Intervals on this Valley begin at Hall’s River, about +twelve or fourteen miles from its mouth. The word, Interval +is used by me in a sense altogether different from +that which it has in an English Dictionary. Doctor Belknap +spells it Intervale, and confesses his want of authority +for the use of the word. There is in truth no such word; +unless we are to look for its existence in vulgar and mistaken +pronunciation. Originally, when applied to this very +subject, it seems to have meant nothing more than that extent +of ground which lay between the original bank of the +river and the river itself.</p> + +<p>This extent was composed of land, peculiar in its form +and qualities. The English, so far as I know, have no appropriate +name for grounds of this class. Whether such +lands exist on the rivers of Great Britain, I am ignorant, +having never seen any definite account of them, or allusion +to them in any book descriptive of the surface of that +country. From the accounts of Sir John Sinclair’s <i>Statistical +History of Scotland</i> of the lands on some rivers in that +country, I should suppose that a part of them might be +Intervals, yet they are distinguished by no appropriate +name. On some rivers in this country there are none; +and on others very few. Wherever they exist, they are +objects of peculiar attention to farmers and subjects of +much customary conversation. That a name should be given +to them, therefore, is a thing of course. Interval is the name<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> +which they have accidentally obtained in this country; and +a New Englander relishes it more than <i>flats</i> or <i>bottoms</i>.</p> + +<p>This word, in its appropriate meaning denotes lands +formed by a long continued and gradual alluvion of a river.</p> + +<p>Beauty of landscape is an eminent characteristic of this +Valley. From Hereford Mountain to Saybrook, it is +almost a continued succession of delightful scenery. No +other tract within my knowledge, and from the extensive information +which I have received, I am persuaded that no +other tract within the United States of the same extent can +be compared to it, with respect to those objects which +arrest the eye of the painter and the poet. There are +indeed dull, uninteresting spots in considerable numbers. +These, however, are little more than the discords which +are generally regarded as necessary to perfect the harmony. +The beauty and the grandeur are here more varied than +elsewhere. They return oftener; they are longer continued; +they are finished by a hand operating in a superior +manner. A gentleman<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> of great respectability, who had +travelled in England, France and Spain, informed me, that +the prospects along the Connecticut excelled those on the +beautiful rivers in these three countries in two great particulars—the +Forests and the Mountains (he might, I believe, +have added the Intervals also); and fell short of them +in nothing but population and the productions of art. It is +hardly necessary to observe that both these are advancing +with a rapid step (perhaps sufficiently rapid), towards a +strong resemblance to European improvement.</p> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> The late Chief Justice Ellsworth.</p> + +</div> + +<p>Nor are these grounds less distinguished by their beauty. +The form of most of them is elegant. A river, passing +through them, becomes almost of course winding. As the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span> +earth, of which they are composed, is of uniform texture, the +impressions made by the stream upon the border, are also +nearly uniform. Hence this border is almost universally a +handsome arch with a margin entirely neat, and very commonly +ornamented with a fine fringe of shrubs and trees. +Nor is the surface of these grounds less pleasing. The +terraced form and the undulations are both eminently handsome. +In a country abounding in hills, plains moderate in +their extent, like these, are always agreeable. Their universal +fertility makes a cheerful impression on every eye. +A great part of them is formed into meadows. Meadows +are here more profitable, and everywhere more beautiful, +than lands devoted to any other culture. Here they are +extended from five to five hundred acres, and are everywhere +covered with a verdure peculiarly rich and varied. +The vast fields, also, which are not in meadow, exhibit all +the productions of the climate, interspersed in parallelograms, +divided only by mathematical lines, and mingled in +a charming confusion. In many places, large and thrifty +orchards, and everywhere forest trees standing singly, of +great height and graceful figures, diversify the landscape.</p> + +<p>The first object, however, in the whole landscape is undoubtedly +the Connecticut itself. This stream may, perhaps, +with as much propriety as any in the world be named +the Beautiful River. From Stuart to the Sound, it uniformly +sustains this character. The purity, salubrity and sweetness +of its waters; the frequency and elegance of its +meanders; its absolute freedom from all aquatic vegetables; +the uncommon and universal beauty of its banks; here a +smooth and winding beach; there covered with rich verdure; +now fringed with bushes; now crowned with lofty trees; +and now formed by the intruding hill, the rude bluff and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span> +the shaggy mountain; are objects which no traveller can +thoroughly describe and no reader adequately imagine. When +to these are added the numerous towns, villages and hamlets, +almost everywhere exhibiting marks of prosperity and +improvement; the rare appearance of decline; the numerous +churches lifting their spires in frequent succession; +the neat schoolhouses, everywhere occupied; and the +mills busied on such a multitude of streams; it may be +safely asserted that a pleasanter journey will rarely be found +than that which is made in the Connecticut Valley.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c19">MOSEL</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">F. WARRE CORNISH</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>O we embarked under a bright evening sky, and the +smooth stream took us swiftly down. It was a +beautiful moment; the evening deepened over the green +water and the red rocks, till dusk fell, and we ran the boat +aground, hiding the oars in a willow-bed, and tramped with +our luggage into Ruwer, the neighbouring village, having +been assured that wherever we stopped we should find good +lodging. And so it proved; not a village which failed to +supply good food, decently cooked, excellent wine and +golden beer, clean beds, moderate charges, and, best of all, +willing and cheerful hospitality, such as one finds in Tyrol +and the Bavarian highlands. There was not a dull reach +from Trier to Coblenz. The scenery is not so impressive +as that of the Danube or the famous windings of the Rhine.</p> + +<p>But the hills of the Mosel Valley are beautiful in form +and varied with rocks red as those of Devonshire, or grey +slate in slabs and spires, or dark volcanic, like the Eifel. +Everywhere there are beautiful woods, valleys guarded +by ancient castles, and smiling upland meadows far away +among the hills.</p> + +<p>As we embarked on the Mosel, let us praise the water +itself, to be in company with which was joy enough; in +colour green, neither like emerald nor chrysoprase, nor like +the crystal of the rushing Traun, or of the deep basin, the +home of the soaring grayling, where the river leaps over<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span> +the Traun fall. Nor like the water that comes down at +Locarno or Verallo; but a deeper, statelier colour, lighter +than the Kyle between Mull and Argyll, darker than the +Thames at Cookham when at its best after a dry July. In +all the shallows wave long tresses of Undine’s hair, and the +surface of the water is broken by little ruffing eddies into +the loveliest water-pattern. Perhaps other rivers are like +this; I do not know them. It seemed to me a peculiar +and native charm of this river, never sullen, never boisterous, +the lady of German rivers. <i>Smooth-sliding</i> is the +proper epithet. I wish my reed were vocal to praise her +aright. She has her own poet—Ausonius; but his poem +is rather a catalogue than a hymn of praise, and he takes +her for a river, not a goddess, as she revealed herself to us.</p> + +<p>Ruwer, the village where we were to spend the night, +was shimmering between sunset and starlight, and had its +own light besides, for the military were here, and all the +windows ablaze, and Faust and Wagner and their loves had +come out of Trier to take the air and drink, noisy but respectable.</p> + +<p>The next morning was the 1st of September, a dawn of +golden haze telling of hot tramps over stubbles and turnip-fields. +We were cool and contented, and did not lust after +partridges. We find our boat in the dewy willow-bed and +give ourselves to the stream. We have got used to the +rustic oars, and it is no exertion to row with the swift current, +which here and there breaks into a little rapid and +makes the boat dance—on one occasion we shipped nearly +half a pint of water. It is no good to describe what was +enjoyed and is remembered; but here are the facts, though +mere facts tell little. Red sandstone cliffs, alternating with +grey slate; broad meadows of Alpine grass freckled with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span> +pink crocus; walnut and apple orchards; sober villages +with dark roofs and spires; here and there a ruined castle; +high “faraways” of pasture and forest; cavalry and +artillery flashing and rumbling as they march to the +manœuvres along the riverside roads; slow wagons drawn +by fox-coloured cows; on and on we slide, stopping where +we like, bathing when we like, till at evening we see a lofty +rock at a bend of the river; and a party of ladies in a punt. +Boldly we call out to ask if there is a good lodging here, +and gaily “<i>Ja freilich!</i>” comes back the answer across the +river, and we land and put up at a clean and friendly inn. +The parents and two hard-featured and hospitable +daughters welcome us; the whole family turn out of their +rooms and turn us in, and we sup under the stars and the +velvet sky in front of the wooded rock, which plunges +straight into the river and gives its name, “Echo,” to the +inn. The stars were very grand that night, and the invocation +of Echo unearthly as always; it was impossible not +to believe here in <i>Kuhlebjorn</i> and wood-spirits.</p> + +<p>The next morning (Sedan-day) we were taken down to +the bank by father, mother and the two daughters, and find +the little brother clearing out the boat. How much +willingness and courtesy for so small a payment. We said +good-bye to the friendly family, wishing them many guests +and good weather for their wine, and dropped down to +Mühtheim and Berncastle, famous for its “Doctor,” the +best wine on the Mosel, though much “Doctor” is sold +which did not grow at Berncastle, as there are not vines +enough at Zeltinger to furnish half the Zeltinger drunk in +England. But the name matters little if the wine is good. +At Berncastle or rather at Cues, on the opposite bank, +there is a large modern hotel near an iron bridge; but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span> +there is also an ancient castle, and a conventual building +founded by Cardinal Cusanus in 1465, no longer occupied +by Monks.</p> + +<p>I wish I could convey something of the pleasure which +the rare beauty of the green water and the continual +variety of the landscape gave us; the strong rippling of the +stream when the rowers, out of mere idleness, put on a +spurt and the steerer enjoys his ease; the still backwaters +among the rushes, where the current is guided by groynes +into the mid-stream; the sun-smitten cliffs; the soft, green +slopes and valleys, where cloud-shadows sleep. The new +landscapes came gliding into view with a change at every +bend; but all is harmony. We pass pious processions of +country people with banners and “Aves,” the priest leading +them. They seem tired but happy—country people of +the humblest kind, unreached by tourists. The trains tinkle +to warn people of the crossings, the slow cow-wains creak +along the roads, little boys shout injurious remarks to the +“<i>Engeländer</i>,” women kneel by the stream and wash linen, +the fish leap in the shallows, the sun shines, and the day +goes by. How good the remembrance of the walk over +the hills, cutting off a long loop, while two of us took the +boat round; for the Mosel bends round more than once +almost in a circle, as at Durham and Château Gaillard, and +you walk across through grasshopper pastures and steep +vineyard paths, through cool dark woods and heathy summits +looking far away, through quivering haze, towards +Coblenz and Mainz. How good, too, the blazing sun in +little Kinsheim, the <i>Mittagsessen</i> and reposeful hour under +the tulip-tree in the hot shady garden at the back of the inn.</p> + +<p>Another great loop to Alf, a little boy and his sister +bringing the boat from picturesque Pünderich, their dwelling<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> +place. Alf will be remembered, not for itself—for it is +a tiresome little watering place, crowded and hot, and +noisy with voices of German trippers,—but for our excursion +to Elz. We climbed out of the trench in which the +river runs, and drove across a happy tableland of orchards; +roads bordered with fruit-trees, wide-spreading meadows, +cornland and wood—peaceful German country sleeping in +afternoon sunshine, mowing and reaping, planting and +building, unchanged for a thousand years; then the road +descended through shady woods, and, lo! at a turning, +“pricked with incredible pinnacles into heaven,” with gables, +roofs and turrets innumerable, a castle, but, oh, what a +castle! Here lived the Sleeping Beauty; hither King +Thrushbeard brought his bride; such a building Hop-o-my-Thumb +descried from his tree-top. Up in that turret was +the spinning-wheel; under that window twanged Blondel’s +zither; from that gateway Sintram and the trusty Rolf +spurred forward, and St. Hubert set out to chase the holy +stag; and knights and ladies, with falcon on wrist or with +cross bow and spear, went out a-hunting, or rode “a stately +train in pomp of gold and jewels, velvet and vair” to joust +at Worms-upon-the-Rhine. Henceforward I have seen the +German Zauberland; henceforward nothing can add to or +take from this impression. My dream is come true.</p> + +<p>The castle stands on an isolated rock with deep wooded +ravines on all sides, to which no stranger may go. The +saucy castle defied all its neighbours and vexed the lands of +my lord archbishop the Elector of Trier, who, to curb its +pride, built another castle over against it and called it +“Trutz-Elz” (Who care for Elz?). I don’t know the rest +of the story, but there stands Elz as good as ever, possessed +by the lords of that ilk, and Trutz-Elz is a ruin.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span></p> + +<p>Our time is running out. We left Alf in a dawning of +golden mist, and rowed merrily down to Ediger, with its +picturesque church, all flying buttresses, pinnacles and +crockets, like a church in a Dürer background, to Cochem, +with its restored castle and a sense of modern prosperity +which is better for the town than for the contemplative +traveller. Another clean little hostelry at Treis, with good +wine and a cheery landlord. There is a river at Treis and +a possibility of small trout if we take great trouble; but we +don’t; it is too hot to take trouble; there is no water in +the stream, and the fish are asleep. The river now makes +up its devious mind to go straight for Coblenz in long +reaches, with groynes on either bank. It comes on to rain; +we bump a rock and dance along a rapid. Then come +commercial buildings with chimneys, reminding us that we +live in the iron age. The stream widens, the rain pours +down, the Roman bridge comes in sight. Coblenz <i>finis +chartæque viæque</i>.</p> + +<p>May we go there again.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c20">THE IRRAWADDY</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">EMILY A. RICHINGS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE mighty Irrawaddy, which traverses the entire +length of Burma, impresses itself on popular +imagination as the living soul of the land, moulded and +coloured through countless ages by the influence of the +majestic river. If Egypt be the gift of the Nile, Burma is +scarcely less the gift of the Irrawaddy, deepened by myriad +tributary streams, and flowing in ever-widening volume +from forest cradle to fan-shaped Delta. The source of the +historic stream is still veiled in mystery, as it winds through +impenetrable jungle and untrodden mountains until it becomes +navigable for the last thousand miles to the sea. +Manifold traditions encompass the great river with that +atmosphere of glamour which invests Burma with romantic +charm.</p> + +<p>The song of the river breathes of nomadic hordes and +contending races, of old-world kings, mythical warriors, +and legendary saints, until the dominant Burmese united in +the Irrawaddy Valley, and the tribes wandering down the +lateral tributaries were absorbed or subjected by the ruling +power.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f14"> +<img src="images/fig14.jpg" alt="irrawaddy"> +<p class="caption">THE IRRAWADDY</p> +</div> + +<p>The modern voyager generally takes the downward +course of the river, journeying by train to Katha, through +the palm-studded plains and dense forests skirting the blue +hills which divide Burma from the Shan States on the borders +of Siam. Under the hovering mists of dawn giant +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span>teak and feathery bamboo, looped together with coils of all-embracing +creeper, make a rich tangle of matted foliage. +Bhamo, the head of navigation as regards the great steamers +of the Irrawaddy Flotilla, and the frontier town on the +borders of China, lies along the yellow sand-bank of the +foreshore. The Siamese name, signifying “City of Pans,” +is derived from the local manufacture of iron and earthenware +jars, cauldrons, and pitchers, dating from primitive +times. Bhamo, formerly a walled Shan town, fiercely contested +both by China and Burma, was captured four times +by the Chinese, easily reinforced from their own frontier +only thirty miles away. The town of 12,000 inhabitants, +protected by an English battery and a police force of Indians +and Kachins, is still the meeting-place of converging +races. Chinese, Moslems, and Hindus possess their own +quarters in the squalid city, where the astute Celestials retain +the largest share of local trade, importing cotton and +salt, or exporting honey, hides, ochre and chestnuts, with +thousands of cooking pans. Blue robes, sun-hats and pigtails, +grey roofs with upcurved eaves, and tinselled banners +waving round the tarnished red of a Joss-house bristling +with weird figures, transport our thoughts to the Middle +Kingdom, reached by the sandy track beyond the ruined +walls. Tom-toms beat in the Hindu quarter, and dark +figures glide past with jingling anklets and filigree nose-rings, +or lie supine on rickety <i>charpoys</i> in the open street. +A muezzin chants from the minaret of a tiny mosque, and +the bearded sons of Islam spread their prayer-carpets in the +dust, prostrating themselves in obedience to the voice which +summons them to prayer on these alien shores. Beneath +the banyan trees of an arcaded court a marble Buddha +dreams amid the shadows, and kneeling Shan women offer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span> +their morning orisons at the crumbling altar. Tall black +head-dresses and dark-blue skirts, embroidered with many-coloured +wools, mark a distinct racial type. Silver cylinders +weigh down dusky ears, silver hoops encircle sunburned +necks, and the glittering chain of a silver needle-case hung +from the waist-belt of an almond-eyed girl denotes her rank +as a Shan lady. The intelligent faces are bright and animated, +but every smile discloses teeth blackened with betelnut. +The men of the party sip tea and smoke their silver +pipes under the green boughs, leaving the devotional exercises +to their womankind. A Burman in rose-coloured +turban and plaid kilt lolls upon a stone parapet, and Kachin +women, with mops of rough hair and furtive faces washed +in grease, pass the gateway with loads of elephant-grass +on their backs, bringing a barbaric element into the +scene.</p> + +<p>Pagoda, Joss-house, and Buddhist temple stand in friendly +proximity, and no war of sect or creed disturbs the harmony +of life under the tolerant British rule; but the Buddhism of +the Shan and the Nature-worship of the Kachin show many +points of contact.</p> + +<p>The arrival of the Irrawaddy steamer, towing cargo +“flats” in its wake, is the event of the week, and rustic +barges thread the narrow defile above Bhamo, bringing their +contingent of produce and passengers from distant villages +on the confines of civilization. One of the great “flats” +is a floating market, where Burman and Kachin, Shan and +Chin, display their varied merchandise to the motley throng +of customers. Gaudy silks and cottons, rude pottery and +quaint lacquer-work, barbaric toys and trinkets, fruit, vegetables, +and sweetmeats, with household utensils of every +kind, fill the dusky space of the covered deck with brilliant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> +colour. Indolent Burmese doze and smoke on gaily-striped +quilts, while their wives chaffer and barter with business-like +aplomb; for the Burmese woman is the breadwinner +of the family, and retains most of the commercial transactions +of the country in her capable hands. A pretty girl +in white jacket and apple-green skirt, with a pink <i>pawa</i> +floating on her shoulders, sits on a pile of yellow cushions +and smokes her big cheroot of chopped wood and tobacco +in meditative calm. Diamonds glitter in her ears, and ruby +studs fasten her muslin bodice, for she goes as a bride to +some distant riverside town, and carries her “dot” on her +back. Strings of onions and scarlet chillies hang from the +rafters above bales of fur from China. Children flit up and +down, like many-coloured butterflies, in quaint costumes +brightened with pink scarfs and tiny turban, miniature +replicas of their elders, for no special garb of childhood +exists in Burma, and the general effect suggests an assemblage +of gaily-dressed dolls. Shan women in tall black +turbans stand round a harper as he twangs the silken strings +of a black and gold lyre with sounding-board of varnished +deerskin. The weird fractional tones of native music, discordant +to European ears, harmonize with the semi-barbaric +environment as the musician chants some heroic legend of +the mythical past. Presently he approaches a mattress of +white and scarlet, occupied by a woman whose brown +Mongolian face is blanched to the pallor of age-worn +marble by chronic pain, and sings a wild incantation over +the sufferer, who by the advice of a fortune-teller undertakes +the weary journey to pray for healing at the Golden +Pagoda of Rangoon. The charm apparently succeeds, for +the tired eyes close, and as the song dies off in a whispering +cadence a peaceful slumber smoothes the lines of pain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> +in the troubled face. Family parties sit round iron tea-kettles, +and girls bring bowls of steaming rice from the +rude galley where native passengers cook their food.</p> + +<p>Past green islets in sandy reaches, hemmed in by bold +cliffs conveying vague suggestions of Nile scenery, the great +steamer pursues her way. Above dark clumps of banyan +and tamarind, the golden spires of Buddhist monasteries, or +the shining <i>tee</i> of village pagodas, invest the changing landscape +with the unique individuality of Burma, distinct in +character from the Indian Empire, though politically comprised +within it. A magical peace and purity, suggesting a +world fresh from the Creator’s hand, transfigures hill and +dale with ineffable lucidity of atmosphere and delicacy of +colour. The solemnity of the deep gorges piercing the +profound gloom of virgin forest supplies a contrasting note +of haunting mystery, the loneliness of these upper reaches +merely accentuated by occasional signs of human life and +activity in the vast solitudes through which the river flows. +As the steamer swings round a projecting rock, the grotesque +forms of two colossal leographs—the hybrid lion and gryphon +of Burmese mythology—rear their white bulk against a +green tuft of towering palms at the gate of a Buddhist temple +flanking the grey cone of a tall pagoda. Yellow-robed +monks lean on the balustrade of an island monastery hidden +like a bird’s nest amid the thick foliage, and beautiful even +in decay. The broad-eaved roofs, with their carved and +gilded pinnacles, are miracles of art, for the historic foundation +was formerly renowned throughout Upper Burma, and +on festivals even the dog-fish, for which this reach of water +is famous, were decorated with strips of gold-leaf, and tamed +to come at the call of the monks. Farther on a yellow +procession descends a long flight of rocky steps cut in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span> +face of a steep cliff crowned by a monastic pile bristling +with gilt finials and vermilion spires. At the foot of the +mountain stairway a huge funeral pyre of forest trees attracts +groups of villagers, who land from a fleet of carved and +decorated boats in festal array, for a monk is to be cremated +after the invariable custom of Buddhist orders, and the +ceremony is observed as a general holiday. The light-hearted +Burmese only extract pleasure from the gruesome +spectacle, for what matters this little incident in the manifold +cycles of progressive existence reserved for the reincarnating +soul?</p> + +<p>Stockaded villages line the foreshore, and hilltops glitter +with the golden <i>tee</i> of clustering shrines. The sublime +defiles of the glorious river, with their frowning cliffs and +toppling crags, widen into the dreamy calm of land-locked +reaches, where pagodas multiply on every point of vantage, +in monumental testimony to the zeal and devotion of the +Burmese past. The nomadic races of Burma impressed +their character on the multitude of ruined cities and deserted +capitals buried under the veil of verdure in the tropical jungle, +or covering hill and plain with decaying splendour. In +a shadowy channel beneath overhanging rocks the wrecked +yacht of the luckless King Theebaw lies overturned, the +lapsing water rippling against red funnel and gilded poop. +No effort is made to raise the melancholy derelict, a fitting +emblem of past sovereignty. At the sacred heights of +Sagaing, transformed by the white and golden spires of +graceful pagodas into ideal loveliness, a <i>pothoodaw</i>, or “man +of both worlds,” in semi-monastic garb with yellow parasol, +awaits the arrival of the steamer.</p> + +<p>The gentle humility of this old <i>pothoodaw</i> contrasts +favourably with the aggressive importance of a village<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span> +“head-man,” or local magistrate, who pushes him aside, +and struts along the narrow wharf in tartan silk and spotless +muslin, an obsequious attendant carrying his master’s +red umbrella and silver betel-box. Yellow-robed brethren +dismount from creaking bullock-wagons lined with hay, +and await the coming steamer to bear them to the cremation +ceremony up-stream. Palm-leaf fans are raised to the +brown faces, but two youthful novices satisfy their curiosity +concerning European womankind by peeping through the +interstices of the sun-dried fronds. Other waiting passengers +set out the huge pieces of a clumsy chessboard on a +pile of flour bags; for time is no account on these dreamy +shores, and two hours must elapse before the Bhamo boat +swings in sight.</p> + +<p>Evening turns the noble river into a sheet of flaming +gold; pink clouds lie like scattered rose-leaves in the path +of the sinking sun, and through the deepening veil of twilight +the red fires twinkling outside reed-thatched huts of +tiny villages supply local colour to riverside life. Jungle-grown +Ava and ruined Amapura lie on the water’s brink; +the Pagan, grandest of ancient capitals, covers a wide plain +with the imposing architecture of a thousand pagodas, the +colossal Ananda Dagon soaring like a huge cathedral above +multitudinous domes and spires, gold and crimson, white +and grey, of the deserted metropolis; for the tide of life +swept away from royal Pagan seven hundred years ago. +The white tents of the Government elephant camp cover +a stretch of sand above the bathing place of the herd, and +the officer in charge gives a fascinating account of his adventurous +life; though many perils attend the capture of the +three hundred elephants annually required by authority, and +in the past year fifteen hunters have fallen victims to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span> +dangers which beset horse and rider from sharp tusks, +trampling feet, falling trees, and tangling creepers in the +dark recesses of primeval forest. The typical denizen of +Burmese woods possesses a sacred character in popular +estimation, and carven elephants loom through the tropical +greenery of the shores, supporting tapering pagoda or pillared +portico.</p> + +<p>The steamer stops before the unfinished temple and +colossal Bell of Mingoon, cracked by earthquake, but the +second largest in the world, the grandeur of the uncompleted +design memorializing the frustrated ambition of a +Burmese king who desired to be immortalized as a <i>Phaya-Taga</i>, +or “Pagoda-Builder,” rather than by memories of +war and conquest. The spiritual idealism which colours +Burmese idiosyncrasy tinges the story of the past, and a +modern writer aptly epitomizes one aspect of British rule +as “an attempt to turn poetic philosophers into efficient +policemen.” The charm of this freshwater cruise is enhanced +by frequent opportunities of landing at riverside +villages, visits to Burmese farms, and strolls through picturesque +markets or beneath the palms and tamarinds of country +roads leading to mouldering pagodas and forgotten +shrines. The inhabitants of these verdant shores are true +“children of the river”—the mystic flood which supplies +their wants and moulds their character, affording them an +“education of contact” with the outside world to soften +the crude asperity of mental isolation. The mother plunges +her little ones into the eddying waters so early that even in +helpless infancy they become amphibious as the croaking +frogs in the iris beds at the river’s edge. Merry bathing +parties display their skill in diving, swimming, or fishing by +hand in the crystal depths; and graceful girls, like brown<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> +Naïads, disport themselves beneath the drooping boughs +which kiss the ripples of some sheltered creek fit for a +fairy’s haunt. Parrots call from the trees, and kingfishers +flit across the shallows in flashes of emerald light. Luxuriance +of vegetation and depth of colour increase with every +hour of the downward voyage. Gold mohur and scarlet +cotton-tree dazzle the eye as they tower up into the burning +blue of the tropical sky, and when the crescent moon +sinks beneath the horizon myriads of glittering fireflies suggest, +in the beautiful words of an Oriental poet, that “the +night is adrift with her stream of stars.”</p> + +<p>Thabetkein, the busy port of the ruby mines sixty miles +away; Yandoon, the malodorous fish-curing town <i>à la +mode de Burma</i>, which buries the native <i>hors d’œuvre</i> to eat +it in decay; and beautiful Prome, asleep in the moonlight, +are visited in turn, the character of the scenery changing as +the wide Delta opens up before the advancing steamer in +branching channels, like numerous rivers springing from +the parent Irrawaddy. Above us rises the sacred cliff of +Guadama, an ancient resort of religious pilgrimage, with +countless statues of Buddha carved to inaccessible heights +in the living rock. The romance of this watery world +turns over a new page on entering the great Bassein Creek, +the last stage of the thousand mile course. Elephants feeding +in the Jungle, and requiring a whole day for a full +meal, crash through the canes regardless of the passing +steamer. Peacocks drag their gorgeous trains over pink +river-grass and golden sands. Grey egrets preen their soft +plumage at the water’s edge, and purple hornbills rest on +swaying palms. The Delta is alive with craft—rice boats +and launches, cargo-boats and steamers. The barbaric +<i>fenaw</i>, with swelling sails and twenty oars; the curving native<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span> +barge, and the graceful Sampans, flitting like brown-winged +moths across the stream. Boys, tattooed from head to +foot in elaborate patterns, descend side-creek and canal in +a rude <i>dug-out</i>—the hollow tree which forms the primitive +boat—and the green tunnels of foliage show houses of +plaited mats, raised on piles and reached by ladders.</p> + +<p>Miles of malarious marsh have been reclaimed by Government +from the new land ever silting up above the level of +the water, and forming the rich rice-fields of this alluvial +soil. Riverside towns and villages become more frequent +in the lower reaches, and miniature markets of country produce +make patches of brilliant colour on the sandy shore. +Silken-clad girls, with flower-decked heads, sit beneath pink +and green umbrellas, shading piles of golden plantains and +pineapples. Bamboo stalls of curious lacquer-ware and +trays of clay Buddhas, packets of gold-leaf, and sheaves of +incense-sticks appeal to the religious instincts of pilgrims +bound for the Golden Pagoda of distant Rangoon. The +trade here, as elsewhere, is monopolized by the Burmese +women, though many pink-turbaned admirers lie on the +sand, smoking, flirting, and singing with the characteristic +<i>dolce far niente</i> of masculine life. The long fresh-water +cruise floats us from wilderness to the sea, from dreamland +to reality. Rice-mills line the shores, ocean-going ships +rush towards the forest of masts encircling busy Rangoon, +and huge teak-rafts, floated down from distant woods, and +sometimes two years on the way, reach their moorings at +the Ahlone timber-yards. Elephants, working with military +precision, drag the giant trunks by chains from the +river’s brink and pile them up with mathematical exactness, +pushing them with their heads until perfectly level. +Even commercial Burma can never be commonplace, for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> +beyond the motley throngs of the cosmopolitan port, the +golden spire of the Shway Dagon, queen of pagodas and goal +of the Irrawaddy voyager, idealizes the city clustering +round the sacred hill, and created by the central sanctuary +of Burma’s ancient faith.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c21">THE CLYDE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ROBERT WALKER</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">G</span>LASGOW and its river have acted and reacted the +one upon the other; and the conditions of the +city’s prosperity and well-being are indissolubly linked with +the stream that wanders down from the upland moors of +Lanarkshire, tumbling over precipices, meandering through +rich orchard grounds, flowing through the busy haunts of +men, until it widens into the noble estuary whose waves +reflect the peaks of Arran and wash round the rugged steeps +of Ailsa Craig. In its course the Clyde runs amid all +variety of scenery: moorland, pastoral, woodland. It is, +at one time, a shallow stream, humming over a pebbly bed +and glittering in the clear sunshine; at another, a foul and +sullen mass of water, which the energy of man has turned +to good account in his commercial enterprises; and then +again, a restless sea, whose white-crested waves break upon +the base of Highland hills. Through all its changes, it is +dear to the heart of every true Glasgovian. It has been a +source of untold wealth to the place of his birth, and most +of his happiest memories are connected with the sunny days +of leisure he has spent among its lochs and by its sand-edged +bays. Glasgow looks upon the Clyde as its own +special glory and possession; it is proud of the manner in +which the resources of the river have been developed; it is +prouder still of its many natural beauties familiar to its +citizens from their earliest youth, and an all-powerful attraction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span> +for the strangers who are led to our shores by the +fame of its charms.</p> + +<p>Glasgow, although it has many picturesque vistas within +its bounds which the ordinary business man, engrossed with +the cares of the Exchange, recks nothing of, is not, in itself, +a magnet to draw tourists who are simply in search of the +picturesque. Edinburgh, among Scottish cities, is, from its +own natural beauty, the cynosure of neighbouring and far-away +eyes. But Glasgow has the Clyde; and the Clyde, +notwithstanding the advantages of the Callander and Oban +Railway, is still the pleasantest and most picturesque gateway +and avenue to the West Highlands, where tourists +rightly love to congregate.</p> + +<p>The practical energy and shrewdness of the Glasgow +people early turned to the best advantage the inducements +the Frith of Clyde offered to the thousands who were anxious +for “change of air,” and on the outlook for summer +resorts. In no district of our island are travelling facilities +greater and travelling cheaper than on the Clyde. A +wonderful change has taken place since 1812, when the +<i>Comet</i>, the pioneer boat of a vast fleet of steamers, began to +sail between Glasgow, Greenock and Helensburgh. Out +of the <i>Comet</i>, with its forty-two feet of length, has been +evolved what is generally regarded as the premier boat on +the river, Mr. MacBrayne’s <i>Columba</i>, which carries the +tourist-flocks from Glasgow to Ardrishaig, whence Mr. +MacBrayne’s West Highland service is continued through +the Crinan Canal.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f15"> +<img src="images/fig15.jpg" alt="clyde"> +<p class="caption">THE CLYDE</p> +</div> + +<p>The <i>Columba</i> starts on her journey at seven o’clock in +the morning, and as she threads her way down the busy +river-channel, the passengers can note the stir and bustle +of the wharves, and the evidences in ever-extending docks +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span>and quayage, the dredgers and divers, of the indefatigable +energy and well-directed skill of the Clyde Trustees, that +have turned a shallow meandering stream into a highway +for the largest ships that float. Down past the building +yards with their clanging hammers and great ships “of +iron framed,” past what were once the cheerful rural +villages of Govan and Partick, now the grimy hives of +busy human bees, we steam, leaving behind us the ancient +royal burgh of Renfrew and the mouth of the Cart, and +come in view of Bowling and the Kilpatrick Hills, among +which the patron saint of Ireland is said to have first seen +the light. The river here broadens into something like an +inland lake and the landscape grows decidedly picturesque. +This has been a favourite subject for many Scottish landscape +painters—Nasmyth, McCulloch and Bough among +the rest. There is a wide stretch of view and the hills +near and distant—the first glimpse we have yet had of the +beginning of the Highlands—give to it dignity and variety. +To the water, studded with craft of all rigs, Dalnottar +Hill, Dunglass (where stands the monument to Bell, who +introduced steam navigation to the Clyde), Dumbuck Hill +and the mass of Dumbarton Castle, are effective background +and setting.</p> + +<p>At the Tail of the Bank, as the anchorage off Greenock +is called, lie a motley crowd of craft: bluff-bowed timber +ships, smart Australian clippers, handsome steam vessels +of the various lines to America, gaily-painted foreign ships, +and in the midst of them, an embodiment of power and +authority, rides the guardship, a formidable ironclad.</p> + +<p>The steamer at Greenock gathers passengers who have +come down from Glasgow by rail, and she takes in more +at Gourock, to which the Caledonian Company now run<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span> +trains. The old Gourock pier, dear from its fishing associations +to the hearts of many generations of Glasgow +boys, is now completely altered; a fine quay front has been +put up and a handsome station erected. Gourock is one +of the oldest of the Clyde watering-places; in its day it +was fashionable and thought to be pretty far removed from +the giddy world; now it is the resort of the cheap-tripper, +and has about its houses something of a second-rate +look.</p> + +<p>The view of the Frith from both Greenock and +Gourock piers is one of great extent and beauty. Opposite, +rise in the background range after range of hills, the +fantastic ridges of “Argyle’s Bowling-green,” the Cobbler, +the Black Hill of Kilmun, the steeps around Glen Messan, +and stealing between these mountain masses are the lochs +that are among the chief charms of the district. We have +fronting us the entrances to the Gareloch, Loch Long and +the Holy Loch, with wooded Roseneath and a white +stretch along the shore of cottages and little towns. If we +can only secure a day when the waves glitter in the sun +and the fleecy clouds fleck the hillsides with alternate +lights and shadows, then we need scarcely wish for a fairer +scene.</p> + +<p>Glasgow men are enthusiastic yachtsmen, and the regattas, +the opening cruises and closing cruises of the +various clubs are among the chief galas of the westcoast +season. Our yachts and their builders—such as Watson +and Fife—our skippers and our crews, are famous all the +world over. The “white wings” spot the Frith at every +turn, and there are few prettier sights than one of these +Clyde greyhounds, bursting through the water under a +cloud of canvas, with her lee-rail well buried in the sea.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span></p> + +<p>Down the Cowal shore the steamer slips and the long +belt of houses and villas that extends from Hunter’s Quay +to Innellan—once all a lonely shore—is left behind, and +we round Toward Point and its lighthouse into Rothsay +Bay. This bay, with its environment of hills, is one of +the choice bits on the Clyde; the natives all declare it to +be finer than the Bay of Naples. Few Rothsay men have +been at Naples. When a yacht club holds a regatta here, +and the boats cluster at anchor off Rothsay and there are +fireworks and illuminations, there is no livelier place than +this same bay.</p> + +<p>The town itself is beautifully situated, but looks best at +a distance. From Barone Hill, at the back, a fine view +can be obtained of the panorama of the bay. Rothsay +has a long history: it is a royal burgh, and like Renfrew, +gives a title to the Prince of Wales. Its chief glory is its +ruined castle, over which Norsemen and Scots, Bruces and +Baliols, have fought and murdered one another. Old +memories and traditions cluster as thick round it as the +ivy on its walls.</p> + +<p>Leaving Rothsay, we sail into the Kyles of Bute, a +narrow passage between the island and the mainland. +The wonder is how the steamer can thread its way through +the twisting, twining channel, that appears hardly broad +enough for the <i>Columba’s</i> paddle-wheels. Now and +again it almost seems as if we should run ashore from +the sharpness of the turns. The Kyles are full of quiet +beauty. As we look at the little hamlets sheltered under +the wooded hills, they seem so out of the world and so remote +from the common cares that burden humanity, that +we wonder can ordinary sins and sorrows ever disturb +there the calm routine of life. The evening hour is the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> +hour of enchantment, when your boat gently drifts on the +slow heaving water. The voices on the shore seem to +reach you through a muffled and mysterious air; the opalescent +light in the sky is reflected from the waves that lap +against the boat; sweet scents are wafted from the hillsides +that loom solemn in the gathering darkness; earth’s +uneasy passions are at rest; for the young, it is a pleasant +pause in the hurly-burly; for those who are growing old, +it is the time of memories and regrets.</p> + +<p>It is the garish light of day now, and with a long gaze at +the rugged mist-wreathed peaks of Arran, we round Ardlamont +Point and, away to the left, meet the sparkling waters +and fresh breezes of Loch Fyne.</p> + +<p>Tarbert, our first stoppage after the ferry at Ardlamont, +is one of the most noted fishing-villages in the west of +Scotland. The entrance to East Loch Tarbert, at which +the steamer calls, is exceedingly picturesque, and the district, +with its brown sails and its brawny fishermen, is one +much beloved of artists. Henry Moore, Colin Hunter, +David Murray, among the rest, have turned its beauties to +great use. Tarbert is the great centre of the trawl (or +seine) net fishing, which in Loch Fyne, after much discussion +and many bickerings, has practically superseded in +the Loch the old drift-net method. Trawl boats work in +pairs with four men and a boy in each boat. Tarbert sends +out between eighty and ninety boats, and an exceptionally +good night’s catch for a pair of trawls is about four or five +hundred boxes—each box containing, depending on the +size of the herring, from three to five hundred fish. The +men are sturdy, fine-looking fellows—and are fishermen +proper, as distinguished from the half crofter, half-fishermen +of the farther North-west Highlands. The fishing-fleet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span> +going out before sundown is, on a good evening, the +sight of Tarbert, the brown sails and the yellow-brown +boats glancing in the golden light, as they rush and +hum through the clear blue-grey water. Tarbert itself, +which lies principally round the inner harbour, is not a particularly +inviting place—it smells generally strongly of +herrings—but the hills around it are very pleasant to ramble +over, and the walk to West Loch Tarbert leads through +delightful highland country. There is a ruined castle here, +which dominates the harbour and is redolent of memories +of Robert the Bruce, the builder of the castle in 1325. +The narrow isthmus that separates the East from the West +Loch has been more than once surmounted by invading +Norsemen and other bold buccaneers, who dragged their +boats overland. Sir Walter Scott makes use of this fact in +<i>The Lord of the Isles</i>.</p> + +<p>At Ardrishaig, six miles beyond Tarbert and on the +west side of Loch Gilp, the outward run of the <i>Columba</i> +ends, and passengers for the West Highlands tranship to +the <i>Linnet</i>, in order to be conveyed through the Crinan +Canal.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c22">THE VOLGA</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ELISÉE RECLUS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE rivulet which, at its farthest source, takes the +name of Volga, rises not in a highland region, but +in the midst of lakes, marshes and low wooded hills, little +elevated above the Volkosniky Les (“Volkon Forest”) and +Valdaï plateau, which may be taken as the true source of +the stream. The highest ridges of the Valdaï scarcely rise +220 feet above the plateau, although the chief crest, the +Popova Gora, attains an altitude of 1,170 feet. The mean +elevation of the land is also sufficient to give it a far more +severe aspect than that of the Lovat and Lake Ilmen plains +on the north-west. Its peat beds, lakes and fir forests are +more suggestive of the neighbourhood of Lake Onega, +some 300 miles farther north, and the climate is, in fact, +about two degrees colder than in the surrounding districts. +Yet the Valdaï flora differs on the whole but little, if at all, +from that of the plains stretching towards the great lakes, +whence it has been concluded that these heights are of +comparatively recent origin. They have no indigenous +vegetation, all their species coming from the region released +from its icy fetters at the close of the long glacial +epoch. The plateau, now furrowed by rain and frost, +formed at that time a continuation of the uniform slope of +the land, and like it, was covered by the ice-fields from +Finland. The fish of its lakes, and even of the Upper +Volga itself, do not belong to the Volga basin proper, which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span>the Valdaï streams seem to have only recently joined. To +judge from their fauna, the true origin of the Volga +should be sought, not in the Valdaï, but in Lake Belo +Ozero (“White Lake”), east of Lagoda. The sturgeon +and sterlet inhabit the Shesksna, the outlet of this lake, as +they do in the middle Volga itself. The region giving +birth to the Volga is one of the swampiest in West Russia, +resembling a lowland tract rather than a true water-parting. +Separated by a simple peat bed from a tributary of the +Volkhov, the streamlet rising in the Volgino Verkhovye, +and sometimes called the Jordan from its sacred character, +flows from a spot now marked by the ruins of a chapel, +thence oozing rather than flowing from bog to bog for a +distance of about twenty-two miles, when it successively +traverses three terraced lakes, whose levels differ only a few +inches from the other. The Jukopa, one of the southern +affluents, often causes a back flow to Lake Peno near its +course, the natural fall being so slight that the impulse of a +lateral current suffices to reverse it. After leaving Lake +Peno, which is close to Lake Dvinetz, source of the +Dvina, the Volga turns eastward to Lake Volgo, where it +is already a considerable stream, with a volume of from +3,500 to 3,600 cubic feet per second, according to the seasons. +Three miles farther down occurs its first rapid, +where a dam has now been constructed, which during the +rains converts the upper valley, with its lakes, into one vast +reservoir forty-eight miles long, over one mile wide, and +containing 6,300,000 cubic feet of water. Boats and rafts +are then able to descend from the lake region, and higher +up the river becomes regularly navigable. Near this point +the Volga is nearly doubled by the Selijarovka from the +winding Lake Seligen, whose insular monastery of St.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span> +Nilus is still visited yearly by about 20,000 pilgrims. Here +may be said to begin the commercial stream, the Ra, Rhas, +or Rhos of the ancients and of the Mordvinians, the Yûl +of the Cheremissiams, the Atel or Etil of the Tatars, the +Tamar of the Armenians—that is in these languages, the +“River”—and in Finnish the Volga, or the “Holy +River.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f16"> +<img src="images/fig16.jpg" alt="volga"> +<p class="caption">THE VOLGA</p> +</div> + +<p>Below the Selijarovka it descends the slopes of the plateau +through a series of thirty-five <i>porogi, or rapids</i>, which, however, +do not stop the navigation, and beyond the last of the +series it winds unimpeded through the great Russian lowlands, +receiving numerous navigable tributaries, and communicating +by canal with the Baltic basin. After passing the +populous towns of Tver, Ribinsk, Yaroslav, and Kostroma, +it is joined at Niji-Novgorod by the Oka, of nearly equal +volume, and historically even more important than the main +stream. The Oka, which long served as the frontier between +Tartar and Muscovite, rises in the region of the +“black lands” and throughout a course of 900 miles waters +the most fertile plains of Great Russia, bringing to the Nijni +fair the produce of Orol, Kaluga, Tula, Riazan, Tambov, +Vladimir, and Moscow. Over 1,440 yards broad, it seems +like an arm of the sea at its confluence with the Volga. +East of this point the main artery is swollen by other tributaries, +which, though as large as the Seine, seem insignificant +compared with the mighty Kama, joining it below +Kazan from the Urals, and draining an area at least equal +in extent to the whole of France. Judging from the direction +of its course, the Kama seems to be the main stream, +for below the junction the united rivers continue the southerly +and south-westerly course of the Kama, whose clear +waters flow for some distance before intermingling with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> +grey stream of the Volga. Below Simbirsk the tributaries +are few and unimportant, and as the rainfall is here also +slight, and the evaporation considerable, the mean discharge +is probably as great at this place as at the delta.</p> + +<p>Below the Kama junction there formerly existed a vast +lacustrine basin, which has been gradually filled in by the +alluvia of both streams. Here is the natural limit of the +peat region, and here begins, on the right bank, that of the +steppes. As we proceed southwards the atmosphere becomes +less humid, the ground firmer, and below Simbirsk +we no longer meet those mossy and wooded quagmires +bound together by the tangled roots of trees, resembling +matted cordage. But even in the boggy districts those +floating forests are slowly disappearing as the land is brought +more and more under cultivation.</p> + +<p>Below the dried-up Simbirsk Lake the stream is deflected +by an impassable limestone barrier eastwards to Samara, +where it escapes through a breach and reverses its course +along the southern escarpment of the hills, thus forming a +long narrow peninsula projecting from the western plateau. +Here is the most picturesque scenery on the Volga, which +is now skirted by steep wooded cliffs, terminating in pyramids +and sharp rocky peaks. Some of the more inaccessible +summits are surmounted by the so-called “Stenka” Kurgans, +raised in memory of Razin, Chief of the Cossacks and +revolted peasantry, who had established themselves in this +natural stronghold of the Volga. The hills often rise more +than 300 feet above the stream, the Beliy Kluch, south-west +of Sizran, attaining an absolute elevation of 1,155 +feet or 1,120 feet above the mean level of the Volga.</p> + +<p>The region of the delta really begins at the Tzaritzin +bend, some 300 miles from the Caspian, for the stream<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> +here branches into countless channels between the beds of +the Volga and the Akhtuba, known near the coast as the +Bereket. Still the delta, properly so called, is formed only +about thirty miles above Astrakhan, by the forking of the +Buzan branch from the main bed. Near Astrakhan the +Belda and Kûtûm, and, lower down, the Tzarova, Tzagan, +Birûl, and other arms, break away, and in the vast alluvial +peninsula projecting into the Caspian, and which is at least +110 miles round, there are altogether about two hundred +mouths, most of them, however, shifting streams choked +with mud. During the spring floods all the delta and lower +courses below Tzaritzin form one vast body of moving +waters, broken only by a few islands here and there, and +after each of these floods new beds are formed, old ones +filled up, so that the chart of the delta has to be constantly +planned afresh. Two hundred years ago the navigable +channel flowed due east from Astrakhan: since then it has +shifted continually more to the right and now runs south-south-west.</p> + +<p>Without including the shorter windings, the Volga has a +total length of 2,230 miles, presenting with its tributaries, +about 7,200 miles of navigable waters. From the sources +of the Kama to the delta, these waters cross sixteen parallels +of latitude, and nine isothermal degrees, so that while +the mean annual temperature of the region is at freezing +point, it oscillates about 9° in the delta. At Astrakhan the +Volga is frozen for about ninety-eight days, and at Kazan +for one hundred and fifty-two, while the Kama is ice-bound +for six months at the junction of the Chusovaya above +Perm. The rainfall of the basin is about sixteen inches, +which would give 700,000 cubic feet per second, were all +the moisture to be carried off by the bed of the Volga.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span> +But much is absorbed by vegetation in the forests and +steppes and in the latter region direct evaporation may +dissipate about forty inches during the year in tracts fully +exposed to the winds.</p> + +<p>Altogether about three-fourths of the rainfall are thus +lost <i>en route</i>, and preliminary estimates have determined the +mean discharge at about 203,000 cubic feet, which is less +than two-thirds of that of the Danube, draining an area +scarcely half as large as that of the Russian River.</p> + +<p>The volume of water discharged by the Volga, which is +at least equal to that of all the other influents of the Caspian +together, is sufficient to exercise a considerable influence on +the level of the sea. Thus the floods of 1867, the heaviest +that had occurred for forty years, raised it by more than +two feet, the abnormal excess representing 9,600 billions +of cubic feet, or about three times the volume of the Lake +of Geneva. On the other hand, the delta steadily encroaches +on the sea, though at a rate which it is almost impossible +to determine. The sedimentary matter held in solution, +estimated by Mrczkovski at about the two-thousandth part +of the fluid, continues to form islands and sand-banks, +while generally raising the bed of the sea round the face of +the delta.</p> + +<p>The Volga abounds in fish, and the fishing industry supports +a large number of hands. Its lower reaches especially +form for the whole of Russia a vast reservoir of food, +varying with the seasons, and yielding large quantities even +in winter by means of holes broken in the ice at certain +intervals.</p> + +<p>On the islands of the delta are numerous stations where +the fish is cut up, and the roe prepared to be converted into +fresh and salt caviar. The <i>bieluga</i> and the sterlet, both of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span> +the sturgeon family, attain the greatest size, and are the +most highly esteemed, but their number seems to have diminished +since the appearance of the steamboat in these +waters.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c23">THE CONGO</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">J. HOWARD REED</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Congo is not only the largest river of the “Dark +Continent,” but is second only in point of size and +volume to the majestic Amazon of South America. It +may, therefore, truly be called the largest river of the Old +World.</p> + +<p>On referring to the latest maps of Africa we find that +the most distant source of the Congo is to be found in the +River Chambeze, which rises about midway between the +south end of Lake Tanganyika and the north end of +Lake Nyasa, at a height of 4,750 feet above the level of +the sea. Taking a south-westerly course, this stream flows +for some 250 miles, until it reaches a huge depression, +where it forms a lake, known to the natives by the name +Bangweolo. This lake is about 115 miles long by from +forty to sixty miles wide, with an area of from 6,000 to +7,000 square miles. At the south-west corner of Bangweolo +the river emerges, having a width equal to that of +the Thames at London Bridge, and flows northward under +the name of Luapula. About 200 miles further to the +north Lake Moero, with an area of about 3,500 square +miles, is reached. From the north end of this lake the river +again issues, flowing away generally in a northward direction.</p> + +<p>At a point about 200 miles from Lake Moero the river, +known from the lake to this point as the Luwa, is joined<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span> +by another stream of much larger size, which rises some +500 miles to the south-west, and is known as the Lualaba. +Both these branches of the main river, from their sources to +this point, have, of course, had their volumes greatly increased +by the innumerable tributary streams flowing into +them from the hills and highlands on either side. The +two great rivers are now united into one majestic stream, +which, bearing the name of Lualaba, continues its flow in +a north-north-westerly direction. A little above the point of +junction the river receives, on its eastern side, the Lukuga +River, which drains the surplus waters of Lake Tanganyika +and its tributaries, and augments the mighty volume of the +main river.</p> + +<p>When we remember that Lake Tanganyika is 400 miles +long, from twenty to forty miles broad, has an area of +12,650 square miles, and is fed by tributaries which drain +about 70,000 square miles of country, we can form some +idea of the enormous body of water which is added to the +main stream by the Lukuga River.</p> + +<p>About 100 miles to the north of where the Lukuga joins +the Lualaba, namely, at the Arab settlement of Nyangwe, +the main river is more than a mile wide, with a volume and +velocity, according to Stanley, of 230,000 cubit feet of +water per second. About 300 miles to the north of +Nyangwe are to be found the Stanley Falls, where the +river, augmented by the discharged waters of a number of +important tributary streams, dashes itself madly down a +series of wild rapids and terrible cataracts. These falls extend +for a distance of from sixty to seventy miles. From +this point the majestic river begins to turn slightly to the +westward, and, continuing its course first north-west, then +west, and finally south-west—in the form of a gigantic +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span>horseshoe—reaches, after a thousand miles’ uninterrupted +flow, the open expanse of Stanley Pool. Between Stanley +Falls and Stanley Pool the volume of the great river is still +further increased by the addition of the waters of a great +number of large tributary streams, many of which are +themselves extensive rivers, draining many thousands of +square miles of territory, and navigable for several hundred +miles.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f17"> +<img src="images/fig17.jpg" alt="congo"> +<p class="caption3"><span class="smcap">Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.</span></p> +<p class="caption">THE CONGO</p> +</div> + +<p>Among the great tributaries should be mentioned specially +the following; the Aruwimi, noted as the scene of the terrible +sufferings of the famous Emin Pasha relief expedition; +the Ubangi, or Welle-Makua, which is itself a mighty river, +rising away in the “Heart of Africa,” and flowing some +1,200 miles before it joins the main stream. On the south +bank may be named the Lubilash or Boloko, navigable for +200 miles; the Lulongo, with its branches—the Lopori and +Maringa—navigated for 500 miles by the Rev. George +Grenfell; the Chuapa, with its branch, the Busera, up which +Mr. Grenfell has also steamed some 500 miles. To these +may be added the Kwa, which with its tributaries—the +Lukenye, the Kasai, the Sankurn, the Kwango, and a +number of others—adds enormously to the volume of +the Congo, and affords some 1,500 miles of navigable +water.</p> + +<p>The great river from Stanley Falls to Stanley Pool has +an average width of some five miles, but in places it reaches +as much as sixteen miles wide, and is split up into separate +channels by large islands, with which its bosom is studded. +After passing through Stanley Pool the river ceases to be +navigable for about 235 miles—except for one comparatively +short break of eighty miles—owing to the angry cataracts +known as the Livingstone Falls. Below the falls the river<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span> +again becomes navigable to the Atlantic Ocean, some 110 +miles distant.</p> + +<p>The majestic river rushes with such an enormous volume +into the open ocean that, for many miles out at sea, +its stream can be distinctly traced, and its waters remain +fresh, refusing for a long time to become contaminated by +the salt of the mighty waste of waters.</p> + +<p>The main river and its tributaries have already been explored +for at least 11,000 miles. This, of course, gives a +length of river banks of no less than 22,000 miles. It can +be better grasped what this means when we remember that +the whole coast-line of Europe, following every indentation +of the shore—from the most northern point of Norway to +the spot in the Black Sea where the Caucasus Mountains +separate Europe from Asia—is only 17,000 miles, or 5,000 +miles less than the total length of river banks past +which the mighty Congo continually sweeps. To give +another illustration, I may remind you that the circumference +of the globe on which we live is 24,000 miles. So +that the length of the banks of the Congo—so far as they +are at present known—only falls some 2,000 miles short of +the total girth of our planet. When the great river becomes +more completely known the extent of the river’s +banks may probably be found to equal, and very possibly to +exceed, the earth’s circumference.</p> + +<p>The total length of the main river—omitting the +branches—from source to mouth is close upon three thousand +miles, equal to the distance from Liverpool to New +York.</p> + +<p>The area of territory drained is something over 1,500,000 +square miles, or equal, roughly speaking, to about one-eight +of the whole continent of Africa. It exceeds the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span> +total area of India by 200,000 square miles, and would +only be equalled by thirty-two Englands. It is needless +to quote further figures in order to impress upon us the +enormous extent and importance of Africa’s greatest waterway.</p> + +<p>The wide-spreading arms of the Congo reach themselves +out on all sides to such a distance and extent that the remote +headwaters, or fountains, overlap and almost intermingle +with the streams which contribute their waters to +the other great rivers of the continent. On the north-west +we find some of the early streams flowing almost from the +same sources which supply tributaries of the Niger and +the Shari. In the north-east we find the remote tributaries +of the Welle-Makua almost touching those of the +Bahr-el-Ghazal, which helps to swell the Nile. The headwaters +of the Aruwimi, again, flow from within a few +minutes’ walk of where a view can be obtained of the +Albert Lake, also belonging to the Nile system. The +Malagarazi River, which flows into Lake Tanganyika, and +so finds its way to the Congo, rises in the same hills which +gave birth to the Alexandra Nile, a western affluent to +Lake Victoria. We find, also, many of the great tributaries +on the southern bank of the Congo flow from highlands +which also pay tribute to streams flowing to the +Zambezi.</p> + +<p>In comparison with the historic tales the Nile and Niger +have to tell us, the story of the Congo is only very modern. +The early history of the great river is very meagre indeed, +and we search the ancient classics in vain for any mention +of even its existence.</p> + +<p>The river was, and is to this day, known to the Portuguese +as the Zaire, but the actual meaning of the word is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> +doubtful. Some consider it to simply mean river. The +country through which the great river flows was known to +the Portuguese as the kingdom of the Congo. The Zaire, +therefore, appeared upon the early Portuguese maps as Rio +de Congo, which, when translated, became, of course, on +English maps, River of Congo, and finally simply Congo, +as we now know it.</p> + +<p>Although the mouth of the Congo was discovered by the +Portuguese over four hundred years ago, very little was +known of the geography of the river itself until our own +century. Jesuit missionaries certainly settled in the +kingdom of the Congo, and they doubtless collected much +information from the native travellers regarding the geography +of the interior.</p> + +<p>The English geographer, Peter Heylyn, writing in 1657, +speaks of the Zaire, or River of Congo, rising in Lake +Zembre. After naming the rivers of the Country of +Congo, he goes on to say: “This last (the Zaire), the +greatest of them all, if not of all Africk also: Of which, +though we have spoke already, we shall add this here, that +it falleth into the Æthiopic Sea with so great violence, that +for ten miles commonly, for fifteen sometimes, the waters +of it do retain their natural sweetness: not intermingled +nor corrupted with the Salt Sea-water: Nor can the people +sail above five miles against the stream of the cataracts, +or huge falls which it hath from the Mountains; more +terrible and turbulent than those of the Nile.”</p> + +<p>The great discoveries connected with the Congo have +been in almost all cases the result of inquiries set on foot +for other purposes, and not the outcome of direct research. +This is especially the case with regard to the long and +tedious wanderings of Dr. Livingstone, between the years<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span> +1866 and 1873, which terminated only in his death in the +latter year. When Livingstone started upon his last and +greatest expedition in 1866, it was with the idea of clearing +up certain doubtful points connected with Lakes Tanganyika +and Nyasa, and of establishing, if possible, the +southern limit of the Nile watershed. He had no intention +of working at the Congo at all, and, in fact, remarks +in his journal, in a half jocular manner, that he had no +desire to become “blackman’s meat” for anything less than +the Nile.</p> + +<p>Stanley’s great journey from Nyangwe to Boma made +known, of course, only the main stream of the river, but +it opened the way, and from that day down to the present +a whole legion of travellers, both British and European, +have devoted themselves to the filling in of the details. +The great traveller himself shortly after discovered lakes +Leopold II. and Mantumba; and so recently as 1887 explored +the great Aruwimi territory, following it to its +source in the neighbourhood of the Albert Lake, when +engaged in his last great journey through “Darkest +Africa.”</p> + +<p>The Nineteenth Century has been what we may call +the age of discovery, so far as the Congo is concerned. +The geography of the river is now fairly well known, the +discoveries of the past twenty years having undoubtedly +transcended all possible expectations or even conceptions. +The next century will in all probability be one of Congo +commerce and Congo engineering. Already we find a +railway some 250 miles in length, in course of construction, +which, when completed, will overcome the +natural difficulties of transport in the neighbourhood of +the Livingstone Falls, and throw open to the world the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span> +mighty natural highway to the heart of the Continent. +Already we find, in spite of the difficulties of the cataract +region, that some thirty odd steamers are daily ploughing +their way up and down the Congo’s giant stream. Thus +has the great river begun the work of bearing the naturally +rich products of the Congo basin to the coast, and of +carrying the return commodities into the interior.</p> + +<p>The work of the explorer, the trader, and the missionary +is already beginning to bear fruit. In their wake will +follow civilization, commerce and Christianity. Cities—centres +of industry and light—will be founded, and in due +time the peoples of the “Heart of Africa” will take their +place in the progress of the world.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c24">THE MACKENZIE RIVER</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">WILLIAM OGILVIE</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>ORT MCPHERSON stands on a high bank of gravel +and slate, on the east side of the Peel River, about +fourteen miles above the point where it divides and joins +the Mackenzie delta, which is common to both rivers. +The height of this bank rapidly decreases towards the +mouth of the river, where it almost entirely disappears. +The country surrounding has evidently at one time been +a part of the Arctic Ocean which has been gradually filled +up with alluvial deposits brought down by the two rivers.</p> + +<p>On this rich soil, the timber, mostly spruce, with some +tamarack, birch and poplar, is, for the latitude, very large. +When I arrived at Fort McPherson, on the 20th of June, +the new buds on the trees were just perceptible, and on the +evening of the 22d, when I left, the trees were almost fully +in leaf.</p> + +<p>Between Peel River and the Mackenzie about two-thirds +of the channel in the delta averages more than a quarter of +a mile wide; the remainder about one hundred yards. All +of it was deep when I passed through, and the Hudson’s +Bay Company’s steamer, <i>Wrigley</i>, drawing five feet of +water, finds no difficulty in navigating it. The banks do +not rise more than ten or fifteen feet above the water, and +the current is continually wearing away the soft deposit and +carrying it down to the lower part of the delta and to the +Arctic Ocean.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span></p> + +<p>Where we enter the Mackenzie proper, the channel is +three-fourths of a mile wide, but it is only one of four, +there being three large islands at this point. The whole +width of the river cannot be less than three or four miles. +Looking northward, down the westerly channel, the view +is bounded by the sky, and widens in the distance so that +one can fancy he is looking out to sea.</p> + +<p>A north wind raises quite a swell here, and the salty odour +of the sea air is plainly perceptible above the delta. The +banks continue low, and the country flat on both sides of +the river, for some nine or ten miles above the islands. +The shore on the east side is sloping, while that on the +west is generally perpendicular, showing the action of the +current, which is wearing into and carrying away portions +of it. This form of bank changes into steep shale rock on +both sides, gradually increasing in height as far as the Narrows, +where they are probably one hundred and fifty feet +above the water.</p> + +<p>On the Mackenzie I did not stay long enough to learn +much about the Indians in the district, nor did I see many +of them. While we were in the delta, nine large boats +loaded with Esquimaux from the coast passed us on the +way up to Fort McPherson to do their trading for the season, +in one of which I noticed a young woman devouring +a raw musk-rat with evident relish. These people come +up from the coast in “skin” boats, called <i>oumiaks</i>, made, +it is said, of whale skin put round a wood frame. These +boats present a very neat appearance, and are capable of carrying +about two tons each. Whale oil is one of the principal +articles which they bring in for sale.</p> + +<p>A few miles above the Narrows the banks change from +rock to clay and gravel, and continue generally steep and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> +high as far as Fort Good Hope. In a few places the bank +recedes from the river for a short distance, forming a low +flat, on which generally grows some fair spruce timber. +No rivers of importance flow into the Mackenzie between +Red and Hare Indian Rivers. One hundred and thirty +miles further on, Loon River enters from the east, and, +twenty miles above this Hare Indian River also enters from +the same side. The Indians report that Hare Indian River +rises in a range of hills on the north-west side of Great +Bear Lake, but about its navigability I could learn nothing.</p> + +<p>We reached Fort Good Hope on Saturday, the 24th of +July, and remained over Sunday. The Fort is built on the +east side of the Mackenzie, about two miles above Hare +Indian River, and two below the “Ramparts.” The Hudson’s +Bay Company has quite a large establishment at this +point, consisting of half a dozen houses and some stables. +The Roman Catholic Church has a flourishing mission +here, and the church is said to possess one of the best finished +interiors in the country.</p> + +<p>Two miles above the Fort we enter what is known in +the vicinity as the “Ramparts,” though in the more +south-westerly it would be called a “Cañon.” Here, +for a distance of seven miles, the river runs perpendicular +and occasionally over hanging walls of rock. At the lower +end they rise one hundred and fifty feet above the water. +But their height decreases as we near the upper end, at +which point they are not more than fifty or sixty feet. +The river, at the lower end of the “Ramparts,” is nearly a +mile wide, but its walls gradually converge until, about +three miles up, the width is not more than half a mile, and +this continues to the end. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, when +passing through, sounded at its upper end, and found three<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span> +hundred feet of water, which accounts for the fact that +although the Cañon is so narrow the current is not perceptibly +increased.</p> + +<p>When Mackenzie discovered and explored this river in +1789, he met some Indians a short distance above this +place. After confidence had been established by means of +presents, he prepared to start onward; and, although his +newly-made friends told him there was great danger +ahead in the form of a rapid or cataract which would swallow +him and his party without fail, he continued, the Indians +following and warning him of his danger. He advanced +cautiously into the “Ramparts,” but could hear or see +nothing to verify their statements. At last, when through, +they admitted that the only bad weather to be encountered +was now passed, but that behind the island just below was +a bad spirit or monster which would devour the whole +party: failing there, the next island below would surely +reveal him.</p> + +<p>From this incident the two islands have received the +names of Upper and Lower Manitou, respectively.</p> + +<p>Forty-eight miles from Fort Good Hope, Sans Sault +Rapid is reached. It is caused by a ledge of rocks extending +partially across the river.</p> + +<p>A ridge of hills here extend beyond the river from the +Rocky Mountains, occasional glimpses of which can be +caught from the water.</p> + +<p>Just above this the Mackenzie turns sharply to the east +from its southerly course, and skirts the base of the mountains +for six miles. Its course then curves a little to the +south, when, what might be termed a cañon, is entered, +which extends for nine or ten miles. The river here averages +a mile in width, and is walled on both sides by perpendicular<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> +limestone cliffs, rising from one to two hundred feet +above the water. On the south side, this wall terminates +in what is known as “Wolverine Rock,” which rises perpendicularly +from the water to a height of three hundred +feet. The formation is limestone, the strata of which +stand almost on edge, and the water has worn through them +in several places, so that one can sail underneath. Above +this point the mountains again approach the river for a few +miles, when they suddenly drop almost to the level of the +plain. The banks here are clay and gravel, with an average +height of from one hundred to one hundred and fifty +feet.</p> + +<p>Six and one-half miles above Sans Sault Rapids, Carcajou +River empties its waters into the Mackenzie from +the west. This river I believe to be the largest tributary +of the Mackenzie below the Laird.</p> + +<p>Four hundred and forty-four miles from Fort McPherson +brought us to Fort Norman, which is situated on the east +bank of the Mackenzie just above the entrance of Great +Bear River. I arrived here on Saturday, the 28th of July.</p> + +<p>About three and a half miles above Fort Norman on the +east bank of the river, two extensive exposures of lignite +occur. The upper one is overlaid by about fifty feet of +clay and a few feet of friable sandstone, and is about fifteen +feet thick. The other seam is of about the same thickness, +and probably forty feet lower. When I was there, it +was nearly all under water.</p> + +<p>The upper seam <i>has been on fire for over a hundred years</i>, +as it was burning when Sir Alexander Mackenzie passed in +1789, and according to Indian tradition, it must have been +burning much longer. The place is locally known as “Le +Boucan,” from the fact that the Indians hereabout smoke<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span> +and cook large quantities of meat or fish in these convenient +fire pits. The fire extends at present about two miles +along the river, not continuously, but at intervals; when I +passed, it was burning in three or four places. After it has +burned a certain distance into the seam, the overlaying +mass of clay falls in, and, to some extent, suppresses the +fire. This clay is, in time, baked into a red coloured rock, +in which are found innumerable impressions of leaves and +plants.</p> + +<p>About a hundred miles above Fort Norman, on the +west side, a river discharges a large volume of clear, +black water, which rushes bodily half-way across the +Mackenzie, and preserves its distinctive character for +several miles before it mingles with the main stream. The +name applied to this river by the people at Fort Wrigley +was “<i>La rivière du vieux grand lac</i>.” It is said to +flow out of a lake of considerable extent, lying not far +from the Mackenzie. Many peaks can be seen up its +valley.</p> + +<p>Six hundred and twenty-four miles from Fort McPherson +brings us to Fort Wrigley. This post was formerly known +as “Little Rapid,” but has received the name it now bears +in honour of Chief Commissioner Wrigley, of the Hudson’s +Bay Company. Just above the Fort there is a swift +rush of water over some limestone rock which appears to +extend across the river. On the west side two small islands +confine a part of the stream in a funnel-like channel, which, +being shallow, causes a slight rapid, and gives rise to the +former name of the post.</p> + +<p>At Fort Wrigley, some slight attempts had been made at +cultivation, but I do not consider them a fair test of the +capabilities of the place. When I was there, the people<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> +were gathering blueberries, then fully ripe, and as large and +well-flavoured as they are in Ontario. Ripe strawberries +were found on the 9th of August ninety miles below this, +and a few raspberries soon afterwards. Above Fort Wrigley, +wild gooseberries, and both red and black currants were +found in abundance; some of the islands being literally covered +with the bushes.</p> + +<p>For about sixty miles below Fort Wrigley a range of +mountains runs parallel to the river on its east side. Above +Fort Wrigley the east bank is generally low and swampy, +but the west (although low near the river) gradually rises to a +height of seven or eight hundred feet. Fifty-eight miles +above Fort Wrigley this hill terminates in a bold, high +point, and the ridge turns off to the south-west, enclosing a +deep, wide valley between it and the mountains, which here +approach the river. This range continues south-eastward +out of sight. The positions and heights of some of the +peaks were determined by triangulation. One of them was +found to rise 4,675 feet above the river.</p> + +<p>We arrived at Fort Simpson on Friday, the 24th of August, +and remained until the following Tuesday.</p> + +<p>We arrived at Fort Providence on Saturday, the 8th of +September. Wild gooseberries and currants were plentiful +along the banks, but at this season somewhat over-ripe. +At the fort, where we remained over Sunday, the usual collection +of buildings at a Hudson Bay Company’s post is to +be found. The Roman Catholic Church has also a mission +here.</p> + +<p>Forty-six miles from Fort Providence we enter Great +Slave Lake. The south shore of the lake, between the +Mackenzie and Great Slave Rivers, is so low and flat that +most of it was submerged when I passed. Fish are numerous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> +in the Mackenzie. The principal species is that +known as the “Inconnu.” Those caught in the lower +river are very good eating, much resembling salmon in +taste, being also firm and juicy.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c25">THE LOIRE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">VICTOR HUGO</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap1">I</span> HAVE some recollection of having already said so elsewhere: +the Loire and Touraine have been far too +much praised. It is time to render justice. The Seine +is much more beautiful than the Loire; Normandy is +a much more charming “garden” than Touraine.</p> + +<p>A broad, yellow strip of water, flat banks, and poplars +everywhere—that is the Loire. The poplar is the only +tree that is stupid. It masks all the horizons of the Loire. +Along the river and on the islands, on the edge of the dyke +and far away in the distance, one sees only poplars. In my +mind there is a strangely intimate relationship, a strangely +indefinable resemblance, between a landscape made up of +poplars and a tragedy written in Alexandrines. The poplar, +like the Alexandrine, is one of the classic forms of +boredom.</p> + +<p>It rained; I had passed a sleepless night. I do not know +whether that put me out of temper, but everything on the +Loire seemed to me cold, dull, methodical, monotonous, +formal, and lugubrious.</p> + +<p>From time to time one meets convoys of five or six small +craft ascending or descending the river. Each vessel has +but one mast with a square sail. The one that has the biggest +sail precedes the others and tows them. The convoy +is arranged in such a fashion that the sails grow smaller in +size from one boat to the other, from the first to the last,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span> +with a sort of symmetric decrease unbroken by any unevenness, +undisturbed by any vagary. One involuntarily recalls +the caricature of the English family; one might imagine +one saw a chromatic scale sweeping along under full +sail. I have seen this only on the Loire; and I confess +that I prefer the Norman sloops and luggers, of all +shapes and sizes, flying like birds of prey, and mingling +their yellow and red sails with the squall, the rain, and +the sun, between Quillebœuf and Tancarville.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards call the Manzanares “the viscount of +waterways”; I suggest that the Loire be called “the dowager +of rivers.”</p> + +<p>The Loire has not, like the Seine and the Rhine, a host +of pretty towns and lovely villages built on the very edge +of the river and mirroring their gables, church-spires, and +house-fronts in the water. The Loire flows through a +great alluvion caused by the floods and called La Sologne. +It carries back from it the sand which its waters bear down +and which often encumber and obstruct its bed. Hence +the frequent risings and inundations in these low plains +which thrust back the villages. On the right bank they +hide themselves behind the dyke. But there they are almost +lost to sight. The wayfarer does not see them.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the Loire has its beauties. Madame de +Staël, banished by Napoleon to fifty leagues’ distance from +Paris, learned that on the banks of the Loire, exactly fifty +leagues from Paris, there was a <i>château</i> called, I believe, +Chaumont. It was thither that she repaired, not wishing +to aggravate her exile by a quarter of a league. I do not +commiserate her. Chaumont is a dignified and lordly +dwelling. The <i>château</i> which must date from the Sixteenth +Century, is fine in style; the towers are massive. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span>The village at the foot of the wooded hill presents an aspect +perhaps unique on the Loire, the precise aspect of a Rhine +village—of a long frontage stretching along the edge of the +water.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f18"> +<img src="images/fig18.jpg" alt="loire"> +<p class="caption">THE LOIRE</p> +</div> + +<p>Amboise is a pleasant, pretty town, half a league from +Tours, crowned with a magnificent edifice, facing those +three precious arches of the ancient bridge, which will disappear +one of these days in some scheme of municipal improvement.</p> + +<p>The ruin of the Abbey of Marmontiers is both great and +beautiful. In particular there is, a few paces from the road, +a structure of the Fifteenth Century—the most original I +have seen: by its dimensions a house, by its machicoulis a +fortress, by its belfry an <i>hôtel de ville</i>, by its pointed doorway +a church. This structure sums up, and, as it were, +renders visible to the eye, the species of hybrid and complex +authority which in feudal times appertained to abbeys +in general, and, in particular, to the Abbey of Marmontiers.</p> + +<p>But the most picturesque and imposing feature of the +Loire is an immense calcareous wall, mixed with sandstone, +millstone, and potter’s clay, which skirts and banks up its +right shore, and stretches itself out before the eye from +Blois to Tours, with inexpressible variety and charm, now +wild rock, now an English garden, covered with trees and +flowers, crowned with ripening vines and smoking chimneys, +perforated like a sponge, as full of life as an ant-hill.</p> + +<p>Then there are deep caves which long ago hid the +coiners who counterfeited the E. of the Tours mint, and +flooded the province with spurious <i>sous</i> of Tours. To-day +the rude embrasures of these dens are filled with pretty +window-frames coquettishly fitted into the rock, and from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span> +time to time one perceives through the glass the fantastic +head-dress of some young girl occupied in packing aniseed, +angelica, and coriander in boxes. The confectioners have +replaced the coiners.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c26">THE LOIRE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">HONORÉ DE BALZAC</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE banks of the Loire, from Blois to Angers, have +been high in favour with the two last branches of +the royal race that occupied the throne before the House +of Bourbon. This beautiful basin so richly deserves the +honours paid to it by royalty that this is what one of our +most elegant writers has said of it:</p> + +<p>“There exists in France a province that has never been +sufficiently admired. Perfumed like Italy, flowered like +the banks of the Guadalquiver, and beautiful in addition +with its individual physiognomy, and entirely French, having +always been French, in contrast to our northern provinces, +corrupted by German contact, and our southern +provinces that have lived in concubinage with the Moors, +Spaniards and all races that desired to;—this province pure, +chaste, brave and loyal is Touraine! Historic France is +there! Auvergne is Auvergne; Languedoc is only Languedoc, +but Touraine is France; and for us the most national +river of all is the Loire that waters Touraine. Hence, +we should not be so astonished at the quantity of monuments +found in the Departments that have taken the name +and derivatives of the name of the Loire. At every step +we take in this land of enchantment, we discover a picture +the frame of which is a river or a tranquil oval sheet that +reflects in its liquid depths a castle with its turrets, woods +and springing waters. It was only natural that where<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span> +royalty abode by preference and established its court for +such a long period the great fortunes and distinctions of +race and merit should group themselves and raise palaces +there grand as themselves.”</p> + +<p>Is it not incomprehensible that Royalty did not follow +the advice given by Louis XI. indirectly to make Tours +the capital of the kingdom? There, without much expenditure, +the Loire could have been made accessible to trading +vessels and to ships of war of light draught. There, the +seat of government would have been secure from the surprise +of an invasion. The northern strongholds would not +then have demanded so much money for their fortifications, +as costly to themselves as the sumptuousness of Versailles. +If Louis XIV. had listened to the advice of Vauban, who +wanted to build a residence for him at Mont Louis, between +the Loire and the Cher, perhaps the Revolution of 1789 +would not have occurred. Still, here and there, those +lovely banks bear the marks of the royal affection. The +castles of Chambord, Blois, Amboise, Chenonceaux, Chaumont, +Plessis-lez-Tours, all those which the mistresses of +our kings, and the financiers and great lords built for themselves +at Véretz, Azay-le-Rideau, Ussi, Villandri, Valençay, +Chanteloup, Duretal (some of which have disappeared but +the majority still exist) are admirable monuments that are +redolent with the marvels of that epoch that is so ill comprehended +by the literary sect of Mediævalists. Among all +these castles, that of Blois is the one on which the magnificence +of the Orleans and the Valois has set its most +brilliant seal; and is the most interesting of all for the historian, +the archæologist, and the Roman Catholic.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c27">THE POTOMAC</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ESTHER SINGLETON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Potomac was an important river from the earliest +period of the country’s history. Explorers followed +its route to the interior of the country, and as early as 1784 +The Potomac Company was chartered with Washington as +its president for the purpose of connecting the Potomac +Valley with the west by means of a canal for general land +improvement. This was succeeded by the Chesapeake and +Ohio Canal Company, whose canal runs parallel with and +near to the river all the way from Georgetown to Cumberland.</p> + +<p>The first attempt to explore the Chesapeake Bay and its +tributary rivers was made in 1608 by Captain John Smith, +who speaks of the Patawomeke as six or seven miles broad +and navigable for 140 miles. Another Indian name was +Cohonguroton (River of Swans). No less than forty tribes +of the warlike Algonquins lived upon its banks and held +their councils at the point of land now occupied by the +Arsenal.</p> + +<p>In 1634, Henry Fleet with some of Calvert’s people visited +the Falls of the Potomac; and early in the Seventeenth +Century several tracts of land on the river banks were +granted to settlers. Among these was one Francis Pope, +gentleman, who in 1663 had four hundred acres laid out +which he called Rome, on the east side of the Anacostian +River and to the mouth of the Tiber, for so this little arm<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span> +of the Potomac was called more than a century before +Washington was founded, there being a tradition that on +its banks would rise a capital greater than Rome. The +Tiber has now disappeared beneath the streets of Washington, +but it once flowed below the hill on which the +Capitol now stands between forest-lined banks and was +noted for its shad and herring.</p> + +<p>The Potomac is formed by the junction of two rivers on +the boundary between Maryland and West Virginia. The +North Branch rises in the Western Alleghanies and the +South Branch in the Central; and, flowing north-east, they +unite about fifteen miles south-east of Cumberland. The +Potomac thus forms an irregular boundary between Maryland +and West Virginia and Maryland and Virginia throughout +its entire course of four hundred miles. Its chief tributaries +are the Shenandoah from Virginia and the Monocacy +from Maryland. At Harper’s Ferry the Potomac breaks +through the Blue Ridge meeting the Shenandoah—“Daughter +of the Stars”—which has cut its way through the +mist-wreathed mountains, laved the Luray Caverns and +watered a lovely valley. These rivers winding around +Loudon Heights, Bolivar Heights and Maryland Heights +are picturesque in the highest degree, and the scenery is +rendered more interesting by the associations with John +Brown’s raid and capture and other thrilling incidents of +the Civil War.</p> + +<p>Twelve miles below is Point of Rocks and below this +the Monocacy joins the main stream.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f19"> +<img src="images/fig19.jpg" alt="potomac"> +<p class="caption">THE POTOMAC</p> +</div> + +<p>A number of falls mark its course through the mountains; +and about fifteen miles above Washington it descends +rapidly until it reaches Great Falls, at which point it breaks +through the mountain in a channel narrowing to a hundred +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span>yards in width and bounded on the Virginia side by perpendicular +rocks seventy feet high. Cedars, oaks, willows +and other forest trees contribute beauty to this wild spot, +where cherries and strawberries abound, and which is the +haunt of the rattlesnake and other venomous reptiles. The +water falls in a series of cascades. Not far from this point +Cabin-John Bridge is reached, a bridge formed of large +blocks of granite 420 feet long and twenty feet wide, which +springs the chasm of Cabin-John Creek at a height of 101 +feet in a single arch of 220 feet. This is the largest stone +arch in the world, the second being the Grosvenor Bridge +(with a span of 200 feet), over the Dee.</p> + +<p>At a distance of four miles below Great Falls, the stream +widens and flows quietly for ten miles; and then descends +thirty-seven feet in a second series of cascades known as +Little Falls, about three miles above Georgetown. The +Potomac, thus released from the hills above Georgetown, +expands into a broad lake-like river, and receives the +Anacostia at Washington, where it meets the tide. +About twenty-five miles below Washington, it becomes +an estuary from two to eight miles wide, and enters the +Chesapeake Bay, after having made a journey of four hundred +miles.</p> + +<p>The chief places of interest on the banks of the Potomac +are, of course, Washington, <i>Arlington House</i>, <i>Mount Vernon</i>, +and the sleepy old town of Alexandria founded in 1748 +and once a rival of Annapolis and Baltimore. It is full of +associations with Washington, whose estate, <i>Mount Vernon</i>, +is but a few miles below. <i>Mount Vernon</i>, in Washington’s +time, an estate of two thousand acres, belonged originally +to his half-brother, Lawrence, who named it for Admiral +Vernon under whom he had served.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span></p> + +<p><i>Arlington House</i>, the residence of the adopted son of +General Washington, George Washington Parke Custis, +came into possession of Gen. Robert E. Lee through his +wife who was the daughter of Mr. Custis. The house, +built from drawings of the temple at Pæstum, near Naples, +stands on a bluff two hundred feet above the river about +four miles from Washington. The building with its two +wings has a frontage of 140 feet and the portico sixty feet +long is surmounted by a pediment resting on eight Doric +columns twenty-six feet high and five feet in diameter. On +the south were the gardens and greenhouses, and in the +rear the kitchens, slave quarters and stables. In 1863 +<i>Arlington House</i> and the estate of 1,000 acres was sold under +the Confiscation Act and taken possession of by the +National Government; and in 1867 the grounds were appropriated +for a National Cemetery.</p> + +<p>The Potomac was the scene of skirmishes in 1814, when +Alexandria surrendered to the British; and in this connection +it is interesting to learn what Admiral Napier, who commanded +the fleet, has to say regarding the ascent of the river:</p> + +<p>“The river Potomac is navigable for frigates as high up +as Washington, but the navigation is extremely intricate +and nature has done much for the protection of the country +by placing one-third of the way up, very extensive and +intricate shoals, called the ‘Kettle Bottoms.’ They are +composed of oyster banks of various dimensions, some not +larger than a boat, with passages between them.</p> + +<p>“The best channel is on the Virginia shore; but the +charts gave us mostly very bad directions and no pilots +could be procured. A frigate had attempted some time before +to effect a passage, and, after being frequently aground, +gave it up as impossible. The American frigates themselves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span> +never attempted it with their guns in, and were several +weeks in the passage from the naval yard at Washington +to the mouth of the Potomac.</p> + +<p>“When the tide was favourable and the wind light, we +warped by hand; with the ebb and the wind strong, the +hawsers were brought to the capstan. This operation began +at daylight and was carried on without interruption till +dark and lasted five days, during which the squadron warped +upwards of fifty miles, and on the evening of the fifth day +anchored off Maryland Point. The same day the public +buildings of Washington were burnt. The reflection of the +fire on the heavens was plainly seen from the ships, much +to our mortification and disappointment, as we concluded +that that act was committed at the moment of evacuating +the town....</p> + +<p>“The following morning, to our great joy, the wind became +fair, and we made all sail up the river, which now assumed +a more pleasing aspect. At five o’clock in the afternoon +<i>Mount Vernon</i>—the retreat of the illustrious Washington—opened +to our view and showed us, for the first +time since we entered the Potomac, a gentleman’s residence. +Higher up the river, on the opposite side, Fort Washington +appeared to our anxious eyes; and, to our great satisfaction, +it was considered assailable.</p> + +<p>“A little before sunset the squadron anchored just out of +gun-shot; the bomb vessels at once took up their positions +to cover the frigates in the projected attack at daylight +next morning and began throwing shells. The garrison, to +our great surprise, retreated from the Fort; and, a short +time after, Fort Washington was blown up—which left the +capital of America, and the populous town of Alexandria, +open to the squadron, without the loss of a man.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span></p> + +<p>“A deputation from the town arrived to treat; but +Captain Gordon declined entering into any arrangement +till the squadron arrived before Alexandria. The channel +was buoyed, and next morning the 27th, we anchored +abreast of the town and dictated terms.</p> + +<p>“Alexandria is a large well-built town and a place of great +trade. It is eight miles below Washington, where few +merchant ships go, and is, in fact, the mercantile capital, and, +before the war, was a most flourishing town, but at the time +of its capture had been going rapidly to decay. Agricultural +produce was of little value; the storehouses were full of it. +We learnt that the army after destroying Barney’s flotilla, +had made a forced march on Washington, beat the Americans +at Bladensburg, destroyed the public buildings and +navy yard, and retreated to their ships. Had our little +squadron been favoured by wind, the retreat would have +been made along the right bank of the Potomac, under our +protection, and the whole country in the course of that +river would have been laid under contribution.”</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c28">THE EUPHRATES</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">GEORGE RAWLINSON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">E</span>UPHRATES is probably a word of Arian origin. It +is not improbable that in common parlance the name +was soon shortened to its modern form of <i>Frát</i>, which is +almost exactly what the Hebrew literation expresses.</p> + +<p>The Euphrates is the largest, the longest, and by far the +most important of the rivers of Western Asia. It rises +from two chief sources in the Armenian Mountains, one of +them at Domli, twenty-five miles north-east of Ezeroum, +and little more than a degree from the Black Sea; the other +on the northern slope of the mountain range called <i>Ala-Tagh</i>, +near the village of <i>Diyadin</i>, and not far from Mount +Ararat. Both branches flow at first towards the west or +south-west, passing through the wildest mountain-districts of +Armenia; they meet at <i>Kebban-Maden</i>, nearly in longitude +39° east from Greenwich, having run respectively 400 and +270 miles. Here the stream formed by their combined +waters is 120 yards wide, rapid and very deep. The last +part of its course, from <i>Hit</i> downwards, is through a low, +flat, and alluvial plain, over which it has a tendency to +spread and stagnate; above <i>Hit</i>, and from thence to Samosata, +the country along its banks is for the most part +open but hilly; north of Samosata, the stream runs in a +narrow valley among high mountains, and is interrupted by +numerous rapids. The entire course is calculated at 1,780 +miles, nearly 650 more than that of the Tigris, and only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span> +200 short of that of the Indus; and of this distance more +than two-thirds (1,200 miles) is navigable for boats, and +even, as the expedition of Col. Chesney proved, for small +steamers. The width of the river is greatest at the distance +of 700 or 800 miles from its mouth. The river has +also in this part of its course the tendency already noted, to +run off and waste itself in vast marshes, which every year +more and more cover the alluvial tract west and south of +the stream. From this cause its lower course is continually +varying, and it is doubted whether at present, except in the +season of the inundation, any portion of the Euphrates water +is poured into the <i>Shat-el-Arab</i>.</p> + +<p>The annual inundation of the Euphrates is caused by the +melting of the snows in the Armenian highlands. It occurs +in the month of May. The rise of the Tigris is +earlier, since it drains the southern flank of the great Armenian +chain. The Tigris scarcely overflows, but the +Euphrates inundates large tracts on both sides of its course +from Hit downwards.</p> + +<p>The Euphrates has at all times been of some importance +as furnishing a line of traffic between the east and the west. +Herodotus speaks of persons, probably merchants, using it +regularly on their passage from the Mediterranean to Babylon. +Alexander appears to have brought to Babylon by the Euphrates +route vessels of some considerable size, which he +had had made in Cyprus and Phœnicia. They were so +constructed that they could be taken to pieces, and were thus +carried piecemeal to Thapsacus, where they were put together +and launched. The disadvantage of the route was +the difficulty of conveying return cargoes against the current. +According to Herodotus, the boats which descended +the river were broken to pieces and sold at Babylon, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span> +the owners returned on foot to Armenia, taking with them +only the skins. The spices and other products of Arabia +formed their principal merchandise. On the whole there +are sufficient grounds for believing that throughout the Babylonian +and Persian periods this route was made use of by +the merchants of various nations, and that by it the east and +west continually interchanged their most important products.</p> + +<p>The Euphrates is first mentioned in Scripture as one of +the four rivers of Eden. We next hear of it in the covenant +made with Abraham where the whole country from +“the great river Euphrates” to the river of Egypt is +promised to the chosen race. In Deuteronomy and Joshua +we find this promise was borne in mind at the time of the +settlement in Canaan; and from an important passage in +the first Book of Chronicles it appears that the tribe of +Reuben did actually extend itself to the Euphrates in the +times anterior to Saul. Here they came in contact with +the Hagarites, who appear upon the middle Euphrates in +the Assyrian inscription of the later empire. It is David, +however, who seems for the first time to have entered on +the full enjoyment of the promise, by the victories which +he gained over Hadadezer, king of Zobah, and his allies, +the Syrians of Damascus. The object of his expedition +was “to recover his border,” and “to establish his dominion +by the river Euphrates”; and in this object he appears +to have been altogether successful; in so much that +Solomon, his son, who was not a man of war, but only inherited +his father’s dominions, is said to have “reigned over +all kingdoms from the river (the Euphrates) unto the land +of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt.” Thus +during the reigns of David and Solomon the dominion of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span> +Israel actually attained to the full extent both ways of the +original promise, the Euphrates forming the boundary of +their empire to the north-east, and the river of Egypt to +the south-west. The “Great River” had meanwhile +served for some time as a boundary between Assyria and +the country of the Hittites, but had repeatedly been crossed +by the armies of the Ninevite kings, who gradually established +their sway over the countries upon its right bank. +The crossing of the river was always difficult; and at the +point where certain natural facilities fixed the ordinary passage, +the strong fort of Carchemish had been built, probably +in very early times, to command the position. Hence, +when Necho determined to attempt the permanent conquest +of Syria, his march was directed upon “Carchemish +by Euphrates,” which he captured and held, thus extending +the dominion of Egypt to the Euphrates, and renewing the +old glories of the Rameside kings.</p> + +<p>These are the chief events which Scripture distinctly connects +with the “Great River.” It is probably included +among the “rivers of Babylon,” by the side of which the +Jewish captives “remembered Zion,” and wept, and no +doubt is glanced at in the threats of Jeremiah against the +Chaldean “waters” and “springs,” upon which there is to +be a “drought,” that shall “dry them up.” The fulfilment +of these prophecies has been noticed under the head +of Chaldæa. The river still brings down as much water +as of old, but the precious element is wasted by neglect of +man; the various water-courses along which it was in former +times conveyed, are dry; the main channel has +shrunk; and the water stagnates in unwholesome marshes.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c29">THE WYE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">A. R. QUINTON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>MONG the many beautiful streams of Britain there +is perhaps not one of which has so many and so +varied charms as the River Wye. Issuing from the southern +slopes of the great Welsh mountain, Plinlimmon, it begins +its life as a mountain torrent, but gradually sobers +down into a placid stream, flowing in a sinuous course of +one hundred and thirty odd miles, and receiving many tributary +streamlets before it mingles its waters with those of +its big sister, the Severn, a few miles below Chepstow. +Thickly dotted along its banks are picturesque ruined castles, +abbeys, and manor-houses—each with its own story to +tell of bygone days; quaint old towns, and at least one +stately cathedral, each bearing names which often recur in +the pages of history, and still retaining signs of the age +when kings, barons, and Commoners, priests and laymen, +struggled for supremacy.</p> + +<p>Although there is much that is interesting and pleasing +in the earlier part of its course, it is at Ross that the romantic +scenery of the Wye may be said to commence. Above +that town the river flows for many miles through a fairly +open valley, bordered indeed with wooded hills, but with a +broad expanse of meadow land between their feet and its +margin. But on approaching Ross the slopes draw nearer +to the brink of the stream, and for twenty miles or more +the Wye flows through an almost continuous glen, carved +deeply out of a lofty and undulating table-land.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span></p> + +<p>The ancient town of Ross, our starting place, is chiefly +built upon the slope of a hill terminating on a plateau, descending +steeply to the river. Upon this plateau stands the +church, with its adjoining garden, the Prospect, which commands +a lovely view over the valley of the Wye; whence +the graceful spire of the church forms a landmark for all +the country round.</p> + +<p>The district traversed by the Wye in the first stage of its +seaward journey, from Ross to Monmouth, is an elevated +upland, a region of rolling hills shelving down towards +winding valleys, whose declivities become abrupt towards +the margin of the main river. Near to this the hills are +often scarped into cliffs and carved into ridges, but further +back we have slopes and undulations, cornfields and scattered +woodlands, in marked contrast with the crags and forest-clad +glades near the edge of the swift and strong stream. +The valley narrows after leaving Ross, but the scenery improves +as we come in view of Goodrich Castle, crowning +a wooded steep above the river, and Goodrich Court, also +seated on an eminence. The latter is a modern imitation +of a mediæval dwelling, and formerly contained the remarkably +fine collection of ancient armour which has since found +a home in the South Kensington Museum, and is known +as the Meyrick Collection. The Castle, which is some +distance beyond the Court, was in its day a fortress of +formidable strength. There is little doubt that the keep +was built about the period 1135-1154, in the time of King +Stephen.</p> + +<p>In the time of the civil wars it was held for the King +Charles I. by Sir Henry Lingen, but was taken from him by +the Parliamentarians in 1646.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f20"> +<img src="images/fig20.jpg" alt="wye"> +<p class="caption">WYE</p> +</div> + +<p>At Goodrich the river commences one of its most remarkable +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span>bends. From Goodrich Ferry to Huntsholme +Ferry is little more than a mile overland, but by the river it +is eight miles. The Wye sweeps round in an easterly direction +after Kern Bridge is passed, then turns abruptly and +flows for a mile in an opposite course, enclosing in the loop +thus formed the house and grounds of Courtfield, where, in +a more ancient mansion, “Wild Prince Hal” is reported to +have passed the days of early childhood, under the care of +the Countess of Salisbury. The pretty village of Welsh +Bicknor is also passed, and then we presently come in view +of the lofty Coldwell Rocks, where the river, which for a +time has pursued a southerly direction, now doubles back +almost upon its former course, and makes the most remarkable +curve in the whole of its windings from Plinlimmon to +the sea. It is far-famed Symonds’ Yat, a limestone plateau +some 600 feet above the river, which here describes a huge +elongated loop, so that after a course of between four and +five miles it returns again to within less than half a mile of +its former channel.</p> + +<p>More extensive prospects may, doubtless, be obtained +from other view points, but for a grand combination of +rocks and woodlands, this spot may well take the palm. +After leaving the Yat, the Wye bends round the stone hills +on its right bank. On both are remarkable encampments, +whilst fossil remains of hyena, elephant, stag, and other +animals have been found in a cave known as King Arthur’s +Cave, on the former hill.</p> + +<p>Very lovely is the course of the river as it flows onward +through steep and densely wooded slopes and presently +brings us in view of a detached cluster of rocks called the +“Seven Sisters.” This part of the Wye is reported to +have a greater depth than any other length in its course.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span> +At the end of the reach is the beautiful level height called +King Arthur’s Plain, which in the distance assumes the appearance +of towers belonging to an ancient castle. The +high road turns away from the river at the apex of Symonds’ +Yat, but a foot-path follows the banks on either side +as far as Monmouth. Shortly before reaching that town +the wilder and more romantic part of the Wye ends and the +river pursues a straighter and less ruffled course.</p> + +<p>The situation of the town of Monmouth is remarkably +picturesque. Beautiful hills surround it on all sides, but the +valley has expanded to allow the Monnow and the Trothy +to form a junction with the Wye. A curious old bridge +spans the Monnow, bearing on its first pier an ancient gatehouse, +one of the few survivors of a defensive work once +common in England, which, though somewhat altered +by being pierced with postern arches for foot-passengers, +still retains the place for its portcullis and much of its ancient +aspect. Formerly the town was surrounded by a wall +and moat, and was entered by four gates, of which the Monnow +Gate alone remains.</p> + +<p>A short distance below Monmouth the Wye again enters +a narrow glen, hardly less beautiful if less romantic, than +the gorge which it has traversed on its course from Ross to +Monmouth. The hills once more close in upon the river, +leaving but seldom even a strip of level meadow between its +margin and their slopes. The steeply wooded banks are so +wild and so continuous that at times we seem to be passing +through an undisturbed remnant of primeval forest. At Red +Brook, however, there are signs of human activity. A +pretty glen here descends from among the hills to the left +bank of the Wye. By the riverside are little quays with +barges alongside, and, alas, it must also be added, tall chimneys<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span> +pouring forth smoke to mar the beauty of a lovely +spot.</p> + +<p>At Bigswier the river is spanned by an iron bridge, thrown +lightly from bank to bank, and is of sufficiently pleasing design +to harmonize with the surroundings. From this point +the Wye is affected by the tide, but not to any appreciable +extent, until a few miles below, in the neighbourhood of +Tintern. On a hill overlooking Bigswier stand the church +and castle of St. Briavels. The castle was erected soon +after the Norman conquest as one of the border defenses; +it stands on the edge of the ancient Forest of Dean, and +saw much rough work in its early days. The old keep is +in ruins, but the other portions are used as a residence.</p> + +<p>The next village encountered, on our way down the +stream, is Llandago, which nestles among gardens and +orchards, and rises tier above tier on the thickly wooded hill +which rises steeply from the road beside the river. Near +by is Offa’s Chair—a point in the great earthwork known +as Offa’s Dyke, which once extended from Tidenham, +across Herefordshire and Radnorshire, to the Flintshire +hills beyond Mold, and perhaps to the coast of North +Wales. As the valley again slightly expands, shelving +bands of sward, dotted with houses, announce that we are +approaching the precincts of the far-famed Tintern Abbey. +First we must pass the long and scattered village of Tintern +Parva, whose pretty white cottages and pleasant gardens extend +for a mile along the river’s bank, which here makes +another of its sharp bends. Cunningly indeed did the +monks of old choose their dwelling places. There is no +spot for many a mile which so completely fulfils the requirements +of quiet and seclusion with certain mundane +comforts, as that which they have selected. As one gazes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span> +at this noble relic, and the winding Wye stealing past it +through the hills, one must accord the first place among the +classic ruins of this island, in so far as regards the beauty +of its situation. Forests were near at hand to supply them +with fuel without stint, and game for their table on days of +feasting. The tidal river would bring the barks of merchandise +to their very door, and its leaping salmon would +alleviate the severity of their fast days. Chepstow, with its +castle, guarded them from marauders by the sea, and they +were far enough within the line of border fortresses to fear +no ill from incursions from the mountains of Wales.</p> + +<p>The plan of the foundation of the Abbey is cruciform, +and what remains of the grey skeleton of the edifice affords +a fine example of early Twelfth-Century work. It was +founded in the year 1131 by one Walter de Clare “for the +good of his soul, and the soul of his kinsmen,” and was confined +to the use of monks of the Cistercian order. Two +inscribed tombs in the cloisters give the names of two of the +abbots, but, apart from such fragmentary scraps of information, +the history of Tintern may be said to have perished +with the Abbey. The scene on entering the interior, is +most impressive. Vaulted roof and central tower are gone, +but the arches which supported the latter are intact. The +glass, of course, has long since perished with the windows, +even the mullions and tracery are gone; ivy, ferns, and +herbage, form a coping for the wall; the greensward has +replaced the pavement of stone or tiles; but still it is hardly +possible to imagine a more imposing and lovely scene than +these ruins.</p> + +<p>Between Tintern and Chepstow the scenery of the Wye +assumes an entirely fresh character. As we approach the +Wynd cliff, the grassy bed of the river opens out into a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span> +sort of amphitheatre, and we can trace the huge horseshoe +curve swept out upon its floors by the stream, between the +base of the Wynd cliff which it washes, and the mural escarpment +of Bannagor and Tidenham Crags, which form +the opposite boundary of this great river-trench. It is a +steep climb to the top of the Wynd cliff, but the glorious +prospect obtained from the summit well repays the effort. +Below is the beautiful horseshoe fold of the Wye, bounded +by richly-wooded slopes that sweep from the right with a +curve in the form of a sickle. Where the curve ends there +stands an imposing wall of rock with a reddish base, its +brow of dazzling white lined with green woodland, while +far away towards the coast the point where the river enters +the Severn estuary, which is here broadening out on its +way towards the distant sea, is faintly visible. The beautiful +grounds of Piercefield lie between the Wynd cliff and +Chepstow. Art has here assisted Nature, in this domain, by +carrying paths through a belt of woodland, with outlooks +cunningly contrived to command the best views. These +grounds are thrown open to the public on certain days.</p> + +<p>The town of Chepstow occupies the right bank of the +Wye, and is built upon a slope, which descends in places +rather abruptly from the general level of the surrounding +country to the river’s brink. Formerly it was enclosed by +walls, like Monmouth, considerable portions of which are +here and there preserved, especially in the neighbourhood +of the castle. One of the gates still remains in High +Street. It is called the Town Gate, and was for a long time +used as a prison. Chepstow Castle is approached by a gentle +acclivity clothed with greensward.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c30">THE INDIAN RIVER</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">L. C. BRYAN</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HIS river, or sound, spans a region of a hundred and +forty miles from north to south, is salt, and yet almost +without tide, neither rising nor falling more than a few +inches by the winds; lies upon the very shore of the Atlantic, +and from one to seven miles wide—a most placid, safe +and beautiful inland sea in the very teeth of a wild tempestuous +ocean.</p> + +<p>Unlike the St. John’s or any other possible river, having +no considerable rise or fall, its bordering lands are not overflowed, +and unlike other seacoast waterways, it is not cumbered +with interminable salt marshes. Its waters beat upon +a bold, often abrupt shore, diversified into high and low +lands of every grade and covered with the luxuriant vegetation +common to warm climates.</p> + +<p>Wonderfully beautiful is Indian River. There is no +other such sheet of water in the world. Nature, with lavish +hand, spread its waters and adorned its shores. The design +of the Great Master Artist is seen in the narrow strip of +land as a levee separating the river from the Atlantic, and +in the forest on the levee as a great wind-break to curb +the fierce winds of the ocean. Properly speaking, it is not +a river, but a sound, or arm of the sea. Its centre is on an +air line north and south 140 miles long, while its banks +curve in and out in beautiful bays and grottoes. A few +small creeks empty into it from the west, while the water +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span>empties into it from the Atlantic through Indian River Inlet +and Jupiter Inlet.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f21"> +<img src="images/fig21.jpg" alt="indian"> +<p class="caption3"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1901, by Detroit Photographic Company</span></p> +<p class="caption">THE INDIAN</p> +</div> + +<p>It is a sea without its dangers, a river without a current, +seldom calm, but always in motion from the winds. From +this constant motion its water is kept pure. The winds of +winter, coming from the north-west, are softened and +warmed by the waters of the upper St. John’s River, and +the pine forests on the west of the hammocks of this river, +and the winds of summer coming from the east, are tempered +and cooled by the Gulf Stream, making the climate most +delightful in winter and summer, and, perhaps, most to be +desired of any in America.</p> + +<p>Of the Indian River we find the following from the able +pen of ex-Governor Gleason:</p> + +<p>“Indian River, as it is called, is a sound, and lies parallel +to the Atlantic, separated from it by a narrow strip of land +varying from a few rods to three miles in width; it is a +sheet of pure tide water, salt, clear and transparent. It has +two inlets from the ocean—Indian River Inlet, about 100 +miles from its north head, and Jupiter Inlet at its extreme +southern end. From its north head to within twenty-five +miles of Jupiter Inlet, it is from one to six miles wide; +from Jupiter Inlet to the mouth of the St. Lucie River, a +distance of about twenty-five miles, it is from one-fourth of +a mile to a mile in width, and is known as Jupiter Narrows. +It is affected very little by the tide and the current moves +by the wind. Being in the region of the trade winds, with +almost a constant breeze from the east during the daytime, +it affords peculiar facilities for sailing up and down the river, +and the people take advantage of it. Every house is either +on the river bank or a short distance up some navigable +stream flowing into it, and has a boat landing. It is the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span> +Venice of America, and one can seldom look out upon the +water without seeing boats sailing both ways. The river is +well supplied with the finest oysters, sea-turtles, and a great +variety of fish, among which are mullet, cavalli, snapper, +blue fish, sheepshead and sea-trout. The manatee is +caught at the mouth of the St. Lucie and Jupiter Inlet. +Some of them weigh from 1,500 to 2,000 pounds and are +very grand eating. They are found nowhere else in the +United States, their principal habitat being near the mouths +of the streams flowing into the Caribbean Sea, where they +feed upon a peculiar grass called manatee, which grows at +the bottom of most tide-water streams in the tropics.”</p> + +<p>Merritt’s Island, which is about forty miles long and contains +about thirty thousand acres is situated in the northern +part of the river. The water on its east side is from one-fourth +of a mile to six miles wide, and is known as Banana +River. The shores of Indian River, both on the west side +of Merritt’s Island and on the main land, are free from +swamps and marshes, and rise at an angle of from twenty +to twenty-five degrees to an elevation of from twenty-five +to fifty feet. In many places the banks are high bluffs. +The country on Merritt’s Island, and the west shore has +the appearance of an endless park, the timber being principally +scattered pines, with an undergrowth of palmettos +and grass, interspersed with an occasional forest of palm, +live oak and other hard wood timbers.</p> + +<p>The orange belt is from one to three miles in width, and +is principally on the west side near the river. West of the +orange belt are the St. John’s prairies, which are unfit for +orange culture, but afford fine pasturage, and are good for +vegetables and the culture of sugar-cane and hay.</p> + +<p>The river south of Indian River Inlet, on the eastern<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span> +shore, is skirted with a narrow belt of mangrove timber of +only a few rods in width, which is very dense and almost +impenetrable. It is a deep green the entire year, and presents +a beautiful appearance. The strip of land adjacent to +the ocean between Jupiter Inlet and the mouth of St. Lucie +River, is known as Jupiter Island, and is about half a mile +wide and twenty miles long. It has some excellent land +and is elevated from fifteen to thirty feet above the sea. +The river here, at Jupiter Narrows, is less than half a mile +wide. The western bank is from forty to fifty feet high +and covered with a dense low scrub of live oak bushes, not +more than two or three feet high, and when viewed from +the Island, these heights remind one of the green pastures +of the north—they are always the same colour, a beautiful +green. This portion of the river is full of oysters and the +inlet is the finest fishing on the coast. On the bank of +the river, at various places, are large mounds of clam and +oyster shells; the largest of them near Jupiter Inlet, is +nearly a quarter of a mile long and about forty feet high.</p> + +<p>At the north end of the river are some fine live oak and +palm hummock lands, very rich and suitable for orange +groves, sugar-cane and garden vegetables. The climate +from October to May is a perpetual Indian summer, commingled +with the balmiest days of spring, seldom interrupted +by storms and only with occasional showers, while most of +the time there is a gentle breeze coming inland from the +even-tempered waters of the Gulf Stream. The prevailing +winds are easterly, being the trade winds, which extend +as far north as Cape Canaveral and are perceptible as +far north as New Smyrna and St. Augustine. The nights +are cool even in summer—the atmosphere invigourating +and health restoring.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span></p> + +<p>Mineral and other springs are frequent, many of them +possessing medicinal properties. Game is abundant—bear, +deer, quail and wild turkeys on the land, ducks on the lakes +and rivers, and green turtle and fish in the waters. All of +these, with its beautiful building sites, its superior surf bathing +and boat sailing, the absence of swamps and marshes, +will eventually cause the banks of this magnificent sheet of +water to become one vast villa of winter residences.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c31">THE NILE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">J. HOWARD REED</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE holy river—“the Jove-descended Nile”—formerly +bore the name of Ægyptus. Professor Rawlinson +in his <i>History of the Ancient Egyptians</i>, says: “The term +Egypt was not known to the ancient Egyptians themselves, +but appears to have been first used by the Greeks as a name +for the Nile, and thence extended to the country. It is +stated by some authorities that the river received its present +title from Nilus, an ancient king of Thebes, who named the +stream after himself.”</p> + +<p>“Father Nile” was an object of great veneration to the +ancients, and a gift of its waters was considered by them as +a present fit for kings and queens. The veneration in +which the river was held, of course, arose from the blessings +of its annual overflow spread broadcast over its banks +by fertilizing the seed of the sower, producing abundant +crops for the sickle of the reaper, and thus making glad the +heart of man. It is stated that the Arabs in the present day +consider it a delicious privilege to slake their thirst with +the salubrious and agreeable waters of the river, and I have +read that they will even artificially excite thirst to indulge +in the pleasure of imbibing refreshing and satisfying +draughts from the “holy stream.” The general Pescennius +Niger is said to have cried to his soldiers: “What! crave +you for wine, when you have the water of the Nile to +drink?” Homer is stated to have said, no doubt referring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span> +poetically to its regular and fertilizing overflow: “The +Nile flows down from heaven.” The Egyptians say that +“If Mahomet had tasted the waters of the Nile, he would +have prayed God to make him immortal, that he might have +enjoyed them for ever.”</p> + +<p>The river has a total length of considerably over 3,000 +miles, and is remarkable among the rivers of the world from +the fact that for about the last 1,500 miles of its flow it receives +no tributary—none, in fact, after the Albara or +Tacazze. The consequence is that, by the time it reaches +the sea, its volume is considerably reduced by evaporation, +and from the large quantity of water used along its banks +for irrigation and other purposes. The river is formed of +two principal branches, the Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue Nile, +and the Bahr-el-Abiad, or White Nile, the latter of which +is the main branch or true Nile. It receives also, as tributary +rivers, the Atbara or Tacazze before mentioned, with +the Sobat and Asua on the east side; and the Bahr-el-Gazelle +on the west; besides other smaller and less important +streams. Its waters are discharged into the Mediterranean +through several mouths, the two principal of which are +known as the Rosetta and Damietta mouths—the first-named +being to the west and the other to the east. The principal +island formed by the divisions of the river being shaped +like the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, takes the name +of Delta; and the Nile is doubtless the river which first +suggested what is now a technical name for all similar formations +at the mouths of rivers.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f22"> +<img src="images/fig22.jpg" alt="nile"> +<p class="caption">THE NILE</p> +</div> + +<p>The rise and overflow of the Nile caused by the seasonal +rains of the interior, has been for ages noted for its regularity. +The rise commences about midsummer, reaches its +greatest height at the autumnal equinox, and has again subsided +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span>by Christmas; leaving the land highly enriched by the +fertilizing sediment of red earth brought down by the Abyssinian +tributaries and deposited by the river. The land +can then be worked and the crops planted. The rise and +fall of the river is watched with great anxiety by the inhabitants +of the Nile valley. At intervals along its banks +river gauges, or nilometers, are fixed, upon which the variations +of the river are duly recorded.</p> + +<p>Nearly five centuries before the Christian era, the first +great African traveller, Herodotus, writing about the Nile, +said: “Respecting the nature of this river, I was unable to +gain any information, either from the priests or any one else. +I was very desirous, however, of learning from them why +the Nile, beginning at the summer solstice, fills and overflows +for a hundred days; and when it has nearly completed +this number of days, falls short in its stream and retires; so +that it continues low all the winter, until the return of the +summer solstice.”</p> + +<p>Seneca writes that the Emperor Nero sent an exploring +expedition under two centurions with military force to explore +the countries along the banks of the Astapus or +White River, and to search for the Nile’s sources. They +passed down the river a considerable distance until immense +marshes were met with. They forced their way through, +and continued their journey southward, until the river was +seen “tumbling down or issuing out between the rocks.” +They were then obliged to turn back and declare their +mission a failure. The centurions are stated to have brought +back with them a map of the districts they had passed +through, for the information of the Imperial Nero.</p> + +<p>This early expedition succeeded in penetrating about 800 +Roman miles south of Meroe—that is to say, reaching three<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span> +or four degrees north latitude. The place where water was +seen “tumbling down from between the rocks” was probably +the Fola or Mekade cataract, again discovered in our +own day by the late General Gordon. The river here +rushes through a narrow ravine, over and between rocks of +from thirty to forty feet high. These falls are stated to be +the only insurmountable obstacle to the navigation of the +Nile, for vessels of considerable size, from the Mediterranean +to the Albert Lake.</p> + +<p>About seventy years later, during the Second Century, +we find Claudius Ptolemy, a celebrated geographer and astrologer +of Alexandria, writing about the Nile and its +sources. He tells us that the “holy stream” rises some +twelve degrees south of the equator, in a number of streams +that flow into two lakes, situated east and west of each +other; from which, in turn, issue two rivers; these afterwards +unite and form the Nile. Ptolemy also mentions +that in the interior of Africa were some mountains which +he called “<i>Selenes Oros</i>”—generally translated “Mountains +of the Moon.”</p> + +<p>Following in the steps of Ptolemy, come the Arab geographers, +and they are stated to have practically adopted all +his theories and geographical notions.</p> + +<p>Later on we find that the Portuguese travellers obtained a +considerable amount of information regarding the geography +of the interior of Africa. They appear to have had some +knowledge of the existence of several large lakes in the +centre of the continent, and in some of their early maps +these lakes find a place.</p> + +<p>It appears to have been known to the ancients that the +Nile proper is formed of two principal branches, which +join and form one river close to where the town of Khartoum<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span> +(or its ruin) now stands; but beyond this, as we have +seen, little authentic information has been handed down.</p> + +<p>In the year 1770, Bruce gave his attention to the Blue +Nile. He was enabled to locate the sources of that branch +of the river among the mountains and highlands of Abyssinia, +near Lake Dembea. In 1788, the African Association +was founded, and in furtherance of its objects much information +was obtained of the geography of the “Dark +Continent.” In 1827, M. Linant, a French traveller, +passed up the White Nile to a considerable distance above +its junction with the Blue Nile branch. About the year +1840 two Egyptian naval officers headed an expedition, fitted +out by Mahommed Ali, the then ruler of Egypt; they +forced their way through the terrible marshes to within 3° +4″ of the equator; but were, like the expedition of the Emperor +Nero, at last obliged to turn back.</p> + +<p>In 1831, the old African Association was merged into the +Royal Geographical Society, and from then, right down to +the present time, our knowledge of the Nile and its sources +has been perfecting itself.</p> + +<p>While resting on the plateau land above the south-west +corner of the Albert Lake, on the 25th of May, 1888, Stanley’s +attention was called to a towering mountain height +capped with snow, which, from where he stood, lay about +fifty miles away to the south-east. Twelve months later +on his homeward journey, after crossing the Semliki River, +which he found flowing into the south end of the Albert +Lake, Stanley found himself following a range of hills, the +tops of which towering up some 19,000 feet high, were +covered with perpetual snow. This melting under the +action of a tropical sun, poured its volumes of water into +the Semliki River at his feet, which in turn conveyed it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span> +thence to the Albert Lake and onwards to swell the torrent +of Father Nile.</p> + +<p>Stanley writes: “Little did we imagine it, but the results +of our journey from the Albert Nyanza to —— where +I turned away from the newly-discovered lake in +1876, established beyond a doubt that the snowy mountain, +which bears the native name of Ruwenzori or Ruwenjura, +is identical with what the ancients called ‘Mountains of +the Moon.’</p> + +<p>“Note what Scheadeddin, an Arabian geographer of the +Fifteenth Century writes: ‘From the Mountains of the +Moon the Egyptian Nile takes its rise. It cuts horizontally +the equator in its course north. Many rivers come +from this mountain and unite in a great lake. From this +lake comes the Nile, the most beautiful and greatest of the +rivers of all the earth.’”</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c32">THE NILE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ISAAC TAYLOR</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>FTER a few days at Cairo—one of the most amusing +and picturesque cities in the world—the Express +Nile Service of Messrs. Cook brings the traveller in +three days to Luxor, where he will find enough to occupy +him for as many weeks. The first view from the river +shows the appositeness of the epithet Hecatompylos, applied +to Thebes by Homer. Huge cubical masses of +masonry—not the gateways of the city, which was never +walled, but the pylons and propylons of the numerous temples—are +seen towering above the palms, and, separated +from each other by miles of verdant plain, roughly indicate +the limits of the ancient city.</p> + +<p>At Luxor the Nile valley is about ten miles across. The +escarpment of the desert plateau, which elsewhere forms a +fringing cliff of nearly uniform elevation, here breaks into +cone-shaped peaks rising to a height of seventeen hundred +feet above the level plain, which in January is already waving +with luxuriant crops—the barley coming into ear, the +lentils and vetches in flower and the tall sugar-canes beginning +to turn yellow. The plain is dotted with Arab +villages, each raised above the level of the inundation on +its <i>tell</i>, or mound of ancient <i>débris</i>, and embosomed in a +grove of date-palms mingled with the quaint dom-palms +characteristic of the Thebiad. Animal life is far more +abundant than in Italy or France. We note the camels +and buffaloes feeding everywhere, tethered in the fields; the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span> +great soaring kites floating in the air; the graceful hoopoos, +which take the place of our English thrushes; the white +paddy-birds fishing on the sand-banks of the river; gay +king-fishers, among them the fish-tiger pied in black and +white; the sun-bird, a bee-eater clad in a brilliant coat of +green and gold; the crested lark, the greater and lesser owl, +as well as water-wagtails, pipits, chats and warblers, numerous +swifts and swallows, with an occasional vulture, eagle, +cormorant, pelican, or crane. The jackal is common; and +the wolf, the hyena, and the fox are not unfrequently +heard, but seldom seen.</p> + +<p>The sunsets on the Nile, if not the finest in the world, +are unique in character. This is probably due to the excessive +dryness of the atmosphere, and to the haze of impalpable +dust arising from the fine mud deposited by the +inundation. As the sun descends, he leaves a pathway or +glowing gold reflected from the smooth surface of the Nile. +Any faint streaks of cloud in the west shine out as the +tenderest and most translucent bars of rose; a lurid reflection +of the sunset lights up the eastern sky; then half an +hour after sunset a great dome of glow arises in the west, +lemon, changing into the deepest orange, and slowly dying +away into a crimson fringe on the horizon—the glassy mirror +of the Nile gleaming like molten metal; and then, as +the last hues of sunset fade, the zodiacal light, a huge milky +cone, shoots up into the sky.</p> + +<p>On moonless nights the stars shine out with a brilliancy +unknown in our misty northern latitudes. About three in +the morning the strange marvel of the Southern Cross rises +for an hour or two, the lowest star of the four appearing +through a fortunate depression in the chain of hills. When +the moon is nearly full, the visitors sally out into the temples<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span> +to enjoy in the clear, calm and balmy air the mystery +of their dark recesses, enhanced by the brilliant illumination +of the thickly clustered columns. It is a sight, once seen, +never to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>But the charm of Luxor does not consist mainly in its +natural beauties, though these are not to be despised, but +in its unrivalled historical interest. There is no other site +of a great ancient city which takes you so far and so clearly +back into the past. All the greater monuments of Thebes, +all the chief tombs and temples, are older than the time of +Moses; they bear in clearly readable cartouches on their +sculptured walls the names of the great conquering kings of +the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties—Thotmes III., +Amenhotep III., Seti I., and Rameses II.—who carried the +victorious arms of Egypt to Ethiopia, Lybia, the Euphrates +and the Orontes; the great wall-faces forming a picture-gallery +of their exploits. More modern names on the temple-walls +of Thebes are those of Shishak, who vanquished +Rehoboam, and Tirhakah, the contemporary of Hezekiah. +The earliest name yet found at Thebes is that of Usertasen, +a king of the twelfth dynasty, who lived some forty-three +centuries ago; the latest considerable additions were made +by the Ptolemies, and the record finally closes with a cartouche +in which we spell out the hieroglyphic name of the +Emperor Tiberius. But practically the monumental history +of Thebes has ended before that of ancient Rome begins. +The arches of Titus and Constantine, the mausoleum of +Hadrian, Trajan’s Column, the Colosseum and the Catacombs—in +short, all the great structures of pre-Christian +Rome—date from a time when Thebes had begun to be +forsaken, and the ruin of her temples had commenced. +Even the oldest Roman monuments, the Cloaca Maxima,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span> +the Agger, and the substructures of the Palatine belong to +a period when the greater edifices of Thebes were hoary +with the dust of centuries. When Herodotus, the father +of European history, voyaged up the Nile to Thebes, at a +time when the Greeks had not even heard of an obscure +Italian town which bore the name of Rome, the great temples +which he saw, the vocal Memnon which is the statue +of Amenhotep III., and the buildings which he ascribed to +a king he called Sesostris, already belonged to an antiquity +as venerable as that which separates the Heptarchy and the +Anglo-Saxon Kings from the reign of Queen Victoria.</p> + +<p>Difficult as it is to realize the antiquity of these monuments, +in many of which the chiselling is as sharp and the +colouring as brilliant as if they had been executed only yesterday, +it is still more difficult by any description to convey +an impression of their vastness. The temples and tombs +are scattered over a space of many square miles; single +ruins cover an area of several acres; thousands of square +yards of wall contain only the pictured story of a single +campaign. For splendour and magnitude the group of temples +at Karnak, about two miles from Luxor, forms the +most magnificent ruin in the world.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c33">THE DON</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ÉLISÉE RÉCLUS</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE lands draining to the Sea of Azov, form no sharply +defined region, with bold natural frontiers and +distinct populations. The sources of the Don and its head-streams +intermingle with those of the Volga and Dnieper—some—like +the Medveditza, flowing even for some +distance parallel with the Volga. As in the Dnieper and +Dniester valleys, the “black lands” and bare steppes here +also follow each other successively as we proceed southwards, +while the population naturally diminishes in density +in the same direction. The land is occupied in the north +and east by the Great Russians, westwards by the Little +Russians, in the south and in New Russia by colonies of +every race and tongue, rendering this region a sort of common +territory, where all the peoples of the empire except +the Finns are represented. Owing to the great extent of +the steppes, the population is somewhat less dense than in +the Dnieper basin and Central Russia, but it is yearly and +rapidly increasing.</p> + +<p>The Don, the root of which is probably contained in its +Greek name Tanaïs, is one of the great European rivers, if +not in the volume of its waters, at least in the length of its +course, with its windings some 1,335 miles altogether. +Rising in a lakelet in the government of Tula, it flows first +southwards to its junction with the nearly parallel Veronej, +beyond which point it trends to the south-east, and even +eastwards, as if extending to reach the Volga. After<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span> +being enlarged by the Khopor and Medveditza, it arrives +within forty-five miles of that river, above which it has a +mean elevation of 138 feet. Its banks, like those of the +Volga, present the normal appearance, the right being raised +and steep, while the left has already been levelled by the +action of the water. Thus the Don flows, as it were, on a +sort of terrace resembling a stair step, the right or western +cliffs seemingly diverting it to the lower Volga bed. Nevertheless, +before reaching that river, it makes a sharp bend +first southwards, then south-westwards to the Sea of Azov.</p> + +<p>From a commercial stand-point, it really continues the +course of the Volga. Flowing to a sea which, through the +Straits of Yeni-Kaleh, the Bosphorus, Dardanelles, and +Gibraltar, communicates with the ocean, it has the immense +advantage over the Volga of not losing itself in a +land-locked basin. Hence most of the goods brought down +the Volga are landed at the bend nearest the Don, and +forwarded to that river. When besieging Astrakhan the +Sultan Selim II. had already endeavoured to cut a canal +between the two rivers, in order to transport his supplies +to the Caspian. Peter the Great resumed the works, but +the undertaking was abandoned, and until the middle of the +present century the portage was crossed only by beasts of +burden and wagons. But since 1861 the rivers have been +connected by rail. Free from ice for about two hundred +and forty days at its easternmost bend, the Don is sometimes +so low and blocked with shoals that navigation becomes +difficult even for flat-bottomed boats. During the +two floods, at the melting of the ice in spring, and in the +summer rains, its lower course rises eighteen to twenty feet +above its normal level, overflowing its banks in several +places for a distance of eighteen miles. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span>The most important, although not the most extensive, +coal-fields of Russia cover an area of about 10,000 square +miles, chiefly in the southern part of the Donetz basin. +Since 1865, nearly 650 beds have been found, mostly near +the surface, the seams varying in thickness from one foot to +twenty-four feet, and containing every description of combustible +material, from the anthracite to the richest bituminous +coal. The ravines here furrowing the land facilitate +the study of the strata and the extraction of the mineral. +Yet these valuable deposits were long neglected, and +even during the Crimean war the Russians, deprived of +their English supplies, were still without the necessary +apparatus to avail themselves of these treasures.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f23"> +<img src="images/fig23.jpg" alt="don"> +<p class="caption">THE DON</p> +</div> + +<p>Even the iron ores, which here also abound, were little +utilized till that event, since when the extraction both of +coal and iron has gone on continually increasing in the +Donetz basin. In 1839, the yield scarcely exceeded 14,000 +tons, whereas the output of the Grushova mines alone now +amounts to 210,000 tons, and the total yield of the coal-pits +exceeded 672,000 tons in 1872. The coal is now used +by the local railways and steamers of the Don, Sea of +Azov, and Euxine.</p> + +<p>Already reduced in extent by the terrestrial revolutions +which separated it from the Caspian, the Sea of Azov has +been further diminished in historic times, although far less +than might be supposed from the local traditions. No +doubt Herodotus gives the Palus Mæotis an equal area to +that of the Euxine. But as soon as the Greeks had visited +and founded settlements on this inland sea they discovered +how limited it was compared with the open sea. Nevertheless, +fifteen hundred years ago it was certainly somewhat +larger and deeper than at present, the alluvia of the Don<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span> +having gradually narrowed its basin and raised its bed. Its +outline also has been completely changed, Strabo’s description +no longer answering to the actual form of its shores.</p> + +<p>The town of Tanaïs, founded by the Greeks, at the very +mouth of the Don, and which at the time of Ptolemy was +already at some distance from the coast, has ceased to exist. +But the architectural remains and inscriptions discovered +by Leontiyev between Siniavka and the village of Nedoigovka, +show that its site was about six miles from the old +mouth of the Great Don, since changed to a dry bed. The +course of the main stream has been deflected southwards, +and here is the town of Azov, for a time the successor of +Tanaïs in strategic and commercial importance. But where +the flow is most abundant, there also the alluvium encroaches +most rapidly, and the delta would increase even at a still +more accelerated rate for the fierce east and north-east +gales prevailing for a great part of the year. The sedimentary +matter brought down, in the proportion of about +one to 1,200 of fluid, amounts altogether to 230,160,000 +cubic feet, causing a mean annual advance of nearly twenty-two +feet.</p> + +<p>The Gulf of Taganrog, about eighty miles long and +forming the north-east extremity of the sea, may, on the +whole, be regarded as a simple continuation of the Don, as +regards both the character of its water and its current, and +the windings of its navigable channel. This gulf, with a +mean depth of from ten to twelve and nowhere exceeding +twenty-four feet, seems to have diminished by nearly two +feet since the first charts, dating from the time of Peter the +Great. But a comparison of the soundings taken at various +times is somewhat difficult, as the exact spots where +they were taken and the kind of feet employed are somewhat<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span> +doubtful, not to mention the state of the weather, and +especially the direction of the winds during the operations. +Under the influence of the winds the level of the sea may be +temporarily raised or lowered at various points as much as +ten or even sixteen or seventeen feet. The mean depth of +the whole sea is about thirty-two feet, which, for an area +of 14,217 square miles, would give an approximate volume +of 13,000 billion cubic feet, or about four times that of +Lake Geneva. The bed, composed, like the surrounding +steppes, of argillaceous sands, unbroken anywhere by a +single rock, is covered, at an extremely low rate of progress, +with fresh strata, in which organic remains are mingled +with the sandy detritus of the shores. If a portion of the +sedimentary matter brought down by the Don were not +carried out to the Euxine, the inner sea would be filled up +in the space of 56,500 years.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c34">THE COLUMBIA</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">J. BODDAM-WHETHAM</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Mackenzie River flows through the plain, and is +singularly beautiful. Great blocks of basalt come +sheer down to the water’s edge, and are divided naturally +with great exactitude into huge segments. Their yellow +and brown colours are reflected with wondrous effect on +the surface of the stream. After a few most pleasant days, +passed in the neighbourhood of Eugene City, I went on to +Oregon City, and there remained to visit the Falls of the +Willamette.</p> + +<p>The river narrows near the town, and the water, rushing +very swiftly, is precipitated down a fall of about fifty feet. +The rocks on either side are of deep black basalt; and +these huge walls, when viewed from the south, are extremely +grand. It is only when they are seen from below +that the mind is fully impressed with the magnificence of +these falls. They have been worn into a horseshoe form +by the action of the stream, and the river plunges into the +depths below in great curves and sweeping currents. +Masses of broken basalt show their heads amidst the rush +of foaming waters, and altogether there is a noise, mist, and +confusion enough to justify the Oregonians in their pride +of their miniature Niagara. Formerly, these falls were the +only obstruction to the free navigation of the river, but now +it is overcome by the construction of locks, which have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span>been built in the most substantial manner. The scenery of +the river is very picturesque and diversified, and a lovely +panorama of hill and dale, water and forest is continually +passing before the view.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f24"> +<img src="images/fig24.jpg" alt="columbia"> +<p class="caption">THE COLUMBIA</p> +</div> + +<p>Portland had lately been nearly destroyed by fire, consequently +I had not a good opportunity of judging of the +town. It is, however, beautifully situated on the Willamette +River, and is surrounded by magnificent forests. +There are some delightful drives through the woods, one +especially to a place called the White House, through a +succession of glades and glens full of splendid trees and +sweet-scented shrubs, and with views of peculiar quiet +loveliness.</p> + +<p>The Willamette runs into the Columbia River about +twelve miles below Portland; so, taking the morning +steamer, I prepared to ascend that river, which for grandeur +of scenery is not surpassed by any river (with the exception, +perhaps, of the Fraser) on the American continent.</p> + +<p>We started so early that a grey fog swallowed up everything, +and the only objects visible were the paddle-boxes +and the funnel.</p> + +<p>We steamed very slowly and cautiously down the +Willamette, and as we approached the junction of that river +with the Columbia the mist lifted. As it slowly crept back +to the shores and up the hills and away to the north, mountains, +sky and river came out with intense brilliancy and +colour under the rays of the rising sun.</p> + +<p>Wonderful forests extended from the far distance down +to the very edge of the river. Beeches, oaks, pines, and +firs of enormous size formed a sombre background, against +which the maple and ash flamed out in their early autumn +tints. On the north, the four stately snow-crowned mountains,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span> +Rainier, St. Helen’s, Jefferson, and Adams lifted +themselves, rose-flushed, high up in the heavens; the great +river flowed rapidly and smoothly between mountain shores, +from a mile to a mile and a quarter apart, and the bold +rocky heights towered thousands of feet in the air.</p> + +<p>The mountains line the river for miles. When occasionally +a deep ravine opens you catch a glimpse of distant +levels, bounded, in their turn, by the never-ending chain of +mountains.</p> + +<p>There is a rare combination, too, of beauty about these +mountains; vegetation and great variety of colour heightening +the picturesque effect of the huge masses of bold bare +rock. Now and then the cliffs impeded the flow of the +river, which then ran, disturbed and dangerous, between +rocky islands and sand-bars. Often the agitated waters became +gradually calm and formed long narrow lakes, without +any apparent outlet, until a sudden turn showed a +passage through the lofty walls into another link of the +water-chain.</p> + +<p>Sometimes a cataract of marvellous beauty came leaping +down the rocks from a height of 200 and 300 feet.</p> + +<p>The Multanomah Falls in particular are most beautiful, +possessing both the swift resistless rush of the downpour of +water and that broken picturesque outline which is the principal +charm of a fall.</p> + +<p>Castle Rock, a huge boulder with basaltic columns like +those of Staffa, stands out grandly and alone from a feathery +mass of cotton-wood, whose golden splendour rivals in +beauty that of the spreading dark green boughs of the pines, +whilst the contrast of colour heightens the effect of each +brilliant hue.</p> + +<p>On the crest of the rock a fringe of pine trees, growing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span> +out of the bare stone and dwarfed to insignificance, shows +the vast height of this rifted dome.</p> + +<p>And now we are approaching Cape Horn, whose ramparts +rise sheer and straight, like a columnar wall, 800 feet high.</p> + +<p>This majestic portal forms a worthy entrance to the cascades. +Fierce, seething rapids extend for six miles up the +river, and the track of the “portage” runs near the water’s +edge for the entire distance. The river is narrowed here +by lofty heights of trap rock, and the bed itself is nothing +but sharp gigantic rocks, sometimes hidden by the water and +sometimes forming small islands, between which the foaming +torrent rushes with tremendous uproar.</p> + +<p>Near where the “portage” begins, a relic of Indian warfare, +in the shape of an old block-house, stands under the +fir-trees.</p> + +<p>A small party of white men held a very large body of Indians +at bay for several days in 1856; and as the provisions +ran short, a grand attack was made on the red men, +who were totally routed with great slaughter.</p> + +<p>The scene in this gorge is wild in the extreme. Passing +Rooster Rock, the mountain-sides approach each other, and +the river flows faster and fiercer; the pillared walls rise +sometimes to a height of nearly 3,000 feet, and the wind +roaring through the ravine beats up huge waves and adds to +the wild grandeur of the view. Whenever the mountains +recede to the south, Mount Hood fills the horizon. Rising +14,000 feet, its snow-covered head shines out magnificently +against the blue sky, with unvarying grandeur and a +strangely attractive form.</p> + +<p>Soon we pass an Indian burial-ground called Caffin +Rock, a more desolate slope, covered with rude monuments +of rock and circular heaps of piled grey stones.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span></p> + +<p>Dalles City, where we now arrive, ranks as the second +place of importance in Oregon. It takes its name from +the “dales” or rough flag-stones, which impede the river, +making narrow crooked channels, and thereby causing another +“portage” for a distance of fifteen miles. Above +the town the scene changes; the cliffs disappear, and from +splendid forests and mountains we pass into a region of +sand and desert. One tall pillar of red rock, overlooking +the sandy waste, stands up forlorn and battered, as if it were +the last fragment of a giant peak; and numbers of birds +hovering over it seem to regard it as their special observatory.</p> + +<p>Hot white sand is everywhere, and the wind scatters it +about in a most uncomfortable manner, covering the track +and half-stifling you in its blinding showers. The river +scenery is very fine all along this passage, the Dalles being +a succession of rapids, falls, and eddying currents.</p> + +<p>Although it was late in the season hundreds of salmon +were still ascending, and on the flat shore-rocks were several +Indian lodges; their occupants busily engaged in spearing +and catching the fish.</p> + +<p>Their usual mode of catching salmon is by means of +nets fastened to long handles. They erect wooden scaffolds +by the riverside among the rocks, and there await the arrival +of the fish—scooping up thirty or forty per hour. +They are also very skilful at spearing them; rarely missing +a fair mark.</p> + +<p>At one of the falls we saw a most treacherous contrivance. +A large tree with all its branches lopped off had been brought +to the edge of the river and there fastened, with its smaller +end overhanging the foaming fall. A large willow basket, +about ten feet deep and over twenty feet in circumference,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span> +was suspended at the end. The salmon in its efforts to +leap the fall would tumble in the basket, and an Indian +seated in it would then knock the fish on the head with a +club and throw it on shore.</p> + +<p>This mode requires relays of men, as they soon get almost +drowned by the quantity of spray and water. Very often, +between two and three hundred salmon are caught in a day +in this manner. We saw about twenty, averaging in weight +from five to twenty pounds, caught in the hour during +which we watched the process. But the hook-nosed +salmon—coarse, nasty fish—were the most abundant. +They always appear in the autumn, and are found everywhere. +The salmon are in their greatest perfection in the +Columbia River towards the end of June. The best variety +is called the “chinook,” and weighs from twenty to +forty pounds. This species is generally accompanied in its +ascent by a smaller variety, weighing on an average about +ten pounds, and which is also extremely good eating. +Gradually as the salmon go higher and higher up the river, +their flesh changes from a bright red to a paler colour until +it becomes quite white. There are such enormous quantities +of them that they can be easily jerked on shore with a +stick, and they actually jostle each other out of the water. +It is estimated that over 500,000 salmon were taken out +of the Columbia River during the year 1872. There is a +perfectly true story of a traveller who, when riding, had to +cross a stream running from the Cascade Mountains, at a +spot where the fish were toiling up in thousands; and so +quickly were they packed as to impede the progress of the +horse, which became so frightened as almost to unseat his +rider.</p> + +<p>When the salmon are caught, the squaws cure them by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span> +splitting them and drying the pieces upon wickerwork +scaffoldings. Afterwards they smoke them over fires of fir +branches. The wanton destruction and waste of these fish +is terrible. In the season the Indians will only take the +fish in the highest condition, and those that do not satisfy +their fastidious tastes are thrown back mutilated and dying +into the water. Even when they have killed sufficient to +last them for years, they still go to the falls and catch and +spear all they can, leaving the beautiful silvery salmon to +rot on the stones. Salmon ought certainly to have “Excelsior” +for a motto. Always moving higher and higher, +they are never content, but continue the ascent of the river +as far as possible. They go on till they drop, or become +so weak and torn from rubbing against the rocks and against +one another, that they are pushed into shallows by the +stronger ones and die from want of water. Out of the +hosts that ascend the rivers, it is generally supposed that a +very small proportion indeed ever find their way back to +the sea.</p> + +<p>Just below the Great Salmon Falls the whole volume of +the stream rushes through a channel hardly one hundred +and fifty feet in width. At the falls themselves the river +is nearly a mile across, and pours over a rocky wall stretching +from shore to shore and about twenty feet high. It is +fascinating in the extreme to watch the determined creatures +as they shoot up the rapids with wonderful agility. +They care neither for the seething torrent nor for the deep +still pools, and with a rush—and with clenched teeth, perhaps—they +dart up like a silver arrow, and defying rock +and fall, are at length safe in the smooth haven above.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c35">THE PO</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">GEORGE G. CHISHOLM</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE northern plain of Italy, whose area is estimated at +about 16,450 square miles, or about half that of +Scotland, is a geographical unit of the most unmistakable +kind. It is, indeed, made up of many river basins, but +these are all of one character and without marked lines of +delimitation. By far the greater part of the area belongs to +the basin of the Po, and the rivers that do not belong to +that basin present a general parallelism to the tributaries of +the Po. The general slope of the plain is that indicated +by the course of its main river, from west to east, but +there is also a slope from north to south, and another from +south to north, determining the general direction of at least +the upper portions of the numerous affluents descending from +the Alps and the Apennines. But before reaching the main +stream, these affluents are affected in their general direction +by the general easterly slope of the plain; that is to say, +their course changes more or less to south-easterly (Dora +Baltea, Sesia, Ticino, Adda, Oglio, Mincio), or north-easterly +(Tanaro, Scrivia, Trebbia, Taro, Secchia, Panaro), +and the farthest east they are the larger is the proportion of +the entire course deflected in this manner. In the most +easterly portion of the plain, lying west of the Adriatic, so +marked is this effect that the rivers (Adige, Brenta, Piave, +Livenza) are carried to the sea before reaching the Po. +North of the Adriatic the slope and the general direction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span> +of the rivers (Tagliamento, Stella, Cormor) become wholly +southerly.</p> + +<p>Since ancient times the Po has been recognized as rising +to the height of 6,400 feet in the marshy valley of Piano del +Re at the foot of Monte Viso, the ancient Vesulus, and +after a course of only twenty-one miles and a fall of 5,250 +feet, it enters the plain at the bridge of Revello, where its +middle course may be said to commence. Fed by the “aged +snows” of the Alps, and by the heavy rains of the Alps +and Apennines, it is already at Turin, where it receives from +the west the Dora Riparia, a navigable stream with a +width of 525 feet. At the mouth of the Ticino, the outlet +of the Lago Maggiore, its lower course may be said to commence. +Thence onwards it winds sluggishly across the +great plains of</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fruitful Lombardy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The pleasant garden of great Italy,</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>with a mean depth of about six and one-half to fifteen and +one-half feet, and a fall not exceeding 0.3:1,000, so that +the waters could hardly move onwards were it not for the +impetus imparted by the numerous mountain torrents which +it receives at an acute angle. At last, charged thick with +sediment, it passes onwards through the mouths that intersect +its muddy delta into the Adriatic.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f25"> +<img src="images/fig25.jpg" alt="po"> +<p class="caption">THE PO</p> +</div> + +<p>In this part of its course, artificial embankments have +been found necessary to protect the surrounding country +from inundation, and from Cremona onwards these dykes, +in part of unknown antiquity, are continuous. After receiving +the Mincio, the last tributary on the north, the Po +assumes a south-easterly direction, which in ancient times +and during the Middle Ages down to about 1150, it maintained +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span>to its mouths, passing Ferrara on the south, and then +dividing into two main arms, the Po di Volano to the north, +and the Po di Primaro to the south of the Valli di Comacchio. +But about that date, it is said, the people of Ficarolo cut +the dyke on the north side at Stellata, and thus gave rise to +a new mouth, known first as the Po di Venezia, now as the +Po della Maestra, by which the entire volume of the river +now runs eastwards, till it breaks up into several small +branches at the delta. Since then the arm of the Po between +Stulata and Ferrara has become silted up. Since 1577 +the Panaro which formerly entered this arm at Ferrara has +gradually moved its mouth backwards till it enters the main +stream just below Stellata. The Po di Volano, which in +the Second Century <span class="allsmcap">B. C.</span> was the most accessible mouth +for shipping and afterwards the main mouth, has now become +wholly detached from the Po, and merely serves as a +drainage canal for the surrounding marshes, while the Po di +Primaro has been utilized since 1770 as the mouth for the +regulated Remo.</p> + +<p>Long before the historic period, tens of thousands of +years ago, but which geologists call recent, the great valley +was an arm of the sea; for beneath the gravels and alluvia +that form the soils of Piedmont and Lombardy, sea-shells of +living species are found in well-known unconsolidated strata +at no great depth. At this period the lakes of Como, Maggiore, +and Garda may have been fiords, though much less +deep than now. Later still, the Alpine valleys through +which the affluents of the Po run were full to the brim +with the huge old glaciers already referred to.</p> + +<p>When we consider the vast size of the moraines shed +from the ancient glaciers that fed the Po, it is evident that +at all times, but especially during floods, vast havoc must<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span> +often have occurred among the masses of loose <i>débris</i>. +Stones, sand, and mud, rolled along the bottom and borne +on in suspension, must have been scattered across the plains +by the swollen waters.</p> + +<p>It will thus be easily understood how the vast plains that +bound the Po and its tributaries were gradually formed by +the constant annual increase of river gravels and finer +alluvia, and how these sediments rose in height by the overflow +of the waters, and steadily encroached upon the sea by +the growth of the delta. The fact that the drainage line of +the plain lies not in the middle but farther from the Alps than +the Apennines, shows that in this process the loftier range +on the north has contributed more than the lower one to +the south. And this process, begun thousands of years before +history began, has largely altered the face of the +country within historic times, and is powerfully in action +at the present day.</p> + +<p>It has been estimated by Sir Archibald Geikie that the +area drained by the Po is on an average being lowered one +foot in 729 years, and a corresponding amount of sediment +carried away by the river.</p> + +<p>It is hard to get at the historical records of the river more +than two thousand years ago, though we may form a good +guess as to its earlier geological history. Within the historical +period extensive lakes and marshes (some of them probably +old sea lagoons) lay within its plains, since gradually +filled with sediment by periodical floods. The great lines +of dykes that have been erected to guard against those +floods have introduced an element that modifies this process. +The result has been that the alluvial flats on either side of +the river outside the dykes have long received but little addition +of surface sediment, and their level is nearly stationary.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span> +It thus happens that most of the sediment that in old +times would have been spread by overflows across the +land is now hurried along towards the Adriatic, there, with +the help of the Adige, steadily to advance the far-spreading +alluvial flats that form the delta of the two rivers. But the +confined river, unable by annual floods to dispose of part of +its sediment, just as the dykes were increased in height, +gradually raised its bottom by the deposition there of a portion +of the transported material, so that the risk of occasional +floods is again renewed. All these dangers have +been increased by the wanton destruction of the forests of +the Alps and Apennines, for when the shelter of the wood +is gone, the heavy rains of summer easily wash the soil from +the slopes down into the rivers, and many an upland pasture +has by this process been turned into bare rock. In this +way it happens that during the historical period the quantity +of detritus borne onwards by the Po has much increased; +and whereas between the years 1200 and 1600 the delta advanced +on an average only about twenty-five yards a year, +from 1600 to 1800 the annual advance has been more than +seventy-five yards. Between 1823 and 1893 the deposits +at the Po di Maestra and the Po di Goro advanced on an +average 260 feet yearly, those of the Po di Tolle 315 feet, +and those of the Po della Gnocca 110 feet. The area of +the Po delta has increased within that time by twenty and +one-half square miles, and that of the whole coast from +44° 20′ to the Austrian frontier by 29.8 square miles. +Besides the Po and some of its chief tributaries, the Adige +is the only river in the northern plain of Italy of importance +as a waterway; and even it, though navigable for vessels of +considerable size, as high as Trent in the Tirol, where +there is a depth of from thirteen to sixteen feet, is navigable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span> +only with great difficulty in consequence of the great +rapidity of its course. Boats can descend from Trent to +Verona (fifty miles) in twenty-four hours, but for the ascent +require from five to seven days. The country on the +banks of this river is much subject to inundations, protection +against which is afforded, as on the Po, by dykes, +which begin about twelve miles below Verona.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c36">THE MENAM</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">MRS. UNSWORTH</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE River Menam (mother of waters) is the central +attraction of all life and trade; it is the great highway +for traffic and the great cleanser and purifier of the +cities; its tide sweeps out to the sea all the dirt and refuse +accumulating therein; it is the universal bath for all the +Siamese. The children paddle and play their games in it; +it is the scene of their frolics in infancy, their means of +livelihood in manhood, and to many of them their grave in +death. At sunset, when work is suspended, there is a +great splashing and plunging going on all along the river +banks, everybody taking a bath or amusing themselves in +the water. The river bar is a great trouble to navigators. The +king will not have it dredged, as he, in his ignorance, thinks +it a natural protection to his country, as only ships of a +shallow draft can cross. Trading ships have to be built +specially constructed for that purpose. No large man-of-war +can cross, but the king did not take into consideration +the small torpedo boats that can do so much mischief; recent +events, however, must have opened his eyes. We +cannot rush into Siam at railway speed; the ship must be +lightened as much as possible, and we must wait until the +tide is at its highest—it may be two hours, or it may be +twenty-two—and even then the channel is so narrow that +if we go a little to the right or to the left we run aground. +Many times there are two ships fast aground; once or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</span> +twice there have been four and five. Some have had to +stay seven and eight days, and have every movable thing +taken out before they could rise. Nothing can exceed the +monotony of lying aground there; there is nothing to see, +only in the distance some low-lying ground covered with a +scrub, no sign of habitations, no cliffs or green hills rising +out of the sea—nothing but water, water all around, and a +glimpse of flat low-lying ground with wild shrubs on it.</p> + +<p>After crossing this vexatious river bar, we proceed up the +river eight miles with nothing to see but low banks until +we come to the forts at Paknam. The river banks are +very low, and fringed at the water’s edge with palms and +huge tree ferns; the mango and tamarind trees hang over +and the banyan tree, with its branches hanging down and +taking root again, makes quite an entanglement of roots and +branches. At night these trees are lit up with thousands of +fire flies; on a dark night they glisten and sparkle like the +firmament. But in the morning the river is alive with +buyers and sellers. We very soon come to a market lying +in the river—all kinds of Eastern fruits and vegetables and +crockeryware are piled up on floating rafts, the sellers sitting +cross-legged beside their wares, and the buyers rushing +about in small canoes propelled with one oar.</p> + +<p>If the officers in charge of steamships like to be mischievous +and go full speed, leaving a big swell in their track, they +have the fun of seeing the floating stalls swaying up and +down, banging against one another fruit and vegetables, +rolling off into the water, with the stall-holders shouting +and plunging into the river to save their wares!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f26"> +<img src="images/fig26.jpg" alt="menam"> +<p class="caption">THE MENAM</p> +</div> + +<p>We then come to more floating houses and houses on +piles. Europeans find the advantage of living on the river +to be that they get more breeze and fewer mosquitoes; so +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</span>here and there, among the floating mat-shed erections, we +see a neat painted wooden house on piles; it has to be approached +by a boat, and you enter up a staircase on to a +wide verandah. The sitting-rooms and bedrooms all open +out of this verandah. No windows, no fireplaces are +needed in this country—very strange un-home-like residences +they are to any one coming fresh from England, yet +they are suitable for the climate.</p> + +<p>Here and there amongst the palm trees, and under wide-spreading +tamarind trees we see white-washed temples, with +fantastically-shaped gilded roofs; they look very picturesque +amongst the trees; they have a style of architecture +peculiar to the country, which is more prominent in the +shape of the roof, which is a sloping Gothic roof, +with all the corners branching out and turning up; one +roof is surmounted with another smaller, and then a +smaller one still. These buildings give quite a character +to the country and are very numerous. It makes +Siamese architecture quite distinctive from that of other +countries.</p> + +<p>As we get to the city of Bangkok, the sides of the river +are lined with timber and saw-mills and rice-mills, with tall +chimneys, and black smoke oozing out. This is European +enterprise; they quite spoil the scenic effect on the river, +but not any more than the mean, dirty bamboo huts that +line the riversides. The Siamese have no medium respectability; +it is all either gorgeously gilded palaces, and +fantastically-adorned temples, or filthy-looking huts. A +great many of the shopkeepers have their shops right on +the river. Some of them are neatly arranged, with a platform +in front, on which you land from your boat. All the +family are lounging about this platform, the wife carrying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</span> +on her domestic duties, washing up the cooking utensils by +dipping them into the river; the clothes (what few they +wear) go through the same process; and the children, +naked, are sporting about this narrow platform, or sitting +on the edge with their feet in the water.</p> + +<p>It is very convenient for a shopkeeper who wishes to +change his place of business; if he thinks there is a more +desirable and more frequented spot, he just unmoors his +floating shop and has it towed to the place he wants, without +disarranging his wares.</p> + +<p>Branching off from the river are innumerable canals, or +creeks—the Siamese call them klongs—the banks of which +are lined with houses and shops; they make a canal where +we would make a road or a street. Up some of these klongs +there are pretty views, especially at sunset. Graceful ferns +and palms, bamboo trees, with their branches dipping into +the water and reflected therein, and between the branches +the sloping roof of some house or temple is visible. But +many of these klongs or canals, in the most frequented part +of the city, are the reverse of pretty. They are just like a +large open sewer running down to the river, full of filthy +garbage. When the tide is low there are the black slime, the +naked children playing in it, and the dirty huts on rickety +piles leaning forward as if they wanted to slide down into +the mud; sometimes a dead body comes floating down, and +plenty of dead animals.</p> + +<p>It is very lively on the river in the city. Here are ocean-going +steamers and sailing vessels moored amid-stream, or +tied up to the various wharves, whilst an endless variety of +native craft are darting about—narrow boats, like canoes, +propelled with one oarsman, hawking fruit and betel; pretty +little house boats, fashioned something like the Venetian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</span> +gondolas, with four, six or more rowers, standing up, +dressed in bright uniforms, according to the rank of the +family they belong to; the rice boats from far up the +country, of very peculiar construction, flat-bottomed, to go +through shallow water, and wide bulging out sides, roofed +over like houses. In the rainy season, when the river is +full, the large teak-wood rafts about 1,000 feet long, come +floating down, with huts for the steersman built on them. +Small steam launches and ferries, running up and down +from various places, all combine to make the river scene +pretty and interesting. One enthusiastic newspaper correspondent +pronounced Bangkok to be the Venice of the +East. It may resemble Venice in the amount of water +traffic, but it would require a great stretch of imagination, +and the help of some glorifying and transfiguring tints from +the setting sun, before we could allow the comparison; but +no doubt it bears the same relation to the East, where filth +and squalor predominate, as Venice bears to the refined and +cultured Europe.</p> + +<p>There are a few well-kept houses of business and private +residences bordering the river, but not many, and these in +no way resemble the marble palaces of European Venice. +The general aspect of the river banks is dirty disorder—rotten +piles, with untidy-looking floating houses, mat-sheds, +and bamboo huts, reaching up to the King’s palace. +The palace walls enclose many buildings, offices, temples, +private residences, gardens, and residences for the sacred +white elephants. The attractive part of these buildings +and the great ornamentation are in the roofs, which are +very gorgeous. Some have tall pointed pinnacles, all +gilded; some are covered with a fantastic pattern in +porcelain, with little gilded peaks, which look dazzling in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</span> +the sun. Viewed from a distance these buildings realize +all that has been written in glowing terms of Eastern +palaces, but near to the charm is not so vivid, as there is +much tawdriness about them. Whilst remaining on the +river the filth and refuse are not so prominent; the tide +sweeps all away. But leave the river, and take to the +woods. Oh! the offensive sights and smells that greet +one’s eyes and nose—offal and waste of every description +thrown in front of the houses in the public streets. But +nature is kind and very luxurious here; in a short time +these heaps of rubbish are covered with a growth of grass +and creeping plants. The principal shops are like those on +the river—one large room open to the street, no doors or +windows, the family living there, and the domestic arrangements +mixed up with the business of selling.</p> + +<p>Bangkok is a modern city. It is not more than 250 +years old. It has risen to importance through the ever-increasing +exportation of rice and timber. It is not purely +Siamese, being a mixture of all Eastern nations, the +Chinese being very largely represented; and the European +influence is very prominent. The rice-mills +for cleaning the rice and the saw-mills are all fitted up +with modern machinery and are the outcome of European +enterprise. There is a fine naval dockyard entirely +managed by English engineers, and the regular lines of +steamers running here constantly are all British. I must +just mention that fifty years ago the Siamese had a fine +fleet of sailing vessels, built in Bangkok of teak-wood; but +the steamers have taken away their trade and that industry +has died out. The ship-building yards are quite deserted +and silent now.</p> + +<p>But if we wish to see a real Siamese city, we must leave<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</span> +Bangkok and go to Ayuthia, the old capital, before +Bangkok was thought of.</p> + +<p>It is sixty miles farther up the river. The scenery going +up is monotonous—no variety at all; it is a flat +country. In the months of October and November it is +all under water; the river rises and floods the country for +miles, so we can understand the reason for living in floating +houses and on piles. But how can any one describe +Ayuthia? It is so different from any other city in the +world; and entirely Siamese.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants live principally on the river in small +houses of bamboo, roofed with Atap palm leaves. In +some parts there is only a narrow passage for a small boat, +the river is so crowded up with their houses. The trade +seems to be buying and selling, and the principal things +sold rice and fruit, with a few very simple cooking utensils. +There is an old palace here which illustrates how much +richer the kings must have grown with the increase of trade.</p> + +<p>In the Siamese court there are several very interesting +ceremonies, probably unlike anything belonging to any +other country, a pageantry peculiar to Siam, and of great +magnificence.</p> + +<p>One of the principal of these is a royal cremation. +Then there is a royal hair-cutting. This is an occasion +for very great rejoicing. When a boy attains the age of +fourteen or fifteen, his head is shaved, and then he enters the +priesthood. When it is one of the royal family, or the +Crown Prince, then not many other courts can exceed such +a magnificent and gorgeous festival. The ceremony lasts +for a week—a continued succession of religious rites, with +processions and feasts. One of these is the sacred bath in the +river, where the priests dip the young prince.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</span></p> + +<p>Another elaborate spectacle is when the king, attended +by all his nobles, visits every great temple. This takes +some weeks to accomplish, is an annual event, and is +another series of grand processions. It is a water procession, +and the barges which are kept and only used on this +occasion are most sumptuous. They are richly carved and +gilded, with silken awnings. They are long, narrow boats +about 100 feet long, rowed by over 150 oarsmen with +gilded oars. The whole procession is a scene of barbaric +splendour, and recalls the stories of Aladdin and his +Wonderful Lamp.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c37">THE MERRIMACK</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">HENRY D. THOREAU</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>E were thus entering the state of New Hampshire +on the bosom of the flood formed by the tribute +of its innumerable valleys. The river was the only key +which could unlock its maze, presenting its hills and valleys, +its lakes and streams, in their natural order and position. +The Merrimack, or sturgeon river, is formed by the confluence +of the Pemigewasset, which rises near the notch of +the White Mountains, and the Winnipiseogee, which drains +the lake of the same name, signifying “The smile of the +Great Spirit.” From their junction it runs south seventy-eight +miles to Massachusetts, and thence east thirty-five +miles to the sea. I have traced its stream from where it +bubbles out of rocks of the White Mountains above the +clouds, to where it is lost amid the salt billows of the ocean +on Plum Island Beach. It was already the water of Squam +and Newfound Lake and Winnipiseogee, and White Mountain +snow dissolved, on which we were floating, and +Smith’s and Baker’s and Mad Rivers, and Nashua and +Souhegan and Piscataquong, and Suncook and Soucook and +Contoocook, mingled in incalculable proportions, still fluid, +yellowish, restless all, with an ancient, ineradicable inclination +to the sea.</p> + +<p>So it flows by Lowell and Haverhill, at which last place it +first suffers a sea change, and a few masts betray the vicinity +of the ocean. Between the towns of Amesbury and Newbury<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</span> +it is a broad, commercial river, from a third to half a +mile in width, no longer skirted with yellow and crumbling +banks, but backed by high green hills and pastures, with +frequent white beaches on which fishermen draw up their +nets. I have passed down this portion of the river in a +steamboat, and it was a pleasant sight to watch from its +deck the fishermen dragging their seines on the distant +shore, as in pictures of a foreign strand. At intervals you +may meet with a schooner laden with lumber, standing up +to Haverhill, or else lying at anchor or aground, waiting +for wind or tide, until, at last, you glide under the famous +Chain Bridge, and are landed at Newburyport. From the +steeples of Newburyport you may review this river stretching +far up into the country, with many a white sail glancing +over it like an island sea, and behold, as one wrote who +was born on its head-waters, “Down out at its mouth, the +dark inky main blending with the blue above, Plum Island, +its sand ridges scalloping along the horizon like the sea-serpent, +and the distant outline broken by many a tall ship, +leaning, <i>still</i>, against the sky.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f27"> +<img src="images/fig27.jpg" alt="merrimack"> +<p class="caption2"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1900, by Detroit Photographic Company</span></p> +<p class="caption">THE MERRIMACK</p> +</div> + +<p>Rising at an equal height with the Connecticut, the Merrimack +reaches the sea by a course only half as long, and +hence has no leisure to form broad and fertile meadows, +like the former, but is hurried along rapids, and down numerous +falls, without long delay. The banks are generally +steep and high, with a narrow interval reaching back to the +hills, which is only rarely or partially overflown at present, +and is much valued by the farmers. Between Chelmsford +and Concord, in New Hampshire, it varies from twenty to +seventy-five rods in many places, owing to the trees having +been cut down, and the consequent wasting away of its +banks. The influence of the Pawtucket Dam is felt as far +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</span>as Cromwell’s Falls, and many think that the banks are being +abraded and the river filled up again by this cause. +Like all our rivers, it is liable to freshets, and the Pemigewasset +has been known to rise twenty-five feet in a few +hours. It is navigable to vessels of burden about twenty +miles; for canal-boats, by means of locks, as far as Concord +in New Hampshire, about seventy-five miles from its +mouth; and for smaller boats to Plymouth, one hundred +and thirteen miles. A small steamboat once plied between +Lowell and Nashua, before the railroad was built, and one +now runs from Newburyport to Haverhill.</p> + +<p>Unfitted to some extent for the purposes of commerce by +the sand-bar at its mouth, see how this river was devoted to +the service of manufactures. Issuing from the iron regions +of Franconia, and flowing through still uncut forests, by inexhaustible +ledges of granite, with Squam, and Winnipiseogee, +and Newfound, and Massabesic Lakes for its mill-ponds, +it falls over a succession of natural dams, where it +has been offering its <i>privileges</i> in vain for ages, until at last +the Yankee race came to <i>improve</i> them. Standing at its +mouth, look up its sparkling stream to its source,—a silver +cascade which falls all the way from the White Mountains +to the sea,—and behold a city of each successive plateau, a +busy colony of human beavers around every fall. Not to +mention Newburyport and Haverhill, see Lawrence, and +Lowell, and Nashua, and Manchester, and Concord, gleaming +one above the other. When at length it has escaped +from under the last of the factories, it has a level and unmolested +passage to the sea, a mere <i>waste water</i>, as it were, +bearing little with it but its fame; its pleasant course revealed +by the morning fog which hangs over it, and the +sails of the few small vessels which transact the commerce<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</span> +of Haverhill and Newburyport. But its real vessels are +railroad cars, and its true and main stream, flowing by an +iron channel farther south, may be traced by a long line of +vapour amid the hills, which no morning wind ever disperses +to where it empties into the sea at Boston. This river was +at length discovered by the white man “trending up into +the land,” he knew not how far, possibly an inlet to the +South Sea. Its valley, as far as the Winnipiseogee, was +surveyed in 1652. The first settlers of Massachusetts supposed +that the Connecticut, in one part of its course ran +north-west, “so near the great lake as the Indians do pass +their canoes into it over-land.” From which lake and the +“hideous swamps” about it, as they supposed, came all the +beaver that was traded between Virginia and Canada—and +the Potomac was thought to come out of or from very near +it. Afterwards the Connecticut came so near the course of +the Merrimack that, with a little pains they expected to divert +the current of the trade into the latter river, and its +profits from their Dutch neighbours into their own pockets.</p> + +<p>Unlike the Concord, the Merrimack is not a dead but a +living stream, though it has less life within its waters and +on its banks. It has a swift current, and, in this part of its +course, a clayey bottom, almost no weeds, and comparatively +few fishes. We looked down into its yellow water with +the more curiosity, who were accustomed to the Nile-like +blackness of the former river. Shad and alewives are taken +here in their season, but salmon, though at one time more +numerous than shad, are now more rare. Bass, also, are +taken occasionally; but locks and dams have proved more +or less destructive to the fisheries. The shad make their +appearance early in May, at the same time with the blossoms +of the pyrus, one of the most conspicuous early flowers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</span> +which is for this reason called the shad-blossom. An +insect called the shad-fly also appears at the same time, +covering the houses and fences. We are told that “their +greatest run is when the apple-trees are in full blossom. +The old shad return in August; the young, three or four +inches long, in September. These are very fond of flies.” +A rather picturesque and luxurious mode of fishing was +formerly practised on the Connecticut, at Bellows Falls, +where a large rock divides the stream. “On the steep +sides of the island rock,” says Belknap, “hang several arm-chairs, +fastened to ladders, and secured by a counterpoise, +in which fishermen sit to catch salmon and shad with dipping +nets.” The remains of Indian weirs, made of large +stones, are still to be seen in the Winnipiseogee, one of the +head-waters of this river.</p> + +<p>It cannot but affect our philosophy favourably to be reminded +of these shoals of migratory fishes, of salmon, shad, +alewives, marsh-bankers, and others, which penetrate up the +innumerable rivers of our coast in the spring, even to the +interior lakes, their scales gleaming in the sun; and again, +of the fry which in still greater numbers wend their way +downwards to the sea. “And is it not pretty sport,” wrote +Captain John Smith, who was on this coast as early as 1614, +“to pull up twopence, sixpence, and twelvepence, as fast as +you can haul and veer a line?”—And what sport doth +yield a more pleasing content, and less hurt or charge, than +angling with a hook, and crossing the sweet air from isle to +isle, over the silent streams of a calm sea.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c38">THE YEN-E-SAY</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">HENRY SEEBOHM</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>E left London on Thursday, the 1st of March, at +8:25 <span class="allsmcap">P. M.</span>, and reached Nishni Novgorod on +Saturday, the 9th inst., at 10 <span class="allsmcap">A. M.</span>, having travelled by rail +a distance of 2,400 miles. We stopped three days in St. Petersburg +to present our letters of introduction and to pay some +other visits. At Nishni we bought a sledge, and travelled +over the snow 3,240 English miles, employing for this purpose +about a thousand horses, eighteen dogs, and forty reindeer. +We left Nishni on the evening of the 10th of March, +and travelled day and night in a generally easterly direction, +stopping a couple of days at Tyu-main, and a day at Omsk, +and reached Kras-no-yarsk on the morning of the 2d of +April, soon after crossing the meridian of Calcutta. We +rested a day in Kras-no-yarsk, and sledged thence nearly +due north, spending four days in Yen-e-saisk and three +days in Toor-o-kansk.</p> + +<p>The Yen-e-say is said to be the third largest river in the +world, being only exceeded in size by the Amazon and the +Mississippi. The principal stream rises in the mountains +of Central Mongolia, enters Siberia near the famous town +of Kyakh-ta, on the Chinese frontier, and flowing through +Lake By-kal, passes Eer-kutsk (Irkutsk) the capital of +Siberia, under the name of the An-go-ra or Vairkh-nya, +Tun-goosk, and enters the smaller stream, whose name it +subsequently bears, a few miles south of Yen-e-saisk. Up<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</span> +to this point its length may be roughly estimated at 2,000 +miles, and judging from the time it takes to sledge across +the river at Yen-e-saisk, its width must exceed an English +mile. Following the windings of the river from the latter +town to the Arctic Circle, the road is calculated as a journey +of 800 miles, during which the waters are augmented by +two important tributaries, the Pod-kah-min-a-Tun-goosk +and the Nizh-ni-Tun-goosk, which increase the width of +the river to more than three English miles. On the Arctic +Circle it receives an important tributary, the Koo-ray-i-ka, +about a mile wide, and, somewhat more circuitously than +appears on our maps, travels to the islands of the delta, a +distance possibly slightly over-estimated, during which the +average width may be about four miles. The delta and +lagoon of the Yen-e-say are about 400 miles in length, and +must average twenty miles in width; making the total length +of the river about 4,000 miles.</p> + +<p>Throughout the whole extent of the river, from Yen-e-saisk, +in latitude 58° to Gol-chee-ka in latitude 71½°, the +banks are generally steep and lofty, from sixty to one hundred +feet above the water-level, and so far as I could learn, +comparatively little land is covered by the summer floods. +The villages on the banks are from twenty to thirty versts +(fifteen to twenty miles) apart, and are of course built upon +high ground. As we sledged down the river, we had always +a heavy climb up to the port stations; and in descending +again into the bed of the river, it sometimes almost made +our hearts jump into our mouths to look down the precipice, +which our horses took at a gallop, with half-a-dozen villagers +hanging on the sledge to prevent an upset, a feat +they performed so cleverly, that although many a peasant +got a roll in the snow, we always escaped without any serious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</span> +accident. We found a good supply of horses as far as +Too-ro-kansk. The second stage from this town we travelled +by dogs, and completed the rest of the journey by +reindeer. Soon after leaving Yen-e-saisk agriculture practically +ceases. A few cows graze on the meadows near the +villages, and hay is cut for their use during winter, but the +villagers are too busy fishing during the short summer to +till the land.</p> + +<p>The banks of the Yen-e-say are clothed with magnificent +forests up to the Arctic Circle, but northwards the trees +rapidly diminish in size, and disappear altogether soon after +leaving Doo-din-ka, in latitude 69½°. These forests are +principally pine of various species. We reached the Koo-ray-i-ka +on the 23d of April, and found the crew of the +<i>Thames</i> in excellent health.</p> + +<p>The winter quarters chosen by Captain Wiggins were +very picturesque. Standing at the door of the peasant’s +house on the brow of the hill, we looked down on to the +“crow’s nest” of the <i>Thames</i>. To the left the Koo-ray-i-ka, +a mile wide, stretched away some four or five miles, until a +sudden bend concealed it from view; whilst to the right the +eye wandered across the snow-fields of the Yen-e-say, and +by the help of a binocular the little village of Koo-ray-i-ka +might be discerned about four miles off, on the opposite +bank of the great river. The land was undulating rather +than hilly, and everywhere covered with forest, the trees +reaching frequently two, and in some rare instances three +feet in diameter. The depth of the snow varied from four +to six feet; and travelling without snow-shoes, except on +the hard-trodden roads, was of course utterly impossible.</p> + +<p>When we arrived at the ship, we found that it was still +winter, and were told that there had not been a sign of rain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</span> +since last autumn. April went by and May came in, but still +there was no sign of summer, except the arrival of some of +the earliest migratory birds. We generally had a cloudless +sky; and the sun was often burning hot. On the 9th, +10th, and 11th of May we had rain for the first time, and +the prospects of summer looked a little more hopeful. The +rest of May, however, was more dreary and wintry than +ever, alternations of hard frosts and driving snow-storms; +but the river was slowly rising, and outside the thick centre +ice was a strip of thin, newly-frozen ice. There was, however, +little or no change in the appearance of the snow. +Up to the end of May the forces of winter had gallantly +withstood the fiercest attacks of the sun, baffled at all points, +and entered into an alliance with the south wind, and a combined +attack was made upon the winter forces. The battle +raged for fourteen days, the battle of the Yen-e-say, the +great event of the year in this cold country, and certainly +the most stupendous display of the powers of nature that +it has ever been my lot to witness. On the morning of the +1st of June the pressure underneath the ice caused a large +field, about a mile long and a third of a mile wide, opposite +the lower angle of junction of the Koo-ray-i-ka and the +Yen-e-say, to break away. About half the mass found a passage +down the strip of newly-formed thin ice, leaving open +water behind it. The other half rushed headlong on to the +steep banks of the river. The result of the collision was a +little range of mountains, fifty or sixty feet high, and picturesque +in the extreme. Huge blocks of ice, six feet +thick and twenty feet long, in many places, were standing +perpendicular, whilst others were crushed up into fragments +like broken glass; and in many other places the ice was +piled up in layers one over the other. The real ice on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</span> +river did not appear to have been thicker than two or three +feet, clear as a glass, and blue as an Italian sky. Upon +the top of this was about four feet of white ice. This was +as hard as a rock, and had, no doubt, been caused by the +flooding of the snow when the waters of the river had risen, +and its subsequent freezing. Upon the top of the white +ice was eighteen inches of clean snow, which had evidently +never been flooded. When we turned into our berths in +the evening the captain thought it best to institute an +anchor-watch. We had scarcely been asleep an hour before +the watch called us up with the intelligence that the +river was rising rapidly, and that the ice was beginning to +crack. We immediately dressed and went on deck. We +saw at once that the Yen-e-say was rising so rapidly that +it was beginning to flow up its tributaries. A strong current +was setting up the Koo-ray-i-ka, and small floes were +detaching themselves from the main body of the ice and +were running up the open water. By and by the whole +body of the Koo-ray-i-ka broke up and began to move up +stream. Some of the floes struck the ship some very ugly +blows on the stern, doing considerable damage to the rudder; +but open water was beyond, and we were soon out of +the press of ice, with, we hoped, no irretrievable injury. +All this time we had been getting steam up as fast as +possible, to be ready for any emergency. It was hopeless +to attempt to enter the creek opposite which we were +moored, and which was now only just beginning to fill +with water; but on the other side of the river, across only +a mile of open water, was a haven of perfect safety. But, +alas! when the ice had passed us, before we could get up +sufficient steam, the river suddenly fell three feet, and left +aground by the stern, and immovable as a rock. Nor was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</span> +it possible, with a swift current running up the river at the +rate of four knots an hour, to swing the ship round so as to +secure the rudder against any further attacks of the ice. +Half a mile ahead of us, as we looked down the river, was +the edge of the Yen-e-say ice. The river was rising again; +but before the stern was afloat we discovered, to our dismay, +that another large field of ice had broken up; and the +Koo-ray-i-ka was soon full of ice again. In the course of +the night the whole of the ice of Yen-e-say, as far as we +could see, broke up with a tremendous crash, and a dense +mass of ice-floes, pack-ice, and icebergs backed up the +Koo-ray-i-ka, and with irresistible force drove the Koo-ray-i-ka +ice before it. When it reached the ship, we +had but one alternative, to slip the anchor and let her +drive with the ice. For about a mile we had an exciting +ride, pitching and rolling as the floes of ice squeezed the +ship, and tried to lift her bodily out of the water, or crawl +up her sides like a snake. The rudder was soon broken to +pieces, and finally carried away. Some of the sailors +jumped on to the ice and scrambled ashore, whilst others +began to throw overboard their goods and chattels. Away +we went up the Koo-ray-i-ka, the ice rolling and tumbling +and squeezing along side, huge lumps climbing one on the +top of another, until we were finally jammed in a slight +bay, along with a lot of pack-ice. Early in the morning +the stream slackened, the river fell some five or six feet, +and the ice stood still. The ship went through the terrible +ordeal bravely. She made no water, and there was no evidence +of injury beyond the loss of the rudder. In the +evening the ship was lying amidst huge hummocks of ice, +almost high and dry. The Koo-ray-i-ka, and right across +the Yen-e-say, and southwards as far as the eye could reach<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</span> +was one immense field of pack-ice, white, black, brown, +blue, green, piled in wild confusion as close as it could be +jammed. Northwards the Yen-e-say was not yet broken +up. All this time the weather was warm and foggy, with +very little wind, and occasional slight rain. There was a +perfect Babel of birds as an accompaniment to the crashing +of the ice. Gulls, geese, and swans were flying about in +all directions; and their wild cries vied with the still wilder +screams of the divers. Flocks of red polls and shore larks, +and bramblings and wagtails in pairs, arrived, and added to +the interest of the scene. On the 2d of June there was +little or no movement in the ice until midnight, when an +enormous pressure from above came on somewhat suddenly, +and broke up the great field of ice to the north of the Koo-ray-i-ka, +but not to a sufficient extent to relieve the whole +of the pressure. The water in the Koo-ray-i-ka rose +rapidly. The immense field of pack-ice began to move up +stream at the rate of five or six knots an hour. The poor +ship was knocked and bumped along the rocky shore, and +a stream of water began to flow into the hold. At nine +o’clock all hands left her, and stood upon the snow on the +bank, expecting her instant destruction. The stream rose +and fell during the day; but the leak, which was apparently +caused by the twisting of the stern-post, choked up. +Late in the evening an opportunity occurred of a few +hours’ open water, during which steam was got up; and by +the help of a couple of ropes ashore, the rudderless ship +was steered into the little creek opposite to which she +had wintered, and run ashore. Here the leak was afterwards +repaired and a new rudder made. We calculated +that about 50,000 acres of ice passed the ship up stream +during these two days; and we afterwards learned that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</span> +most of this ice got away some miles up the Koo-ray-i-ka, +where the banks are low, and was lost in the forest.</p> + +<p>The battle of the Yen-e-say raged for about a fortnight. +The sun was generally burning hot in the daytime; but +every night there was more or less frost. The ice came +down the Yen-e-say at various speeds. Sometimes we +could see gigantic masses of pack-ice, estimated at twenty to +thirty feet in height, driven down the river at an incredible +pace, not less than twenty miles an hour. In the Koo-ray-i-ka +the scene was constantly changing. The river rose and +fell. Sometimes the pack-ice and floes were jammed so tight +together that it looked as if one might scramble across the +river without difficulty. At other times there was a good deal +of open water, and the icebergs “calved” as they went along +with much commotion and splashing, that could be heard +half a mile off. Underlayers of the iceberg ground; and +after the velocity of the enormous mass has caused it to pass +on, the pieces left behind rise to the surface, like a whale +coming up to breathe. Some of these “calves” must come +up from a considerable depth. They rise up out of the +water with a great splash, and rock about for some time before +they settle down to their floating level. At last the +final march past of the beaten winter-forces in this great +fourteen days’ battle took place and for seven days more +the rag, tag, and bob-tail of the great Arctic army come +straggling down—warm and weather-beaten little icebergs, +dirty ice-floes that looked like mud-banks floating down, +and straggling pack-ice in the last stages of consumption. +The total rise of the river was upwards of seventy feet.</p> + +<p>The moment that the snow disappeared vegetation sprang +up as if by magic, and the birds made preparations for +breeding. As we passed through Yen-e-saisk I bought a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</span> +schooner off a ship-builder of the name of Boiling, a Heligolander. +I christened it the <i>Ibis</i>; and on the 29th of +June we left the Koo-ray-i-ka with this little craft in tow. +Our progress down the river, however, was one catalogue +of disasters, ending in our leaving the <i>Thames</i> on the 9th +of July a hopeless wreck, lying high and dry on a sand-bank, +in latitude 67°. As we sailed northwards in the +<i>Ibis</i>, the forests became smaller and smaller, and disappeared +altogether about latitude 70°. The highest point we +reached was latitude 71½°, where I sold the <i>Ibis</i> to the captain +of a Russian schooner, which had been totally wrecked +during the break-up of the ice.</p> + +<p>On the 23rd of July I left Gol-chee-ka in the last Russian +steamer up the river; and reached Yen-e-saisk on the +14th of August. After a few days’ delay I drove across +country to Tomsk, stopping a day or two in Kras-no-yarsk. +In Tomsk I found an excellent iron steamer, in which I +sailed down the river Tom into the Obb, down which we +steamed to its junction with the Eer-tish, up which we proceeded +until we entered the Tob-ol, and afterwards steamed +up the Too-ra to Tyu-main, a distance by water of 2,200 +miles. From the Tyu-main I drove through Ekatereenburg +across the Urals to Perm, where I took my passage on +board the <i>Sam-o-lot</i>, or self-flyer, down the Kama, and up +the Volga, to Nishni Novgorod.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c39">THE YARROW</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">JOHN MACWHIRTER</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">Y</span>ARROW and its vale form one of the high places of +the earth. In this age of cheap trips it is easy to +get there, and perhaps you don’t think much of it as you +rattle through on the coach. There is many a Highland +scene incomparably grander. After all</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“What’s Yarrow, but a river bare,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That glides the dark hills under?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There are a thousand such elsewhere,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As worthy of your wonder.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>A word of dry description must commence. The Yarrow +Water is in Yarrow and Selkirk parishes of the country of +Selkirk. It rises in St. Mary’s Loch, it courses therefrom +to its junction with Ettrick Water fourteen and a half miles, +when the latter gives its name to the united currents. +They are soon lost in the Tweed. Beyond St. Mary’s +Loch, and separated from it by a narrow strip of land, is the +Loch o’ the Lowes (or Lochs). It is about two miles in +length, and is fed by the Yarrow, which rises some two +miles higher up, though it is usually taken as beginning in +the large lake. In the lower reach the banks are wooded; +farther up the hills are bare, soft, rounded, the stream is +clear and swift-flowing, with a musical note on its large and +small stones; there is no growth of sedge or underwood, +but the fresh green grass stretches up the slope till it is lost +in the heather. Between the hills are glens down which +wind greater or smaller tributaries to the Yarrow. Each<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</span> +has its legend and its ruin. Dim, romantic, enticing, these +glens stretch away into the mysterious mountain solitude. +You begin your excursion from Selkirk, which is on Ettrick +Water, ten miles down stream from its junction with the +Yarrow, and two places soon take your attention, Carterhaugh +and Philiphaugh. There is a farm “toun,” as they +name a steading in the north, that is called Carterhaugh; +but what is meant here is a charming piece of greensward +and wood, that lies almost encircled by the two streams at +and near their meeting place. A very Faeryland! and here +is laid the scene of the faery ballad of “The Young Tamlane.” +The song is very old; it was well known in 1549, +as we learn from a chance mention in a work of the period. +It is a delicious poem, pure phantasy; a very Mid-summer +Night’s Dream, scarcely of the earth at all, far less dealing +with historical incident. The forgotten poet, lest he should +be all in the air, makes the young Tamlane son to Randolph, +Earl Murray, and Fair Janet, daughter to Dunbar, +Earl March, but this is only because these were the noblest +names in Scotland, and he chooses Carterhaugh for his +stage; as like as not he lived somewhere on the Yarrow, +and the stream sang in his ears as he built the song. Tamlane +is nine when his uncle sends for him “to hunt and +hawk and ride,” and on the way—</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“There came a wind out o’ the north,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A sharp wind and a snell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And a dead sleep came over me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And frae my horse I fell.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Queen of the Fairies she was there,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And took me to herself.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>On the left bank of the Yarrow, just across from Carterhaugh, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</span>is Philiphaugh. It is a large space of level ground, +and here the fortunes of the great Montrose and his Highland +army came to hopeless smash in the early morning of +13th September, 1645. Montrose had won six victories in +the Highlands, had been appointed Viceroy of Scotland, +and full of ill-placed confidence was preparing an invasion +of England. He spent the previous evening at ease in Selkirk +(they still show you the house) and was writing despatches +to the king, when he heard the sound of firing. +He galloped to the field and found everything practically +over! David Leslie had been seeking him far and near for +some time, had found the camp and invaded it in a mist. +The Royalists were scattered; Montrose—no one ever +counted cowardice among his vices—made a desperate effort +to retrieve the fortune of the day, but all in vain. Finally +he dashed through the opposing forces, galloped away up +the Yarrow, then by a wild mountain path, right over +Minchmoor, and drew not bridle till he dashed up to Traquair +House, sixteen miles from the battle-field. A number +of prisoners were taken. The common lowland Scot +has still a certain contempt for the Highlander, whose appreciation +in the modern world is due to literature; then he +looked upon him as an outcast and outlaw, “a broken +man,” in the expressive phrase of an earlier day. The +captives were shot in the court-yard of Newark Castle, and +buried in a field still called Slain-mans-lee. Celtic troops +are very brave, but unless mixed with the steadier Saxon, +they don’t seem reliable.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f28"> +<img src="images/fig28.jpg" alt="yarrow"> +<p class="caption">THE YARROW</p> +</div> + +<p>Still keeping on the left bank, follow the road by the +riverside and as before you come to two places, each with +an interest very different from the others. One is a ruined +house, a poor enough building at the best. An inscription<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</span> +tells you that Mungo Park (1771-1805) the African traveller, +was born and lived here. He saw Scott a little before +his last voyage, told how he dreaded leave-taking (he had +been recently married!) and that he meant to leave for +Edinburgh on some pretence or other and make his adieux +from there. On Williamhope ridge the two parted.</p> + +<p>“I stood and looked back, but he did not,” says Scott. +He had put his hand to the plough. Poor Mungo Park! +his discoveries seem little now-a-days, yet to me, he is +always the most attractive of African travellers, his life +the most interesting, his end the most melancholy. One +thinks how under the hot sun in those fearful swamps +he must have often remembered the cool delicious green +braes of his native Yarrow. But we turn our eyes to the +opposite bank and scarce need be told that the castle we +see, majestic, though in ruins, is “Newark’s stately tower.” +’Tis a great weather-beaten square keep, where Anna, relict +of the ill-fated Duke of Monmouth, lived for some years of +her widowed life. To her Scott’s “Last Minstrel” sings his +lay. But the place was already centuries old. It was once +a hunting-seat of the Scots kings, when the whole region +was the densely wooded Ettrick Forest, and here there was +great sport with the wolf, the mountain bear, the wild-cat, +and all sorts of other small and large deer. Some place-names +still save the old memories, Oxcleugh, Durhame, +Hartleap, Hindshope, and so forth.</p> + +<p>After Yarrow hamlet the land is more desolate, the +stream shrinks to a mountain burn, there are no more +clumps of trees, and the hills creep in near the water’s +edge, and they are taller and steeper. You pass lofty +Mount Benger, near where Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, +who loved and sang of those sweet vales, had a farm.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</span> +Farther on the right bank is Altrive, where he afterwards +lived, and where he died. Almost opposite, the Douglas +Burn flows through a gloomy and solitary glen to Yarrow. +Follow this burn and you come to the ruins of Blackhouse +Tower. It was from here that Lord William and Lady +Margaret fled at midnight from Lord Douglas and his +seven sons. These were slain one by one, but it was only +when her lover began to press roughly on her father that +the lady interposed.</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Oh hold your hand, Lord William, she said,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For your strokes they are wondrous sair.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">True lovers I can get many a one,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But a father I can never get mair.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>An obvious if belated reflection! ’Twas of no avail, the +father is left dead and dying, and the lady follows her +knight (“For ye’ve left me nae other guide,” she says +somewhat bitterly). They light down at “yon wan +water” and his “gude heart’s bluid” dyes the stream, +though he swears “’Tis naething but the shadow of my +scarlet cloak.” However, the lovers die that very night +and are buried in St. Marie’s Kirke, and “a bonny red rose” +and a briar grew out of the grave and twined together to +the admiration of all who saw, but to the great wrath of +Black Douglas, who, a sworn foe to sentimentality,</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Pull’d up the bonny briar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And flang’d in St. Marie’s Loch.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>The wild path followed by the lovers over the hillside is +still to be traced, the place of the combat is marked by +seven stones; but again these are of an earlier date, and +again it would be useless to criticise the creation of the +fancy too curiously.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</span></p> + +<p>And now we are at St. Mary’s Loch, a beautiful sheet of +water three miles long and half a mile broad. At the head +of the loch is a monument to the Ettrick Shepherd. Near +the monument is St. Mary’s Cottage, better known as +“Tibbie Shiel’s,” and scene of many a gay carouse of +Christopher North and his merry men, as you know very +well if you have read the <i>Noctes Ambrosianæ</i>. The cottage +is still kept by a relative of the original Tibbie, as a +humble sort of an inn. If you are wise you will prefer it +to the large new Rodona hotel not far off. It has a touch +of the old times with its huge fireplace and box beds. It +is something to hear the local anecdote, how one morning +“after” Christopher or the shepherd, being more than ever +consumed with the pangs of thirst, in a burst of wild +desire, cried “Tibbie, bring ben the Loch.” It is said +that Scott was never farther than the door. Scott, Hogg, +Wilson were, we all know, great writers, though to-day +Wilson is but little read, Hogg popular through one or two +lyrics, whilst Scott is more and more known with the years. +But each of the three had an impressive and attractive +personality—he is more than a writer, he is first of all +a man. Superior in interest to monument and cottage is St. +Mary’s Kirk, which stands on a height on the left bank of +the loch. One should say stood, for nothing of it is left. +Here generations of martyrs and freebooters were carried, +and the heroes and heroines of so many of the tales and +ballads were laid to rest, but—</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“St. Mary’s Loch lies slumbering still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But St. Mary’s Kirk-bells lang dune ringing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There’s naething now but the grave-stone hill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To tell o’ a’ their loud Psalm-singing.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</span></p> +<p>They still bury there, though at rare and distant intervals. +Hard by is Dryhope Tower. Here was born Mary +Scott, the “Flower of Yarrow.” The romance of the +name caused this heroine to be incessantly be-rhymed +through all the subsequent centuries, but we don’t know +much about her. She was married to Walter Scott of +Harden, a gentleman widely and justly renowned for his +skill in “lifting” other people’s cattle. As a portion the +bride’s father agreed to “find his son-in-law in man’s meat +and horse’s meat for a year and a day, five barons becoming +bound that, on the expiry of that period, Harden should +retire without compulsion.” Not one of the parties to the +contract could write. A daughter of the “Flower of +Yarrow” was married to another freebooter called “Gilly +wi’ the gouden garters.” The bride was to remain at her +father’s house for a year and a day, and in return Gilly +contracted to hand over the plunder of the first harvest +moon. By the way, there is rather a pretty though quite +untrustworthy tradition of the origin of the ballads connected +with the name of Mary Scott. In the spoils +brought home by her husband from one of his forays, was +a child. Him she took and reared. Of gentle nature, he +delighted to hear of and celebrate in songs the tragedies and +romances acted or repeated around him; and so he, +“nameless as the race from whence he sprung, saved other +names and left his own unsung.” The Meggat Water is +one of the many streams that fill the loch. On one of its +tributaries called Henderland-burn is a ruined tower, and +near it a large stone broken into three parts, on which you +may still make out the inscription, “Here lyes Perys of +Cockburne and his wyfe Marjory.” Cockburne was in his +day a noted freebooter, and secure in his tower defied all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</span> +attempts to bring him to justice. But James V. in his +famous progress through the Border-land, heard of his proceedings, +and came right over the hills and down upon +Henderland, whose proprietor he found eating his dinner. +It was his last meal; he was at once seized and strung up +before his own door. His wife fled and concealed herself +in a place called the Lady’s seat, and when she recovered the +silence of the glen told her that the invaders had departed, +and she returned and buried her husband. One of the most +pathetic of the old ballads is said to be her lament</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“But think na’ ye my heart was sair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I laid the moul’ on his yellow hair;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O think na’ ye my heart was wae,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I turned about, awa’ to gae.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>By the way, gold was found in the glen here; probably a +little might be extracted to-day; but then it wouldn’t pay +for the washing. Quite a different set of traditions deals +with the Covenanting period. Far up in the solitary side +glens were favourite meeting-places; here the saints came +from far and near with Bible, and sword and gun, ready to +offer up their lives if need may be, but quite determined to +sell them as dearly as possible. Alas! the minstrels were +not on their side, and no contemporary ballads tell the story +of the dangers and deaths, though those were dramatic +enough. In later times Hogg and Wilson did something to +weave them into song and story. It was near the loch of +the Lowes that Renwick preached his last sermon. +“When he prayed that day few of his hearers’ cheeks were +dry.” On the 17th February, 1688, “he glorified God in +the grass-market,” as the old phrase ran.</p> + +<p>And now one can understand how Yarrow came to its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</span> +fame. Quieter, sweeter, softer than other vales, its green +braes, its delicious streams attracted the old singers who +preserved the memories of others’ deeds. But why is +this music sad? Well, most border ballads are little +tragedies, the strongest emotions are the saddest, and such +the singers preferred. And then one or two ballads gave a +decided tone to the others. The “Dowie Dens,” in fact, +strikes the key-note of them all. William Hamilton, of +Bangour, and John Logan have both told a story of love +and death in excellent fashion in their poems on “The +Braes of Yarrow.” As for the rest, Scott is chiefly descriptive; +Wordsworth, in spite of an occasional line or +even verse of high excellence, is on the whole very poor; +and Alan Ramsay is exceedingly bad.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c40">THE MISSISSIPPI</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ALEXANDER D. ANDERSON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>N the early days of European discoveries and rivalries in +the Mississippi Valley its comprehensive river system +played a prominent part on the stage of public affairs. The +discovery of the river, in 1541, by De Soto and his Spanish +troops, was about a century later followed by explorations +by the French under the lead of Marquette, Joliet, La Salle +and others, who entered the valley from the north. La +Salle, during the years 1679-83, explored the river throughout +its whole length, took possession of the great valley in +the name of France, and called it Louisiana in honour of +his King, Louis XIV. Then resulted grand schemes for +developing the resources of the valley, which a French +writer characterized as “the regions watered by the Mississippi, +immense unknown virgin solitudes which the imagination +filled with riches.” One Crozat, in 1712, secured +from the King a charter giving him almost imperial control +of the commerce of the whole Mississippi Valley. There +was at that date no European rival to dispute French domination, +for the English of New England and the other Atlantic +colonies had not extended their settlements westward +across the Alleghanies, and the Spanish inhabitants of New +Spain or Mexico had not pushed their conquest farther +north than New Mexico. Crozat’s trading privileges +covered an area many times as large as all France, and as +fertile as any on the face of the earth. But he was equal +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</span>to the opportunity, and, failing in his efforts, soon surrendered +the charter.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f29"> +<img src="images/fig29.jpg" alt="mississippi"> +<p class="caption2"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1904, by Detroit Photographic Company</span></p> +<p class="caption">THE MISSISSIPPI</p> +</div> + +<p>John Law, a Scotchman, at first a gambler, and subsequently +a bold, visionary, but brilliant financier, succeeded +Crozat in the privileges of this grand scheme, and secured +from the successor of Louis XIV. a monopoly of the trade +and development of the French possessions in the valley. +In order to carry out his wild enterprise he organized a +colossal stock company, called “The Western Company,” +but more generally known in history as the “Mississippi +Bubble.” According to the historian Monette “it was +vested with the exclusive privilege of the entire commerce +of Louisiana and New France, and with authority to enforce +its rights. It was authorized to monopolize the trade +of all the colonies in the provinces, and of all the Indian +tribes within the limits of that extensive region, even to the +remotest source of every stream tributary in anywise to the +Mississippi.” So skilful and daring were his manipulations +that he bewitched the French people with the fascinations +of stock gambling. The excitement in Paris is thus described +by Thiers:</p> + +<p>“It was no longer the professional speculators and creditors +of the Government who frequented the rue Quincampoix; +all classes of society mingled there, cherishing the +same illusions—noblemen famous on the field of battle, +distinguished in the Government, churchmen, traders, quiet +citizens, and servants whom their suddenly acquired fortune +had filled with the hope of rivalling their masters.”</p> + +<p>The rue Quincampoix was called the Mississippi. The +month of December was the time of the greatest infatuation. +The shares ended by rising to eighteen and twenty +thousand francs—thirty-six and forty times the first price.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</span> +At the price which they had attained, the six hundred +thousand shares represented a capital of ten or twelve billions +of francs.</p> + +<p>But the bubble soon burst; and its explosion upset the +finances of this whole kingdom. Some years later, in 1745, +a French engineer named Deverges made a report to his +Government in favour of improving the mouth of the Mississippi, +and stated that the bars there existing were a serious +injury to commerce.</p> + +<p>But France met with too powerful rivalry in the valley, +and in 1762 and 1763, after a supremacy of nearly a hundred +years, was crowded out by the English from the Atlantic +colonies and the Spaniards from the south-west, the +Mississippi River forming the dividing line between the regions +acquired by those two nations. The Spanish officials, +for the purpose of promoting colonization, and to aid in establishing +trading-posts on the Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, +Red, and other rivers in the western half of the +valley, granted to certain individuals, pioneers, and settlers, +large tracts of land. They made little progress, however, +in peopling their new territory.</p> + +<p>But whatever progress was made under the successive +supremacies of France and Spain, the Mississippi and its +navigable tributaries supplied the only highways of communication +and commerce.</p> + +<p>In the year 1800, soon after Napoleon I. became the +civil ruler of France, he sought to add to the commercial +glory of his country by re-acquiring the territory resting +upon the Mississippi which his predecessors had parted +with in 1763.</p> + +<p>To quote the language of a French historian: “The +cession that France made of Louisiana to Spain in 1763<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</span> +had been considered in all our maritime and commercial +cities as impolitic and injurious to the interests of +our navigation, as well as to the French West Indies, and +it was very generally wished that an opportunity might occur +of recovering that colony. One of the first cares of +Bonaparte was to renew with the court of Madrid a negotiation +on that subject.”</p> + +<p>He succeeded in these negotiations, and by secret treaty +of St. Ildefonso, in 1800, French domination was once more +established over the great river.</p> + +<p>Two years later, the commerce of the river had grown to +large proportions. Says Marbois, of that period: “No rivers +of Europe are more frequented than the Mississippi and +tributaries.” A substantially correct idea of their patronage +may be obtained from the record of the foreign commerce +from the mouth of the Mississippi, for nearly all of the +commodities collected there for export had first floated +down the river.</p> + +<p>Marbois well illustrates the intense indignation at this +order on the part of the Western people by attributing to +them the following language: “The Mississippi is ours +by the law of nature; it belongs to us by our numbers, and +by the labour which we have bestowed on those spots +which before our arrival were desert and barren. Our innumerable +rivers swell it and flow with it into the Gulf +Sea. Its mouth is the only issue which nature has given +to our waters, and we wish to use it for our vessels. No +power in the world shall deprive us of this right.”</p> + +<p>Of Morales’s order James Madison, then Secretary of +State, wrote the official representative of the United States +at the court of Spain:</p> + +<p>“You are aware of the sensibility of our Western citizens<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</span> +to such an occurrence. This sensibility is justified by +the interest they have at stake. The Mississippi to them +is everything. It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, +and all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic States +formed into one stream.”</p> + +<p>At this time Thomas Jefferson was President, and in +view of the uneasiness of the Western settlers, he hastened +to send to France a special ambassador to negotiate for the +purchase of the Louisiana Territory. The opportunity was +a favourable one, for France was then in danger of a conflict +with Great Britain. The latter country had become +alarmed at and jealous of Bonaparte’s commercial conquests, +and he, apprehending war and fearing that he could not hold +Louisiana, had about determined to do the next best thing—dispose +of it to one of England’s rivals.</p> + +<p>Marbois, the historian of Louisiana, from whom we have +above quoted, was chosen by Napoleon to represent France +in the negotiations with the representative of the United +States sent by Jefferson. His account of the cession—the +consultation between Napoleon and his ministers—and of +his remarks and motives, forms one of the most instructive +and interesting chapters of modern history. Napoleon foreshadowed +his action by the following remark to one of his +counsellors:</p> + +<p>“To emancipate nations from the commercial tyranny +of England it is necessary to balance her influence by a +maritime power that may one day become her rival; that +power is the United States. The English aspire to dispose +of all the riches of the world. I shall be useful to the +whole universe if I can prevent their ruling America as +they rule Asia.”</p> + +<p>In a subsequent conversation with two of his ministers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</span> +on the 10th of April, 1803, on the subject of the proposed +cession, he said in speaking of England: “They shall not +have the Mississippi which they covet.”</p> + +<p>In accordance with this conclusion, on the 30th day of +the same month, the sale was made to the United States. +When informed that his instructions had been carried out +and the treaty consummated, he remarked:</p> + +<p>“This accession of territory strengthens forever the power +of the United States, and I have just given to England a +maritime rival that will sooner or later humble her pride.”</p> + +<p>Under the stimulating influence of American enterprise +the commerce of the valley rapidly developed. In 1812 it +entered upon a new era of progress by the introduction for +the first time upon the waters of the Mississippi of steam +transportation.</p> + +<p>The river trade then grew from year to year, until the +total domestic exports of its sole outlet at the sea-board—the +port of New Orleans—had during the fiscal year +1855-56 reached the value of over $80,000,000. Its prestige +was then eclipsed by railways, the first line reaching +the Upper Mississippi in 1854, and the second the Lower +Mississippi, at St. Louis in 1857. Says Poor:</p> + +<p>“The line first opened in this state from Chicago to the +Mississippi was the Chicago and Rock Island, completed +in February, 1854. The completion of this road extended +the railway system of the country to the Mississippi, up to +this time the great route of commerce of the interior. This +work, in connection with the numerous other lines since +opened, has almost wholly diverted this commerce from +what may be termed its natural to artificial channels, so +that no considerable portion of it now flowed down the +river to New Orleans.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</span></p> + +<p>The correctness of this assertion may be seen by reference +to the statistics of the total domestic exports of New +Orleans during the year ending June 30, 1879. They +were $63,794,000 in value, or $16,000,000 less than in +1856, when the rivalry with railways began.</p> + +<p>But since 1879 the river has entered upon a new and +important era. The successful completion of the jetties by +Capt. Jas. B. Eads inaugurated a new era of river commerce +and regained for it some of its lost prestige.</p> + +<p>Another step of great importance to the welfare of the +Mississippi was taken about this time. The control of its +improvement was transferred by Congress to a board of +skilled engineers known as the Mississippi River Commission. +The various conflicting theories of improvement +which have for years past done much to defeat the grand +consummation desired will now be adjusted in a scientific +and business-like manner.</p> + +<p>Again, the rapidly growing popular demand throughout +the United States for more intimate commercial relations +with Mexico and the several sister nations of Central and +South America, which lie opposite the mouth of this great +River System, is stimulating the long-neglected longitude +trade and thereby creating a new demand for new transportation +on the longitudinal water-ways which comprise the +Mississippi and its tributaries.</p> + +<p>The Mississippi and tributaries considered as a drainage +system, extend nearly the whole length of the United States +from Canada to the Gulf, and across more than half its +width, or from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to that +of the Alleghanies.</p> + +<p>Steamers can now transport freight in unbroken bulk +from St. Anthony’s Falls to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</span> +of 2,161 miles, and from Pittsburg to Fort Benton, Mont., +4,333 miles. Lighter craft can ascend the Missouri to +Great Falls, near where that river leaves the Rocky Mountains.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c41">THE ZAMBESI</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">HENRY DRUMMOND</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">Z</span>AMBESI, the most important river on the East Coast +of Africa, and the fourth largest on the continent, +drains during its course of about 1,200 miles an area of +600,000 square miles. Its head-streams, which have not +yet been fully explored, are the Leeambye, or Iambaji, rising +in Cazembe’s country; the Lungebungo, which descends +from the Mossamba Mountains; and the Leeba +River, from the marshy Lake Dilolo (4,740 feet), situated +between 10° and 12° south latitude and 22° and 23° east +longitude. These three rivers, reinforced by the Nhengo, +unite to form the upper Zambesi (Leeambye), which flows +at first southwards and slightly eastwards through the Barotse +valley, then turns prominently to the east near its junction +with the Chobe (Chuando or Linianti), and passes over the +Victoria Falls. Thence, as the middle reach of the Zambesi, +the river sweeps north-east towards Zumbo and the +Kebrabassa rapids above Tete, and finally forms the lower +Zambesi, which curves southwards until it reaches the Indian +Ocean at 18° 50′ south latitude. Fed chiefly from +the highland country which stretches from Lake Nyassa to +inner Angola, its chief tributaries are the Loängwa and the +Shiré, the last an important river draining out of Lake +Nyassa, and which in the dry season contains probably as +great a volume of water as the Zambesi, and is much more +navigable. Except for an interruption of seventy miles at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</span>the Murchison cataracts, the Shiré is open throughout its +entire length to the lake.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f30"> +<img src="images/fig30.jpg" alt="zambesi"> +<p class="caption">THE ZAMBESI</p> +</div> + +<p>On the whole the Zambesi has a gentle current, and +flows through a succession of wide fertile valleys and richly +wooded plains; but, owing to the terrace-like structure of +the continent, the course of the river is interrupted from +point to point by cataracts and rapids. These form serious, +and in some cases insurmountable, hindrances to navigation. +Those on the lower Zambesi begin with its delta. +The bar here was long held to be impassable, except to vessels +of the shallowest draught, but the difficulty was exaggerated +partly through ignorance and partly in the interests +of the Portuguese settlement of Quilimane, which, before +the merits of the Kongone entrance were understood, had +been already established on the Qua-qua River, sixty miles +to the north. The Zambesi is now known to have four +mouths, the Milambe to the west, the Kongone, the Leeabo, +and the Timbwe. The best of these, the Kongone, has +altered and the channel improved recently. There are at +least eighteen feet of water on the bar at high water neap +tides; and steamers drawing fifteen feet, and sailing vessels +drawing three feet less, have no difficulty in entering. The +deep water continues only a short distance, and, after +Mazaro (sixty miles) is reached, where the river has already +dwindled to the breadth of a mile, the channel is open in +the dry season as far as Senna (120 miles from the mouth) +for vessels drawing four and one-half feet. Up to this point +navigation could only be successfully and continuously carried +on by vessels of much lighter draught—stern-wheelers +for preference with a draught of little more than eighteen +inches. About ninety miles from Senna the river enters +the Lupata gorge, the impetuous current contracting between<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</span> +walls to a width of scarcely 200 yards. Passing Tete (240 +miles from the mouth with a smooth course) the channel +becomes dangerous at Kebrabassa, ninety miles further on. +From the Kebrabassa rapids upwards, and past the Victoria +Falls, there are occasional stretches of navigable water extending +for considerable distances, while the upper Zambesi +with its confluents and their tributaries forms a really fine +and extensive waterway. Like the Nile, the Zambesi is +visited by annual inundations, during which the whole +country is flooded and many of the minor falls and rapids +are then obliterated.</p> + +<p>The chief physical feature of the Zambesi is the Mosi-oa-tunya +(“smoke sounds there”) or Victoria Falls, admitted +to be one of the noblest waterfalls in the world. The cataract +is bounded on three sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet +high, and these, along with many islands dotted over the +stream, are covered with sylvan vegetation. The falls, according +to Livingstone, are caused by a stupendous crack +or rent, with sharp and almost unbroken edges, stretching +right across the river in the hard black basalt which here +forms the bed. The cleft is 360 feet in sheer depth and +close upon a mile in length. Into this chasm, or more than +twice the depth of Niagara, the river rolls with a deafening +roar, sending up vast columns of spray, which are visible +for a distance of twenty miles. Unlike Niagara, the Mosi-oa-tunya +does not terminate in an open gorge, the river immediately +below the fall being blocked at eighty yards by +the opposing side of the (supposed) cleft running parallel to +the precipice which forms the waterfall. The only outlet +is a narrow channel cut in this barrier at a point 1,170 +yards from the western end of the chasm and some 600 +from its eastern, and through this the Zambesi, now only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</span> +twenty or thirty yards wide, pours for 120 yards before +emerging into the enormous zigzag trough which conducts +the river past the basalt plateau.</p> + +<p>The region drained by the Zambesi may be represented +as a vast broken-edged plateau 3,000 or 4,000 feet high, +composed in the remote interior of metamorphic beds and +fringed with the igneous rocks of the Victoria Falls. At +Shupanga, on the lower Zambesi, thin strata of grey and +yellow sandstone, with an occasional band of limestone, +crop out on the bed of the river in the dry season, and +these persist beyond Tete, where they are associated with +extensive seams of coal. Gold is also known to occur in +several places.</p> + +<p>The higher regions of the Zambesi have only been visited +by one or two explorers; and the lower, though nominally +in possession of the Portuguese since the beginning of the +Sixteenth Century, are also comparatively little known. +The Barotse valley, or valley of the upper Zambesi, is a vast +pastoral plain, 3,300 feet above sea-level, about 189 miles +in length and thirty to thirty-five broad. Though inundated +in the rainy season, it is covered with villages and supports +countless herds of cattle. The Luiwas who inhabit it are +clothed with skins, work neatly in ivory, and live upon +milk, maize, and sweet potatoes. In the neighbourhood of +the falls the tsetse fly abounds; and the Batoka people +who live there, and who are the only arboriculturists in the +country, live upon the products of their gardens. Zumbo, +on the north bank, and Chicova, opposite on the southern +side (500 miles above the delta), were the farthest inland of +the Portuguese East African settlements, and are well placed +for commerce with the natives. Founded by Pereira, a +native of Goa, these settlements were ultimately allowed to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</span> +go to ruins; but Zumbo has been recently reoccupied. +The once celebrated gold mines of Parda Pemba are in the +vicinity. The only other Portuguese settlements on the +Zambesi are Tete and Senna. Tete, formerly a large and +important place, now nearly in ruins, still possesses a fort and +several good tiled stone and mud houses. Thither Portuguese +goods, chiefly wines and provisions, are carried by +means of canoes. The exports, which include ivory, gold +dust, wheat, and ground-nuts, are limited owing to the difficulty +of transport; but this difficulty is not insurmountable, +for Tete has been twice visited by some small steam vessels. +Senna, further down the river, a neglected and unhealthy +village, has suffered much from political mismanagement, +and has ceaseless troubles with the Landeens or Zulus, who +own the southern bank of the river, and collect in force +every year to exact a heavy tribute-money. The industrial +possibilities of the lower Zambesi, and indeed of the whole +river system, are enormous. India-rubber, indigo, archil, +beeswax, and columbo root are plentiful, and oil-seeds and +sugar-cane could be produced in sufficient quantity to supply +the whole of Europe.</p> + +<p>The Zambesi region was known to the mediæval geographers +as the empire of Monomotapa, and the course of +the river, as well as the position of Lakes N’gami and +Nyassa, was filled in with a rude approximation to accuracy +in the earlier maps. These were probably constructed +from Arab information. The first European to visit the +upper Zambesi was Livingstone in his exploration from +Bechuanaland between 1851 and 1853. Two or three years +later he descended the Zambesi to its mouth and in the +course of this journey discovered the Victoria Falls. In +1859, accompanied by Dr. Kirk (now Sir John Kirk), Livingstone<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</span> +ascended the river as far as the falls, after tracing +the course of its main tributary, the Shiré, and discovering +Lake Nyassa. The mouths of the Zambesi were long +claimed exclusively by the Portuguese, but in 1888 the +British Government opened negotiations with Portugal to +have the river declared free to all nations.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c42">THE URUGUAY</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ERNEST WILLIAM WHITE</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE River Uruguay, a health-giving stream impregnated +with sarsaparilla, and the lesser of the two +affluents which swell into the mighty La Plata, possesses +charms for the traveller, denied to the greater, the Paraná, +at least in the lower part of its course; the water is clearer, +the range not so vast, the scenery more varied and picturesque, +whilst the traces of industry are more patent and the +difficulties and dangers of its navigation add a piquancy +unknown to the sister waters.</p> + +<p>As its shores were to me as yet an unknown region, I +determined to spend a fortnight in becoming familiar with +their beauties, so on the morning of the 25th of December, +in the midst of a glorious summer season, a friend joined +me in taking return tickets from Buenos Ayres to Concordia, +Entre Rios, which at the then state of the tide, was +the furthest point upwards that a steamer could reach.</p> + +<p>During breakfast we pretty well lose sight of the Argentine +coast and have nothing before us but a broad freshwater +ocean covered with innumerable blue-flowered camelotes, +consisting chiefly of <i>Pontederia</i>, which spread their +broad leaves as sails to speed them on their course; these +nesine fragments descend the Paraná but are unknown on +the bosom of the Uruguay. On our right side soon rises a +long low ridge of sand indicating the Banda Oriental coast, +terminating opposite the island of Martin Garcia, in cliffs<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</span> +resembling those of loved Albion. Calm as the Thames at +London bridge is all this mighty estuary; it is not always so +however, but on this holy day of peace</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“The winds with wonder whist</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Smoothly the waters kissed!”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>And it is only by sailing over it in the glare of daylight that +any adequate impression of its vastness can be obtained. +Whence comes all this overflowing tide? is a question +readily answered by the rigid scientist, but with whose conclusions, +the imagination rests not satisfied.</p> + +<p>After leaving the outer roads of Buenos Ayres, but little +shipping is met with, and the reflection immediately occurs, +how different the case would be, were this magnificent +water-highway in the hands of the Anglo-Saxon race. On +finding ourselves nearly abreast of Martin Garcia, the Argentine +coast magically arose under a strong mirage, the +trees appearing suspended in the air and completely separated +from the shore line; whilst a shoal several miles in extent +threatening our port bow, indicated the necessity of +hugging the island, if we would avoid the fate of a fine +bark which lay rotting only a few yards off.</p> + +<p>The navigation is extremely perilous especially at low +water and yet but a few buoys are visible, an unaccount-able +omission, at least in times of peace. A boat containing +the <i>comandante</i> sallies from the fort and we, in common +with all other passing vessels, are obliged to lie to, in order +to await its visit.</p> + +<p>Martin Garcia, at once the Norfolk island and Gibraltar +of the River Plate, is the key of the common entrance to +both the Paraná and Uruguay, as their bifurcation occurs +farther north; and the channel, whose character may be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</span> +surmised from its name “<i>Hell channel</i>,” passes within easy +reach of the guns of this sentinel of the rivers, which has +been strongly fortified by the Argentine government. A +barren looking granitic tract, whence are quarried the <i>adoquines</i> +(paving stones) for the streets of the metropolis, with +low sandy shores, rising in the interior to the height of two +hundred feet and bristling with permanent fortifications and +earthworks, it presents a standing menace to dispute with +intruders entrance by water into the heart of the republic. +On entering the River Uruguay, which has an embouchure +of about thirteen miles, both banks are visible and very +striking differences they present; the right or Entre-Riano +shore is well-wooded and clothed with vegetation, whilst +the left or Montevidean lies in all its naked barrenness. +Further on, the Banda Oriental coast alters its character, +being fringed with islands and less sandy; then jut out into +the river a succession of bold bluffs, almost all with a bloody +history, covered with a scanty verdure emerging from sand, +presenting a close general resemblance to the southern shore +of the Isle of Wight; and these promontories are usually +dotted with <i>estancias</i>. Casting our eyes across the broad +waters, we notice a change there likewise; long reefs of +sand exchange verdure for sterility, and it is a remarkable +circumstance throughout our whole progress up the Uruguay, +that the two shores bear continually opposite or, so to +speak, complimentary characters, not only physically and +politically but botanically; when one is bold or fertile, the +other is low or sterile. We now pass several wrecks, attesting +the difficulties which beset our watery path.</p> + +<p>Rounding a point, we suddenly come upon what looks +uncommonly like an English fishing-village, with its craft +quietly reposing in a snug bay; the church and cemetery<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</span> +topping our eminence, whilst the residence of the lord of +the manor caps another, and learn that this is <i>Nueva Palmira</i>. +The Oriental flag here boards us for the first time +and the Easterns got rid of, the Saturno is again let loose +on her orbit to hug the Montevidean coast, which now descends +again to long reaches of low flat sands, with a +broader stream, forming extensive sabulous, and in some +cases well-wooded islands, which stretch leagues upon +leagues along this left bank. A glorious moon, within two +days of the full, succeeded one of the angriest yet finest of +sunsets, and her rays, falling full upon the capacious bosom +of the placid river transformed it into a lake of burnished +silver. At about 9 <span class="allsmcap">P. M.</span> we arrive off the mouth of the +Rio Negro (Black River), called thus because the decaying +sarsaparilla roots, with which its banks are lined, impregnate +and discolour the waters and at the same time render +them so highly medicinal as to attract great numbers of +bathers to its shores.</p> + +<p>As the rising sun’s disk was cut in twain by the horizon, +I started upon deck to view the landscape. We were +coursing through numberless islands, with a scenery on +both banks exactly like that of the Suffolk river Orwell, +but with an atmosphere O! how different! ours was as +the balm of Eden, theirs, the nipping dry Eoic. The +breadth of the stream is here about half a mile, and the +moderately elevated banks are clothed with vivid green to +the water’s edge; then as the river narrows again, we +traverse a beautiful Ægean, whose innumerable islets are +thickly wooded, principally with Espinillo (<i>Acacia cavenia</i>), +Tala (<i>Celtis Sellowiana</i>), the willow of Humboldt, Ceibo +(<i>Erythrina cristagalli</i>) and Laurel; but which, to my utter +astonishment, presented scarcely any trace of animal life;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</span> +hardly a dozen butterflies, a chimango or two, and a few +weary-looking butcher-birds were its sole visible representatives. +About 6 <span class="allsmcap">A. M.</span>, whilst passing through low jungle we +sight our first city on the Argentine side, Concepcion del Uruguay, +the capital of the province of Entre Rios; and entering +a deep channel scarce a hundred yards broad, flanked +by a double row of poplars, emerge in front of the splendid +<i>Saladero</i><a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> of Santa Candida.</p> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Slaughter-house.</p> + +</div> + +<p>Ten miles above Paysandú, the river expands into a broad +belt clear as a mirror, in which the sky, distant foliage and +hills are brilliantly reflected, the air changes and bathed in +tropical fragrance and balminess, the intensely vivid verdure +springs up magically around us.</p> + +<p>At the junction of the Queguay, an oriental affluent with +the main stream, which at this point has a breadth of about +half a mile are planted several <i>Saladeros</i>, apparently hard at +work; but whether the palms are scared by the scent of +blood or refuse to witness the daily holocaust, certain it is +that they here suddenly vanish from the scene. Twenty +miles above this rises a veritable <i>Tarpeia</i> in the shape of a +very lofty, bold, perpendicular-faced mass jutting into the +river from the Uruguay coast, and which, with a refinement +of cruelty and a just appreciation of history, was actually +used by a general in one of the periodic revolutions to which +this unhappy country is so subject, wherefrom to hurl his +prisoners. Two picturesque islands, circular, rising abruptly +out of the water, apparently exactly equal in size +and shape, and hence styled “<i>Las dos hermanas</i>” (the two +sisters), stand as advanced guards to this precipitous promontory, +and by their intensely green verdure to the river’s +edge and smooth mathematical uniformity, offer a pleasing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</span>contrast to the rugged, battered and blackened face of the +cliff.</p> + +<p>We hold our breath as with a quick turn and dart through +the seething flood, our clever steersman pilots us through +dangers greater than ever Sylla and Charybdis offered, and +leaves us at leisure to survey the prosperous cattle farms, +which, on both banks, now line our approach to Concordia.</p> + +<p>At length about 5 <span class="allsmcap">P. M.</span>, after a passage of thirty-one +hours and at a distance of 300 miles from Buenos Ayres, +we sight the town of Concordia on the right bank, and at +almost the same moment Salto, on the left, which, rising +tier upon tier, very much resembles Bath; these two occupy +almost the same relative positions as Buda and Pesth on the +Danube.</p> + +<p>From its junction with the Paraná, the Uruguay is +navigable at all states of the tide as far as Concordia, but +some miles above that city occur the Falls of Salto-grande +and numerous rapids which render it unnavigable to steamers +from below, except in times of extraordinary freshets +between which an interval of years sometimes elapses; +whilst above these, although still sown with rapids, the river +is navigable but to vessels of smaller draught.</p> + +<p>From the marvellous accounts I had listened to, I expected +to behold in these Falls another Niagara, but great +was my disappointment on viewing them for the first time, +for although very picturesque, they struck me as completely +wanting in the grandeur with which my imagination had +clothed them. Extending for about a mile longitudinally, +they consist on the northern limit of a transverse bar of +boulders which cause a perpendicular descent of about +twenty-five feet; then a succession of rugged rocks, sometimes +of very fantastic shape, pile Pelion on Ossa, amongst<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</span> +which the river surges and eddies. The reef spreads completely +across the river, a distance of about a quarter of a +mile, so that in some states of the tide, it is possible to pass +on foot from Entre Rios to the Banda Oriental, at all times +a difficult, nay dangerous, undertaking. An island formed +of massive boulders occupies the centre, on which a few +dwarfed trees struggle for an aquatic existence. Here are +found splendid agates, blocks of rock crystal, amethysts +and other precious stones; and there lie naked on the blistering +rocks, those rusty and silent mementos of Garibaldi’s +unsuccessful expedition in 1840 when, to cross the rapids, +he was obliged to throw overboard ten eighteen-pounder +iron guns.</p> + +<p>By contemplating the scene, however, it grows in magnitude +and sublimity.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c43">THE TWEED</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">SIR THOMAS DICK LAUDER</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE great valley which affords a course for the Tweed, +when taken in conjunction with those minor branch +valleys which give passage to its various tributaries, may be +called the great Scoto-Arcadian district of pastoral poetry +and song. Who could enumerate the many offerings which +have been made to the rural muses in this happy country? +for where there are poetry and song, happiness must be presupposed, +otherwise neither the one nor the other could have +birth.</p> + +<p>During those barbarous times, when border raids were in +continual activity, and when no one on either side of the +marches, or debatable land, could lay down his head to sleep +at night, without the chance of having to stand at his defense, +or perhaps to mount and ride ere morning, the valleys +of the Tweed and its tributaries must have witnessed many +strange and stirring events and cruel slaughters. To defend +themselves from these predatory incursions the Scottish +monarchs erected strong castles along the lower part of the +course of the Tweed, and the chain of these places of +strength was carried upwards, quite to the source of the +streams by the various land owners. These last were +either Towers or Peels—these different names being given, +rather to distinguish the structures as to their magnitude and +importance, than from any great difference of plan—the +Tower possessing greater accommodations and being much +the larger and more impregnable in strength of the two.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</span> +These strongholds, being intended for the general advantage +and preservation of all the inhabitants of the valley, were +built alternately on both sides of the river, and in a continued +series, so as to have a view one of another; so that +a fire kindled on the top of any one of them, was immediately +responded to, in the same way, by all the others in +succession; the smoke giving the signal by day and the +flame by night—thus spreading the alarm through a whole +country of seventy miles in extent, in the provincial phrase, +from “Berwick to the Bield,”—and to a breadth of not less +than fifty miles carrying alarm into the uppermost parts of +every tributary glen.</p> + +<p>Availing ourselves of the quaint language of Dr. Pennecuick, +we now beg to inform our readers that “The famous +Tweed hath its first spring or fountain nearly a mile to the +east of the place where the shire of Peebles marches and +borders with the stewartry of Annandale—that is Tweed’s +Cross, so called from a cross which stood and was erected +there in the time of Popery, as was ordinar y, in all the +eminent places of public roads in the kingdom before our +Reformation. Both Annan and Clyde have their first rise +from the same height, about half a mile from one another, +where Clyde runneth west, Annan to the south, and Tweed +to the east.” There is some little exaggeration, however, +in the old Doctor here—for there is, in reality, no branch of +Clyde within two miles of Tweed’s Cross, or Errickstane +Brae. Tweed’s Well is not very far from the great r oad; +and the site of Tweed’s Cross is 1,632 feet above the level +of the sea. “Tweed runneth for the most part with a soft, +yet trotting stream, towards the north-east, the whole length +of the country, in several meanders, passing first through +the Paroch of Tweeds-moor, the place of its birth, then +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</span>running eastwards, it watereth the parishes of Glenholm, +Drumelzear, Broughton, Dawick, Stobo, Lyne, Mannor, +Peebles, Traquair, Innerleithen, and from thence in its +course to the March at Galehope-burn, where, leaving +Tweeddale, it beginneth to water the forest on both sides, +a little above Elibank.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f31"> +<img src="images/fig31.jpg" alt="tweed"> +<p class="caption">THE TWEED</p> +</div> + +<p>The Banks of the Tweed abound in simple rural charms +as you proceed downwards from Elibank Tower, and they +partake of that peaceful pastoral character which its green +sided hills bestow upon it.</p> + +<p>We now come to that part of the course of the Tweed, +extending from its junction with the united rivers Ettrick +and Yarrow to the mouth of Gala Water. The estate of Abbotsford +makes up a large part of the whole. The part of +it that borders the Tweed consists of a large and very +beautiful flat haugh, around the margin of which the river +flows gently and clearly over its beds of sparkling pebbles.</p> + +<p>The angling from Gala Water foot to Leader foot is all +excellent, both for salmon and trout, when the river is in +proper condition; and then the beauty and interest of all +the surrounding features of nature and the silent grandeur +of the holy pile of ruin are such that even the unsuccessful +angler must find pleasure in wandering by the river-side, +quite enough to counterbalance the disappointment of empty +baskets.</p> + +<p>Sir Walter Scott says:—</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“If thou would’st view fair Melrose aright,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go visit it by the pale moonlight;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the gay beams of lightsome day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gild but to flout the ruins grey.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When the broken arches are black in night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And each shafted oriel glimmers white;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">When the cold lights’ uncertain shower</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Streams on the ruined central tower;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When buttress and buttress alternately,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seemed framed of ebon and ivory;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When silver edges the imagery,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When the distant Tweed is heard to rave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the howlet to hoot o’er the dead man’s grave;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then go—but go alone the while—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then view St. David’s ruined pile;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, home returning, soothly swear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was never scene so sad and fair.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Before leaving this section of the Tweed, we must not +forget to mention that the Knights Templars had a house +and establishment on the east side of the village of Newstead. +It was called the Red Abbey. Before concluding +this part of our subject, it appears to us to be very important, +if not essential, to call our readers’ especial attention to +the singular promontory of Old Melrose on the right bank +of the river. It is a high bare head, around which the river +runs in such a way as to convert it into a peninsula. Here +it was that the first religious settlement was made. This +monastery was supposed to have been founded by Columbus +or by Aidan, probably about the end of the Sixth Century. +It would appear that it was built of oak wood, thatched with +reeds, the neck of land being enclosed with a stone wall. +It is supposed to have been burned by the Danes. The +name given to it was decidedly Celtic and quite descriptive +of its situation—Maol-Ros, signifying Bare Promontory—and +from this the more recent Abbey and the whole of the +more modern parish of Melrose have derived their name.</p> + +<p>We now come to a very beautiful, nay, perhaps, we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</span> +ought to say the most beautiful part of the Tweed, where it +meanders considerably, as it takes its general course in a +bold sweep round the parish of Merton. On its north side +the ground rises to a very considerable height in cultivated +and wooded hills. From several parts of the road that +winds over it, most magnificent views are enjoyed up the +vale of the Tweed including Melrose and the Eildon Hills; +and then at the same time, these rising grounds and the +southern banks, which are likewise covered with timber, +give the richest effect of river scenery to the immediate +environs of the stream.</p> + +<p>We scarcely know a place anywhere which is so thoroughly +embowered in grand timber as Dryburgh Abbey. +The most beautiful fragment of the ruin is that which is +called Saint Mary’s Aisle, which formed the south aisle of +the transept; and let it not be approached save with that +holy awe which is inspired by the recollection of the illustrious +dead! for here repose the ashes of the immortal Sir +Walter Scott!</p> + +<p>Below Dryburgh Lord Polwarth’s property of Merton begins +and runs for about two miles down the Tweed. As +you approach the place of Mackerston, the immediate bed +of the stream becomes more diversified by rocks, both on +its side and in its channel. The Duke of Roxburgh’s fishings +stretch for nearly four miles to a point about half a +mile below Kelso.</p> + +<p>Nothing can surpass the beauty of the scene when looked +at from Kelso bridge. And then when it is taken from +other points, the bridge itself, the ruined abbey, the buildings +of the town, with the wooded banks and the broad +river form a combination of objects, harmonizing together, +which are rarely to be met with. Each particular description<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</span> +of scenery requires to be judged of and estimated according +to its own merits. You cannot, with any good +effect or propriety, compare a wild, mountainous and rocky +highland scene with a rich, lowland district. But this we +will say, that, of all such lowland scenes, we know of none +that can surpass the environs of Kelso; for whilst the mind +is there filled with all those pleasing associations with peace +and plenty, which such scenes are generally more or less +calculated to inspire, there are many parts of it which would +furnish glowing subjects for the artist. Here the Tweed is +joined by the Teviot; and we shall finish this part of our +subject by those beautiful lines from Teviot’s own poet, +Leyden, in his <i>Scenes of Infancy</i>:—</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Bosomed in woods where mighty rivers run,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Kelso’s fair vale expands before the sun;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its rising downs in vernal beauty swell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, fringed with hazel, winds each flowery dell;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Green spangled plains to dimpling lawns succeed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Tempe rises on the banks of Tweed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Blue o’er the river Kelso’s shadow lies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And copse-clad isles amid the waters rise.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Like a gentleman of large fortune, who has just received +a great accession to it, the Tweed, having been joined by +the Teviot, leaves Kelso with a magnitude and an air of +dignity and importance that it has nowhere hitherto assumed +during its course, and which it will be found to +maintain, until it is ultimately swallowed up by that grave +of all rivers—the sea. A few miles brings it to the confines +of Berwickshire, and in its way thither it passes +through a rich country.</p> + +<p>Just before quitting the confines of Roxburghshire the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</span> +Tweed receives the classic stream of the Eden, which enters +it from the left bank. The Eden is remarkable for the +excellence of the trout, which are natives of the stream, but +they require very considerable skill and great nicety of art +to extract them by means of the angle from their native +element.</p> + +<p>And now we must congratulate our kind and courteous +reader, as well as ourselves, that the romantic days of border +warfare have been long at an end; for if it had been otherwise, +our noble companion the Tweed, which has now +brought us to a point where he washes England with his +right hand waves whilst he laves Scotland with his left, +might have brought us into some trouble. As he forms the +boundary between England and Scotland from hence to the +sea, we must in order to preserve him as a strictly Scottish +river, say little about his right bank, except what may be +necessary for mere illustration. But as we see before us +the truly dilapidated ruins of what was once the strong and +important fortress of Wark Castle, we must bestow a few +words upon it.</p> + +<p>Wark was the barony and ancient possession of the family +of Ross, one of whom, William de Ross, was a competitor +for the crown of Scotland in the reign of Edward I. of +England. It continued in that family to the end of the +Fourteenth Century, when it appears to have become the +possession of the Greys, who took their title from the place, +being styled the Lords Grey of Wark, in the descendants +of which family it has continued to the present time.</p> + +<p>The Scottish banks of the river from the Eden water to +Coldstream are richly cultivated and partially wooded by +hedgerows and the plantations of several properties. The +view down the course of the stream, which runs down<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</span> +wooded banks of no great height, and is crossed by the +noble bridge of Coldstream, is extremely beautiful. The +village of Coldstream itself is very pretty with its nice +modern cottages and gardens; but it is likewise interesting +from some of its old buildings. Coldstream was remarkable +for its convent of Cistercian nuns, of which Mr. +Chambers gives us the following interesting account:—Previous +to the Reformation Coldstream could boast of a +rich priory of Cistercian nuns; but of the buildings not +one fragment now remains. The nunnery stood upon a +spot a little eastwards from the market-place, where there +are still some peculiarly luxuriant gardens, besides a small +burying-ground, now little used. In a slip of waste +ground, between the garden and the river, many bones and +a stone coffin were dug up some years ago; the former +supposed to be the most distinguished of the warriors that +fought at Flodden; for there is a tradition that the abbess +sent vehicles to that fatal field and brought away many of +the better orders of the slain, whom she interred here. +The field, or rather hill, of Flodden, is not more than six +miles from Coldstream, and the tall stone that marks the +place where the king fell, only about half that distance, the +battle having terminated about three miles from the spot +where it commenced.</p> + +<p>General Monk made this his quarters till he found a +favourable opportunity for entering England to effect the +Restoration; and it was here that he raised that regiment +that has ever afterwards had the name of the Coldstream +Guards.</p> + +<p>The River Till is an important tributary to the Tweed +from its right bank. The Till runs so extremely slow that +it forms a curious contrast with the Tweed, whose course<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</span> +here is very rapid, giving rise to the following quaint +verses:—</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Tweed said to Till,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What gars ye rin sae still?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till said to Tweed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though ye rin wi’ speed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I rin slow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet where ye drown ae man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I drown twa.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>We must now proceed to make our last inroad into England—an +inroad, however, very different indeed from those +which used to be made by our ancestors, when they rode +at the head of their men-at-arms, for the purpose of harrying +the country and driving a spoil. We go now upon a +peaceful visitation of Norham Castle, certainly the most +interesting of all objects of a similar description on the +whole course of the Tweed.</p> + +<p>The ancient name of the castle appears to have been +Ubbanford. It stands on a steep bank, partially wooded +and overhanging the river. It seems to have occupied a +very large piece of ground as the ruins are very extensive, +consisting of a strong square keep, considerably shattered, +with a number of banks and fragments of buildings enclosed +within an outer wall of a great circuit; the whole +forming the most picturesque subject for the artist. It was +here that Edward I. resided when engaged in acting as +umpire in the dispute concerning the Scottish crown. +From its position exactly upon the very line of the border, +no war ever took place between the two countries without +subjecting it to frequent sieges, during which it was +repeatedly taken and retaken. The Greys of Chillingham<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</span> +Castle were often successively captains of the garrison; +yet as the castle was situated in the patrimony of St. Cuthbert, +the property was in the see of Durham till the +Reformation. After that period it passed through various +hands.</p> + +<p>The parish of Ladykirk, which now comes under our +notice, upon the left bank of the Tweed, was created at +the Reformation by the junction of Upsetlington and +Horndean. James IV. had built a church which he +dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whence it received its name.</p> + +<p>As we proceed downwards, the scenery on the Tweed +may be said to be majestic, from the fine wooded banks +which sweep downwards to its northern shores. The surface +of the water is continually animated by the salmon +coble shooting athwart the stream.</p> + +<p>A very handsome suspension bridge, executed by +Captain Samuel Brown of the Royal Navy here connects +England with Scotland, and at some distance below, the +Tweed receives the Whitadder as its tributary from the +left bank.</p> + +<p>When we begin to find ourselves within the liberties of +Berwick, we discover that we are in a species of no man’s +land. We are neither in England nor in Scotland, but in +“our good town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.” We have +never passed through it without being filled with veneration +for the many marks that yet remain to show what a +desperate struggle it must have had for its existence for so +many centuries, proving a determined bravery in the inhabitants +almost unexampled in the history of man. It +always brings to our mind some very ancient silver flagon, +made in an era when workmen were inexpert and when the +taste of their forms was more intended for use than for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</span> +ornament, but of materials so solid and valuable as to have +made it survive all the blows and injuries, the marks of +which are still to be seen upon it; and which is thus infinitely +more respected than some modern mazer of the +most exquisite workmanship.</p> + +<p>Escaping from Berwick-bridge the Tweed, already +mingled with the tide, finds its way down to its estuary, the +sand and muddy shores of which have no beauty in them.</p> + +<p>And now, oh silver Tweed! we bid thee a kind and last +adieu, having seen thee rendered up to that all-absorbing +ocean, with which all rivers are doomed to be commingled, +and their existence terminated, as is that of frail man, with +the same hope of being thence restored by those well-springs +of life that are formed above the clouds.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c44">NIAGARA</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">JOHN TYNDALL</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>T is one of the disadvantages of reading books about +natural scenery that they fill the mind with pictures, +often exaggerated, often distorted, often blurred, and, even +when well drawn, injurious to the freshness of first impressions. +Such has been the fate of most of us with regard +to the Falls of Niagara. There was little accuracy in the +estimates of the first observers of the cataract. Startled by +an exhibition of power so novel and so grand, emotion +leaped beyond the control of the judgment, and gave currency +to notions which have often led to disappointment.</p> + +<p>A record of a voyage, in 1535, by a French mariner +named Jacques Cartier, contains, it is said, the first printed +allusion to Niagara. In 1603 the first map of the district +was constructed by a Frenchman named Champlain. In +1648 the Jesuit Rageneau, in a letter to his superior at +Paris, mentions Niagara as “a cataract of frightful height.” +In the winter of 1678 and 1679 the cataract was visited by +Father Hennepin, and described in a book dedicated “to +the King of Great Britain.” He gives a drawing of the +waterfall, which shows that serious changes have taken +place since his time. He describes it as “a great and +prodigious cadence of water, to which the universe does +not offer a parallel.” The height of the fall, according to +Hennepin, was more than 600 feet. “The waters,” he +says, “which fall from this great precipice do foam and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</span>boil in the most astonishing manner, making a noise more +terrible than that of thunder. When the wind blows to +the south its frightful roaring may be heard for more than +fifteen leagues.” The Baron la Hontan, who visited +Niagara in 1687, makes the height 800 feet. In 1721 +Charlevois, in a letter to Madame de Maintenon, after referring +to the exaggerations of his predecessors, thus states +the result of his own observations: “For my part, after +examining it on all sides, I am inclined to think that we +cannot allow it less than 140 or 150 feet”—a remarkably +close estimate. At that time, viz., a hundred and fifty +years ago, it had the shape of a horseshoe, and reasons will +subsequently be given for holding that this has been always +the form of the cataract, from its origin to its present site.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f32"> +<img src="images/fig32.jpg" alt="niagara"> +<p class="caption">THE NIAGARA</p> +</div> + +<p>As regards the noise of the fall, Charlevois declares the +accounts of his predecessors, which, I may say, are repeated +to the present hour, to be altogether extravagant. He is +perfectly right. The thunders of Niagara are formidable +enough to those who really seek them at the base of the +Horseshoe Fall; but on the banks of the river, and particularly +above the fall, its silence, rather than its noise, is +surprising. This arises, in part, from the lack of resonance; +the surrounding country being flat, and therefore +furnishing no echoing surfaces to reinforce the shock of the +water. The resonance from the surrounding rocks causes +the Swiss Reuss at the Devil’s Bridge, when full, to thunder +more loudly than the Niagara.</p> + +<p>Seen from below, the American Fall is certainly exquisitely +beautiful, but it is a mere frill of adornment to its +nobler neighbour the Horseshoe. At times we took to the +river, from the centre of which the Horseshoe Fall appeared +especially magnificent. A streak of cloud across the neck<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</span> +of Mont Blanc can double its apparent height, so here the +green summit of the cataract shining above the smoke of +spray appeared lifted to an extraordinary elevation. Had +Hennepin and La Hontan seen the fall from this position, +their estimates of the height would have been perfectly +excusable.</p> + +<p>From a point a little way below the American Fall, a +ferry crosses the river, in summer, to the Canadian side. +Below the ferry is a suspension bridge for carriages and +foot-passengers, and a mile or two lower down is the railway +suspension bridge. Between ferry and bridge the river +Niagara flows unruffled; but at the suspension bridge the +bed steepens and the river quickens its motion. Lower +down the gorge narrows, and the rapidity and turbulence +increase. At the place called the “Whirlpool Rapids,” I +estimated the width of the river at 300 feet, an estimate +confirmed by the dwellers on the spot. When it is remembered +that the drainage of nearly half a continent is +compressed into this space, the impetuosity of the river’s +rush may be imagined.</p> + +<p>Two kinds of motion are here obviously active, a motion +of translation and a motion of undulation—the race of the +river through its gorge, and the great waves generated by +its collision with, and rebound from, the obstacles in its +way. In the middle of the river the rush and tossing are +most violent; at all events, the impetuous force of the individual +waves is here most strikingly displayed. Vast +pyramidal heaps leap incessantly from the river, some of +them with such energy as to jerk their summits into the air, +where they hang momentarily suspended in crowds of +liquid spherules. The sun shone for a few minutes. At +times the wind, coming up the river, searched and sifted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</span> +the spray, carrying away the lighter drops and leaving the +heavier ones behind. Wafted in the proper direction, rainbows +appeared and disappeared fitfully in the lighter mist. +In other directions the common gleam of the sunshine +from the waves and their shattered crests was exquisitely +beautiful. The complexity of the action was still further +illustrated by the fact, that in some cases, as if by the exercise +of a local explosive force, the drops were shot radially +from a particular centre, forming around it a kind of halo.</p> + +<p>At some distance below the Whirlpool Rapids we have +the celebrated whirlpool itself. Here the river makes a +sudden bend to the north-east, forming nearly a right angle +with its previous direction. The water strikes the concave +bank with great force, and scoops it incessantly away. A +vast basin has been thus formed, in which the sweep of the +river prolongs itself in gyratory currents. Bodies and trees +which have come over the falls are stated to circulate here +for days without finding the outlet. From various points of +the cliffs above this is curiously hidden. The rush of the +river into the whirlpool is obvious enough; and though you +imagine the outlet must be visible, if one existed, you cannot +find it. Turning, however, round the bend of the precipice +to the north-east, the outlet comes into view.</p> + +<p>The Niagara season was over; the chatter of sight-seers +had ceased, and the scene presented itself as one of holy seclusion +and beauty. I went down to the river’s edge, where +the weird loneliness seemed to increase. The basin is enclosed +by high and almost precipitous banks—covered, at the +time, with russet woods. A kind of mystery attaches itself +to gyrating water, due perhaps to the fact that we are to +some extent ignorant of the direction of its force. It is +said that, at certain points of the whirlpool, pine-trees are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</span> +sucked down, to be ejected mysteriously elsewhere. The +water is of the brightest emerald-green. The gorge through +which it escapes is narrow, and the motion of the river swift +though silent. The surface is steeply inclined, but it is +perfectly unbroken. There are no lateral waves, no ripples +with their breaking bubbles to raise a murmur; while the +depth is here too great to allow the inequality of the bed to +ruffle the surface. Nothing can be more beautiful than this +sloping liquid mirror formed by the Niagara in sliding from +the whirlpool.</p> + +<p>A connected image of the origin and progress of the cataract +is easily obtained. Walking northwards from the village +of Niagara Falls by the side of the river, we have to +our left the deep and comparatively narrow gorge, through +which the Niagara flows. The bounding cliffs of this gorge +are from 300 to 350 feet high. We reach the whirlpool, +trend to the north-east, and after a little time gradually resume +our northward course. Finally, at about seven miles +from the present falls, we come to the edge of a declivity, +which informs us that we have been hitherto walking on +table-land. At some hundreds of feet below us is a comparatively +level plain, which stretches to Lake Ontario. +The declivity marks the end of the precipitous gorge of +the Niagara. Here the river escapes from its steep mural +boundaries, and in a widened bed pursues its way to the lake +which finally receives its waters.</p> + +<p>The fact that in historic times, even within the memory +of man, the fall has sensibly receded, prompts the question, +How far has this recession gone? At what point did the +ledge which thus continually creeps backwards begin its retrograde +course? To minds disciplined in such researches +the answer has been, and will be—At the precipitous declivity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</span> +which crossed the Niagara from Lewiston on the +American to Queenston on the Canadian side. Over this +transverse barrier the united affluents of all the upper lakes +once poured their waters, and here the work of erosion began. +The dam, moreover, was demonstrably of sufficient +height to cause the river above it to submerge Goat Island; +and this would perfectly account for the finding, by Sir +Charles Lyell, Mr. Hall, and others, in the sand and gravel +of the island, the same fluviatile shells as are now found in the +Niagara River higher up. It would also account for those +deposits along the sides of the river, the discovery of which +enabled Lyell, Hall, and Ramsay to reduce to demonstration +the popular belief that the Niagara once flowed through +a shallow valley.</p> + +<p>The vast comparative erosive energy of the Horseshoe +Fall comes strikingly into view when it and the American +Fall are compared together. The American branch of the +river is cut at a right angle by the gorge of the Niagara. +Here the Horseshoe Fall was the real excavator. It cut +the rock, and formed the precipice, over which the American +Fall tumbles. But, since its formation, the erosive action +of the American Fall has been almost nil, while the +Horseshoe has cut its way for 500 yards across the end of +Goat Island, and is now doubling back to excavate its channel +parallel to the length of the island. This point, which +impressed me forcibly, has not, I have just learned, escaped +the acute observation of Professor Ramsay. The river +bends; the Horseshoe immediately accommodates itself to +the bending, and will follow implicitly the direction of the +deepest water in the upper stream. The flexures of the +gorge are determined by those of the river channel above it. +Were the Niagara centre above the fall sinuous, the gorge<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</span> +would obediently follow its sinuosities. Once suggested, +no doubt geographers will be able to point out many examples +of this action. The Zambesi is thought to present +a great difficulty to the erosion theory, because of the sinuosity +of the chasm below the Victoria Falls. But, assuming +the basalt to be of tolerably uniform texture, had the +river been examined before the formation of this sinuous +channel, the present zigzag course of the gorge below the +fall could, I am persuaded, have been predicted, while the +sounding of the present river would enable us to predict the +course to be pursued by the erosion in the future.</p> + +<p>But not only has the Niagara River cut the gorge; it has +carried away the chips of its own workshop. The shale, +being probably crumbled, is easily carried away. But at +the base of the fall we find the huge boulders already described, +and by some means or other these are removed +down the river. The ice which fills the gorge in winter, +and which grapples with the boulders, has been regarded as +the transporting agent. Probably it is so to some extent. +But erosion acts without ceasing on the abutting points of +the boulders, thus withdrawing their support and urging +them gradually down the river. Solution also does its portion +of the work. That solid matter is carried down is +proved by the difference of depth between the Niagara +River and Lake Ontario, where the river enters it. The +depth falls from seventy-two feet to twenty feet, in consequence +of the deposition of solid matter caused by the diminished +motion of the river.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, we may say a word regarding the proximate +future of Niagara. At the rate of excavation assigned +to it by Sir Charles Lyell, namely, a foot a year, five thousand +years or so will carry the Horseshoe Fall far higher<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</span> +than Goat Island. As the gorge recedes it will drain, as it +has hitherto done, the banks right and left of it, thus leaving +a nearly level terrace between Goat Island and the edge +of the gorge. Higher up it will totally drain the American +branch of the river; the channel of which in due time will +become cultivable land. The American Fall will then be +transformed into a dry precipice, forming a simple continuation +of the cliffy boundary of the Niagara gorge. At the +place occupied by the fall at this moment we shall have the +gorge enclosing a right angle, a second whirlpool being the +consequence. To those who visit Niagara a few millenniums +hence I leave the verification of this prediction. All +that can be said is, that if the causes now in action continue +to act, it will prove itself literally true.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c45">THE NIAGARA RIVER</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">G. K. GILBERT</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Niagara River flows from Lake Erie to Lake +Ontario. The shore of Erie is more than 300 feet +higher than the shore of Ontario; but if you pass from the +higher shore to the lower, you do not descend at a uniform +rate. Starting from Lake Erie and going northwards, you +travel upon a plain—not level, but with only gentle undulations—until +you approach the shore of Lake Ontario, +and then suddenly you find yourself on the brink of a high +bluff, or cliff, overlooking the lower lake and separated from +it only by a narrow strip of sloping plain.</p> + +<p>Where the Niagara River leaves Lake Erie at Buffalo +and enters the plain, a low ridge of rock crosses its path, +and in traversing this its water is troubled; but it soon becomes +smooth, spreads out broadly and indolently loiters on +the plain. For three-fourths of the distance it cannot be +said to have a valley, it rests upon the surface of the plateau; +but then its habit suddenly changes. By the short rapid at +Goat Island and by the cataract itself the water of the river +is dropped two hundred feet down into the plain, and thence +to the cliff at Lewiston it races headlong through a deep and +narrow gorge. From Lewiston to Lake Ontario there are +no rapids. The river is again broad, and its channel is +scored so deeply in the littoral plain that the current is +relatively slow, and the level of its water surface varies but +slightly from that of the lake.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</span></p> + +<p>The narrow gorge that contains the river from the Falls +to Lewiston is a most peculiar and noteworthy feature. Its +width rarely equals the fourth of a mile, and its depth to the +bottom of the river ranges from two hundred to five hundred +feet. Its walls are so steep that opportunities for +climbing up and down them are rare, and in these walls one +may see the geologic structure of the plateau.</p> + +<p>The contour of the cataract is subject to change. From +time to time blocks of rock break away, falling into the pool +below, and new shapes are then given to the brink over +which the water leaps. Many such falls of rock have taken +place since the white man occupied the banks of the river, +and the breaking away of a very large section is still a recent +event. By such observation we are assured that the extent +of the gorge is increasing at its end, that it is growing longer, +and that the cataract is the cause of its extension.</p> + +<p>This determination is the first element in the history of +the river. A change is in progress before our eyes. The +river’s history, like human history, is being enacted, and +from that which occurs we can draw inferences concerning +what has occurred, and what will occur. We can look +forward to the time when the gorge now traversing the +fourth part of the width of the plateau will completely divide +it, so that the Niagara will drain Lake Erie to the +bottom. We can look back to the time when there was +no gorge, but when the water flowed on the top of the plain +to its edge, and the Falls of Niagara were at Lewiston.</p> + +<p>We may think of the river as labouring at a task—the +task of sawing in two the plateau. The task is partly accomplished. +When it is done the river will assume some +other task. Before it was begun what did the river do?</p> + +<p>How can we answer this question? The surplus water<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</span> +discharge from Lake Erie could not have flowed by this +course to Lake Ontario without sawing at the plateau. +Before it began the cutting of the gorge it did not flow +along this line. It may have flowed somewhere else, but +if so it did not constitute the Niagara River. The commencement +of the cutting of the Niagara gorge is the beginning +of the history of the Niagara River.</p> + +<p>The river began its existence during the final retreat of +the great ice sheet, or, in other words, during the series of +events that closed the age of ice in America. During the +course of its history the length of the river has suffered +some variation by reason of the successive fall and rise of the +level of Lake Ontario. It was at first a few miles shorter +than now; then it became suddenly a few miles longer, and +its present length was gradually acquired.</p> + +<p>With the change in the position of its mouth there went +a change in the height of its mouth; and the rate at which +it eroded its channel was affected thereby. The influence +on the rate of erosion was felt chiefly along the lower course +of the river between Lewiston and Fort Niagara.</p> + +<p>The volume of the river has likewise been inconstant. +In early days, when the lakes levied a large tribute on the +melting glacier, the Niagara may have been a larger river +than now; but there was a time when the discharge from +the upper lakes avoided the route by Lake Erie, and then +the Niagara was a relatively small stream.</p> + +<p>The great life work of the river has been the digging of +the gorge through which it runs from the cataract to Lewiston. +The beginning of its life was the beginning of that +task. The length of the gorge is in some sense a measure +of the river’s age.</p> + +<p>The river sprang from a great geologic revolution, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</span> +banishment of the dynasty of cold, and so its lifetime is a +geologic epoch; but from first to last man has been a witness +to its toil, and so its history is interwoven with the +history of man. The human comrade of the river’s youth +was not, alas! a reporter with a notebook, else our present +labour would be light. He has even told us little of himself. +We only know that on a gravelly beach of Lake +Iroquois, now the Ridge Road, he rudely gathered stones +to make a hearth and built a fire; and the next storm +breakers, forcing back the beach, buried and thus preserved, +to gratify yet whet our curiosity, hearth, ashes and charred +sticks.</p> + +<p>In these Darwinian days we cannot deem primeval the +man possessed of the Promethean art of fire, and so his +presence on the scene adds zest to the pursuit of the +Niagara problem. Whatever the antiquity of the great +cataract may be found to be, the antiquity of man is greater.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c46">THE MEUSE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ESTHER SINGLETON</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Meuse, or Maas, has the distinction of belonging +to three countries,—France, Belgium and Holland. +In its long journey of 580 miles to the sea, it passes through +varied and beautiful scenery, including the Forest of Ardennes, +so famous in the Charlemagne romances and in the +turbulent period of the Middle Ages; then through the +vine-lands and hop-gardens so often laid waste by battles in +Belgium; and finally through the flat lands of Holland +where it has afforded inspiration to many painters.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f33"> +<img src="images/fig33.jpg" alt="meuse"> +<p class="caption">THE MEUSE</p> +</div> + +<p>Rising in France in the south of the Department Haute +Marne near the Monts Faucilles, it crosses the Department +Vosges, where, between Bazeilles and Noncourt, it disappears +and has a subterranean course for three miles and a +half. After crossing the Meuse and Ardennes Departments, +passing by the towns of Neufchâteau, Vaucouleurs, +Commercy St. Mihiel and Verdun, it reaches Sedan and +enters Belgium. During the rest of its course, its name +is variously Meuse, Maes, Maas and Merwede. Above +Dinant it receives the Lesse and at Namur, its largest tributary, +the Sambre, which almost doubles its volume. +Going north-east, it flows through a narrow valley, enclosed +between wooded hills and cliffs, dotted with picturesque +villas and country houses, and at Liège it is joined by the +Ourthe. The river now enters Dutch territory, and is +henceforth called the Maas. Passing Maestricht, or Maastricht, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</span>it flows by Roermond, where it receives the Roer, +and at Venlo a canal begins which connects it with the +Scheldt. At Gorinchem, it receives the Waal, an arm of +the Rhine. Now the Maas soon divides: the Merwede +flowing west, while the southern arm falls into the Biesbosch, +an estuary of the sea. On reaching Dortrecht, river +and sea navigation begin. Here the Maas again divides. +The Old Maas flows directly west while the northern arm +joins the Lek, a second branch of the Rhine, and continues +its course to Rotterdam, where the Rotte joins it. The +two arms unite here and flow into the North Sea by the +Hook of Holland. Schiedam and Vlardingen are the last +places of importance upon its banks. Including all windings, +the Meuse is 580 miles long and is navigable for +about 460 miles. In the early part of its course the Meuse +traverses a wide valley covered by green meadows and then +flows through narrow gorges, hemmed in by high hills and +cliffs. At Dinant, picturesquely situated on the right +bank, at the base of limestone cliffs crowned by a fortress, +it is said that Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and his +son, Charles the Bold, having captured the town, caused +800 people to be drowned in the Meuse. The river, however, +quite unconscious of this tragedy, flows on beneath a +pinnacle of rock called the <i>Roche à Bayard</i>, because the +famous steed, Bayard, belonging to the Quatre Fils d’Aymon, +left a hoof-print here as it sprang over the valley +when pursued by Charlemagne. Rocks of fantastic shapes +now rise above the river, which is spanned by bridges. Innumerable +villas and ancestral castles peep through the +thick foliage and command the cliffs. The French border +is reached at Givet; and at Sedan, memorable for the battle +between the French and Germans (September 1, 1870),<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</span> +Belgian territory is entered. The hills and valleys in the +vicinity of Sedan were occupied by the Army of the Meuse.</p> + +<p>At Namur, also grouped on the cliffs, the Meuse is +crossed by several stone bridges. The citadel on a hill +between the Sambre and Meuse is believed to occupy +the site of the camp of the Aduatuci described by Cæsar. +The Meuse, flowing through the town of Liège, forms an +island which is connected with each bank by six bridges. +The principal town lies on the left bank: Outremeuse is a +factory town on the right bank. A fine view is afforded +from the citadel (520 feet above the sea level), erected by +Prince Bishop Maximilian Henry of Bavaria in 1650, on +the site of earlier fortifications. The valleys of the Meuse, +Ourthe and Vesdre are here bounded on the south by the +Ardennes, while the Petersburg with Maestricht and the +broad plains of Limburg are seen on the north. On the +opposite bank of the Meuse is the Chartreuse. The river +here is 460 feet wide and is crossed by several bridges, of +which the Pont des Arches, rebuilt in 1860-3, dates from +the Eighth Century, and is famous in local history.</p> + +<p>After the train passes under the Chartreuse, the town of +Jupille is reached, a favourite residence of Pepin of +Héristal, who died here in 714. The town was often +visited by Charlemagne.</p> + +<p>The Dutch custom-house is at Eysden, where a beautiful +old <i>château</i> is seen among its trees; and on the opposite +bank of the Meuse, the Petersburg rises 330 feet above the +river, with the <i>château</i> of Castert on its summit. We are +now in the Dutch province of Limburg, with its capital, +Maestricht, on the left bank of the Maas, the <i>Trajectum +Superius</i> of the Romans (<i>Trajectum ad Mosam</i>), the seat of a +bishopric; the residence of Frankish Kings; and, later, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</span> +joint possession of Prince Bishops of Liège and the Dukes +of Brabant.</p> + +<p>At Gorinchem the river is joined by the Waal and as +both streams are broad, an impressive sheet of water is the +result. For a time, the river is known as the Merwede. +About four miles below Gorinchem, the Biesbosch (reed +forest) begins, a district of forty square miles and consisting +of 100 islands formed by a destructive inundation in 1421, +when seventy-two towns and villages and more than +100,000 persons perished.</p> + +<p>This inundation also separated the next town of importance, +Dordrecht, or Dort, as the Dutch call it, from the +mainland. This town, one of the wealthiest towns of the +Netherlands in the Middle Ages, presents a most picturesque +appearance with its quaint gables, red-tiled roofs, and +the lofty square tower of the Groote Kerk, which has kept +watch over the Maas for six hundred years. How familiar +it looks in the silvery light of early morning or when flooded +with the warm golden glow of the afternoon to those who +are well acquainted with the pictures of Cuyp and Jan van +Goyen! Could we wander through the town, we should +find much to study. There are numerous old mediæval +houses in the Wynstraat; the ancient gate, Groothoofd-Poort, +that had to be rebuilt in 1618; and the finest specimens +of carving in Holland,—the choir-stalls of 1538-40 +in the Groote Kerk. The harbour is full of boats and timber +rafts that have drifted down the Rhine from the Black +Forest and the <i>tjalks</i>, <i>praams</i> and other Dutch boats, large +and small, with their lee-boards (called <i>zwaards</i>) used to +steady the keelless boats, and bright sails become more numerous.</p> + +<p>The Maas now flows through typical Dutch landscapes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</span> +and feeds many canals that lead to Delft and other +cities.</p> + +<p>At length we reach Rotterdam which lies on both sides +of the river; the older city lies on the right bank of the +Maas near its confluence with the Rotte. The many docks +and canals—Koningshaven, Nieuwehaven, Haringvliet, +Oudehaven, Wijnhaven, Scheepmakershaven, Leuvehaven, +Zalmhaven, Westerhaven, etc., are filled with ocean-going +vessels and river craft of all sizes and kinds, as well as +nationalities, presenting forests of masts and innumerable funnels. +The streets are animated with sailors and merchants, +while the tree-bordered embankment, called the Bompjes, +affords a gay promenade.</p> + +<p>On the way to the sea, Schiedam on the Schie, is passed, +and also the more interesting town of Vlaardingen, one of +the oldest towns in Holland, as is evidenced by the market-place. +It is the <i>dépôt</i> for the “great fishery,” and from it +a fleet of 125 boats and 1,500 men are sent forth annually. +Maasluis, the next town, which takes a share in the “great +fishery,” is passed, and then the open sea greets the Maas +at the Hook of Holland.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c47">THE RHONE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ANGUS B. REACH</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>EW travellers have much fancy for the most rapid of +the great European streams. If they at all make its +personal acquaintance, it is with knapsack on back, and +iron-shod <i>bâton</i> in hand—when they stand upon the mother-glacier, +and watch the river-child glide brightly into air—or +perhaps it is near fair Geneva, that, loitering on a wooden +bridge, they mark the second start in life of the strong river, +and, if they be philosophers, lament the clamorous and not +cleanly Arve. Later in the river’s career—the pellucid +waters of the snow are again and still more fatally fouled +by the slow-running Saone which comes down by Lyons, +heavy and fat with the rich mud of Burgundy. At the +point of junction there, also, the tourist sometimes goes to +observe the coalition of the streams, and to find out, that +instead of the bigger river cleansing the smaller, the smaller +utterly besmirches and begrimes the greater. So pondering +over the moral, he too often takes little further heed of the +Rhone; or if he does, it is as a mere beast of burden. He +is bound south, and he knows that the “swift and arrowy +Rhone” will add wings to the speed of steam; that stepping +on board the long, long steamboat from the noble +quays of Lyons at summer’s dawn, he will step ashore amid +the clamour of the uproarious Avignon porters by the summer’s +eve. But the day’s flight—through rocks, and vines, +and corn-lands, and by ancient towns and villages, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</span> +through old bridges of stone, and modern bridges of boats, +is to the conventional traveller usually nearly a blank. +How different from the Rhine; no legends in the handbook, +no castles, no picturesque students, no jolly Burschen +choruses over pipes and beer. The steamer flies southwards. +If she be one of the quickest of the Rhone fleet, +and the river be in good order, she could carry you between +sunrise and sunset, from the land where the chestnut and +the walnut most abound, through the zone where the mulberry +is almost exclusively the tree; next past the region +where men are clipping, and twisting, and trimming the +olive, at once sacred and classic, and, finally, fairly into the +flats, where tropical rice grows out of fever-haunted swamps +in the African-like jungles of the Camargue. During this +flight, it is to be noted, that you have descended upwards of +600 feet, in fact, that you have been steaming down a modified +water-fall, and have measured in a day, a run from a +climate which may be described as temperate, to one which +is, to all intents and purposes, torrid.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f34"> +<img src="images/fig34.jpg" alt="rhone"> +<p class="caption">THE RHONE</p> +</div> + +<p>And in this run must we not have passed some rather +curious objects, some rather striking points of scenery? +May not there have been nooks, and ravines, and old towers +within that sterile, yet viney land, burnt by the hot kiss of +the sun, which are worthy of a traveller’s afternoon? There +are many such. The masonry of Rome still stands by the +stream, and ancient rock-perched ruins there are, telling +grim tales of the old religious wars of France; tales going +back to the Albigenses and Count Raymond of Toulouse, +and in later days dealing with the feuds which Ivry put an +end to, but which were renewed when the peasants of the +wild hills of the Cevennes, in their white <i>camisas</i>, Langue +d’ Oc for shirts, worn over their clothes as uniforms, held +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</span>out the long and obstinate contest of the dragonnades, and +frequently beat even Marichale Villars, with the best of the +cavaliers of the Grand Monarque. But there are still other +points of interest connected with the Rhone itself—parts +and pendicles of the river. First, look at the current. Did +you ever see a blacker, fiercer, more unmercifully minded +looking stream? Take care how you get into it. There +is drowning in its aspect. A sudden sweep down that foaming +current, and all would be over. No swimming in these +deadly whirling eddies. Once they embrace you in their +watery arms, down you go, never stopping, even to die, to +the sea, whither the Rhone is ever, ever rushing, ploughing +its way through shingles, roaring round opposing rocks, +sometimes carrying by assault a new channel through a +green pasture, at others, when its sudden floods are out, +rushing with a furious vengeance, at what at sunset was a +fertile island, rich with the ripe corn, which to-morrow will +be a torrent, and a few morrows afterwards—sand.</p> + +<p>In spite of its fury of current, in spite of its sudden +shiftings of sand and shingle banks, its sudden floods, +its sudden fogs, the Rhone has been navigated from time +immemorial.</p> + +<p>Toiling hard and slowly up the stream an <i>equipage</i> goes +crawling along, composed of half a dozen huge barges +hauled by those struggling, splashing, panting horses on the +bank. Before the introduction of steam, there were +upwards of fifty of these barge squadrons. They floated +down from Lyons to Beaucaire, opposite Arles, in two +days, but difficult and dreary was the passage back. A +month in summer, six weeks in winter were consumed in +the tedious struggle with the ever-opposing stream.</p> + +<p>But our boat is sweeping towards a rocky promontory.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</span> +The contracted stream shoots rapidly through the defile; +and, at the narrowest point, a chain bridge appears, connecting +two small villages clustered beneath vine-covered +steps. The crag above that on the right hand is castled +most picturesquely; that on the left is crowned with a +more genial diadem. The first village is Tournon, the +second Tain. The latter is poor, shabby, dirty: the +houses are rickety and slovenly. All the slope of the cliff +is split up into squares, triangles, etc., and bounded by +stone walls: and these are full of vines—the aristocracy of +the grape—in short, Hermitage.</p> + +<p>Descending the Rhone a little further, we find ourselves +opposite Valence. About a mile from the river—the +intervening space is corn-country, the fields dotted with +mulberries—rises a bold and high peak of rocks, and on +their summit, a nobly perched lyric of a castle.</p> + +<p>Clamber up! The hill is steep, and tough to ascend, +and the heath is slippery. Nevertheless, persevere, and +be rewarded at length by entering the ruins, where you will +perceive a half-crumbled cavernous looking recess in a +thick wall. It seems to have been a fireplace. Approach +cautiously! That fireplace has no back, and fuel flung in +there will roll out at a hole behind, and find itself upwards +of eight hundred feet high in the yielding air.</p> + +<p>The castle once belonged to a Protestant lord, the +Seigneur de Crussol, and when, after a successful foray +across the river, amongst the Catholic population, he +managed to secure a score or two of prisoners, high +festival was held, and the unhappy captives, amid the +brimming glasses and convivial jokes of the company, were +flung into the chimney of Crussol, and found by the +trembling peasantry indefinite masses of horror next morning.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</span></p> + +<p>These were wild old savage days; but let us go back for +a few moments to days far more ancient though hardly +more barbarous. Hannibal, coming from Spain, also +crossed the Rhone; and, looking at that wild rushing river, +so deep and broad, and perpetual in its current, we have +often thought that the great Carthaginian performed a more +brilliant exploit in getting his moorish cavalry, his war-elephants, +and his undisciplined Spanish brigades, across the +water, than across the mountains. No one knows the spot +he selected for his ferriage. Imagine the leader with his +troops encamped, and chafing at the broad river which lay +between them and those distant snow-capped hills, beyond +which was Italy. In three days, we are told, the feat was +achieved. Apocryphal accounts tell us how the horses, +mad with the terror of fire, swam wildly across the stream, +and how the elephants trumpeted upon the rafts.</p> + +<p>A wide champagne country, fertile to magnificent +luxuriance—the rushing Rhone dotted with wooded islands; +a city clustering on a hill and a castle crowning it, and we +approach Avignon. Here the traveller usually leaves the +river (if he be antiquarian and historic) and examines the +noble churches, towers, bastions and dungeons with which +the Avignon Popes beautified the city; or, if he be sentimental +and romantic, he prepares his feelings, works them—hard +work it usually is—into a proper frame, and proceeds +to Vaucluse. A pretty spot it is in itself, with its +grottoed rocks and limpid waters; and certainly the name +of Petrarch may fairly enough add a certain degree of interest +to the scene.</p> + +<p>The last point of interest is the delta of the river; the +several mouths through which, after its rapid course from +the lake of Geneva, the Rhone at length pours itself into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</span> +the sea. The Carmargue, as this strange swampy district +is called, is seldom or ever trodden by English foot. It +has no attractions for the ordinary sightseer, but it has +many for the lover of aspects of nature, of a strange and +unwonted character, and of which few are to be seen in +Europe. Proceeding from Arle, along a muddy, clayey +road, through a perfect flat intersected by numerous draining +ditches, you gradually find yourself arriving in a region +where the earth appears to be losing its consistence and +melting into mud beneath your feet. Forests of swamp-growing +trees, willows, and marsh-mallows stretch +around; and as you emerge from them you come upon a +boundless plain, an enormous stagnant flat—mud and water +and water and mud for scores and scores of square miles, +but intersected as far as the eye can reach, by a network of +clay walls, upon which you can make your way, gazing in +wonder upon the perfect sublimity of the apparent desolation. +But there is no desolation in the case. These +swamps are rice-fields. If you paid your visit during the +summer, the grain will be growing out of the tepid water; +if during the autumn, you will see withered beds of the +straw left for manure, slowly rotting in the soil. At long +distances crawling figures appear. These are the labourers +employed by the Company which grows the rice, and +whose stations for draining out the surplus water, which +would otherwise perhaps overwhelm the whole district, +may be fixed by their lofty siphon tubes breaking the dead +flatness of the several lines of view. And yet there is a +dreary death-like beauty about all this silent land. Shelley +has sung such; Tennyson has done it more elaborately and +better, and we find traces of the sentiment in “Eothen.” +The vast and the drear have a sublime of their own, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</span> +in this dismal waste of laid-out world we feel it. Even +ugliness is made respectable by extent, and we leave the +swamps with an impression of lorn, melancholy grandeur +looming in our minds.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c48">THE YUKON</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">WILLIAM OGILVIE</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>O within a few years ago a great unexplored solitude +extended to the eastward between the valleys of the +Upper Yukon, or Lewes, and the Mackenzie, and from the +sixtieth parallel of latitude northward to the shores of the +“frozen ocean.” This extensive region is known as the +Yukon country, a name rendered appropriate by the fact +that it is drained by the Yukon River and its tributaries, +which form one of the great river systems of the world.</p> + +<p>Walled in by high mountains, and in consequence unapproachable +from every side, it is not strange that the Yukon +district should so long have remained in almost undisturbed +seclusion. Had it not been for the fact that the rich +metalliferous belt of the Coast and Gold Ranges passes +through the district from one end to the other, the probability +is that it would still have remained unexplored for +many years to come.</p> + +<p>Only four gates of approach to the district exist, and, +strangely enough, these are situated at the four corners. +From the north-west, access is gained to the country by +following the Yukon from its mouth in Behring Sea; from +the north-east, by crossing from the Mackenzie to the +Porcupine, and following down the latter stream to its confluence +with the Yukon; from the south-east, by ascending +the Liard from Fort Simpson and crossing the water-shed +to the head-waters of the Pelly; and finally, from the south-west,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</span> +by entering where the coast range is pierced by the +Chilkoot and Chilkat Passes.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, all these routes are beset with difficulties, +and when it is remembered that there are only four +roads into a region three times greater in extent than the total +area of the New England States, it is not to be wondered +at that the total population of the region should consist of +a few scattered Indian families and a hundred or so of +hardy miners.</p> + +<p>Occasional contributions to our knowledge of the district +have been made from time to time for at least half a +century, mainly by officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, +miners and <i>employés</i> of the abandoned Telegraph Expedition; +and skeleton maps of the interior have been constructed +in accordance with the topographical data, so far +as known.</p> + +<p>Among recent expeditions that of Lieutenant Schwatka, +of the United States Army, in the summer of 1883, may +be mentioned. Entering the country by the Chilkoot Pass, +Lieutenant Schwatka floated down the Yukon on a raft +from the source of the Lewes River to Nuklikahyet, continuing +his journey from this point to the sea by boat. +The object of this expedition was to examine the country +from a military point of view, and to collect all available +information with regard to the Indian tribes. We are indebted +to it also for a great deal of general information +with regard to the country. Schwatka, who seems to have +gone through the country with his eyes open, used the explorer’s +baptismal privilege freely, and scattered monuments +of Schwatkanian nomenclature broadcast throughout the +land, re-christening many places that had already been +named, and doing so too in apparent indifference to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</span> +fact that many thus set aside had an established priority of +many years.</p> + +<p>The part of the journey between Victoria and Chilkoot +Inlet has been so much written of, talked of and pictured +during the last few years that I will repeat only one of the +many statements made concerning it—that though it is in +ocean waters and can be traversed by the largest ships, it is +so sheltered by countless islands from the gales and waves +of the vast Pacific, nearly the whole of the length, that its +waters are always as smooth as those of a large river. In +marked contrast to this is the west coast of the United States, +where harbours are like angel’s visits.</p> + +<p>Chatham Strait and Lynn Channel lie almost in a straight +line, and during the summer there is always a strong wind +blowing up from the sea. At the head of Lynn Channel +are Chilkat and Chilkoot Inlets. The distance down these +channels to the open sea is about three hundred and eighty +miles, and along the whole extent of this the mountains on +each side of the water confine the incoming currents of air +and deflect inclined currents in the direction of the axis of +the channel. Coming from the sea, these air currents are +heavily charged with moisture, which is precipitated when +they strike the mountains, and the fall of rain and snow is +consequently very heavy.</p> + +<p>The rapids extending for a couple of miles below the +Cañon, are not at all bad. What constitutes the real danger +is a piece of calm water forming a short, sharp bend in the +river, which hides the last or “White Horse” rapids from +sight until they are reached. These rapids are about three-eighths +of a mile long. They are the most dangerous on +the river, and are never run through in boats except by +accident. Parties always examine the Cañon and rapids<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</span> +below before going through, and coming to the calm water +suppose they have seen them all, as all noise from the +lower rapid is drowned in that of the ones above. On this +account several parties have run through the “White +Horse,” being ignorant of its existence until they were in +it. These rapids are confined by low basaltic banks, which, +at the foot, suddenly close in and make the channel about +thirty yards wide. It is here the danger lies, as there is a +sudden drop, and the water rushes through at a tremendous +rate, leaping and seething like a cataract. The miners have +constructed a portage road on the west side, and put down +rollways in some places on which to shove their boats over. +They have also made some windlasses with which to haul +their boats uphill, notably one at the foot of the Cañon. +This roadway and the windlasses must have cost them +many hours of hard labour.</p> + +<p>Lake Labarge was reached on the evening of the 26th +of July, and our camp pitched on its southern shore. The +lake is thirty-one miles in length, broad at both ends and +narrow in the middle, lying north and south, like a long +slender foot-print made by some gigantic Titan in long-bygone +days.</p> + +<p>As the prevailing wind blows almost constantly down +the lake, the miners complain much of the detention from +the roughness of the water, and for the three days I was on +the lake, I certainly cannot complain of any lack of attention +from blustering Australis.</p> + +<p>The survey was carried along the western shore, which +is irregular in shape, being indented by large, shallow bays, +especially at the upper and lower ends.</p> + +<p>Just above where the lake narrows in the middle, there +is a large island, which is shown on Schwatka’s map as a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</span> +peninsula, and called by him Richtofen Rocks. How he +came to think it a peninsula I cannot understand, as it is +well out in the lake; the nearest point of it to the western +shore is upwards of half a mile distant, and the extreme +width of the lake here, as determined from triangulation, is +not more than five miles, which includes the depth of the +deepest bays on the western side. It is therefore difficult +to understand that he did not see it as an island. The +upper half of this island is gravelly, and does not rise very +high above the lake; the lower end is rocky and high, the +rock of a bright red colour and probably granite.</p> + +<p>At the lower end of the lake there is a deep wide valley +extending northwards, which has evidently at one time been +the outlet of the lake. In this the mixed timber, poplar, +and spruce, is of a size which betokens a fair soil; the +herbage, too, is more than usually rich for this region. +This valley, which Dr. Dawson has named “Ogilvie Valley,” +is extensive, and if ever required as an aid to the +sustenance of our people, will figure largely in the district’s +agricultural assets.</p> + +<p>We left this, the last lake of the great chain, behind us +on Saturday, the 30th of July, and proceeded with a moderate +current of about four miles an hour. The river just +here is crooked and runs past high, steep banks surmounted +by scrub pine and stunted poplar which shut in the narrow +valley. There are, however, many flats of moderate extent, +along the river and at its confluence with other +streams, where the soil is fair.</p> + +<p>The waters of the Big Salmon are sluggish and slow. +The valley, as seen from the mouth, is wide, and gives one +the impression of being occupied by a much more important +stream. Looking up it, in the distance could be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</span> +seen many high peaks covered with snow, and, as this was +in the beginning of August, it is likely they are always +covered so—which would make their probable altitude above +the river, five thousand feet or more.</p> + +<p>Two days’ run, or about thirty-six miles, the river constantly +winding low, sandy points, and dotted with small, +well-timbered islands, brought us to the Little Salmon +(Daly of Schwatka), a small and unimportant stream entering +upon the east. One of the most remarkable objects +along the river, located just below the Little Salmon, is a +huge hemisphere of rock, called the “Eagle’s Nest,” rising +abruptly from a gravel slope on the east bank, to a height +of about five hundred feet. It is of a light grey colour, but +what the character of the rock is I could not determine, as +I saw it only from the river, which is about a quarter of a +mile distant.</p> + +<p>We passed the mouth of the Nordenskiold on the 9th of +August. The river here makes a loop of eight miles round +a hill on the east bank named by Schwatka, Tantalus Butte. +The distance across from point to point is only half a mile.</p> + +<p>Early the next day we heard the booming of the Rink +Rapids in the distance, and it was not long before they were +in sight. These rapids are known to miners as Five +Finger Rapids, from the fact that five large, bold masses of +rock stand in mid-channel. This obstruction backs up the +water so as to raise it about a foot, causing a swell below +for a few yards.</p> + +<p>Six miles below Rink Rapids are what are known as +“Little Rapids.” This is simply a barrier of rocks which +extends from the westerly side of the river about half-way +across. Over this barrier there is a ripple which would +offer no great obstacle to the descent in a good canoe.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</span></p> + +<p>About five miles above Pelly River there is another lake-like +expanse filled with islands. The river here is nearly a +mile wide, and so numerous and close are the islands that it +is impossible to tell where the shores of the river are. The +current, too, is swift, leading one to suppose the water shallow; +but I think that even here a channel deep enough for +such boats as will navigate this part of the river, could +easily be found. Schwatka named this group “Ingersoll +Islands.”</p> + +<p>About a mile below the junction with the Lewes, and +on the south side, stands all that remains of the only permanent +trading-post ever built by white men in the district. +This post was established by Robert Campbell, for the +Hudson’s Bay Company, in the summer of 1848. It was +built upon the point of land between the two rivers, but +this location proving untenable, on account of flooding by +ice-jams in the spring, it was, in the season of 1852, moved +across the river to where the ruins now stand. It appears +that the houses composing the post were not finished when +the Indians from the coast on Chilkat and Chilkoot Inlets, +came down the river to put a stop to the competitive trade +which Mr. Campbell had inaugurated and which they found +to seriously interfere with their profits. Their method of +trade appears to have been then pretty much as it is now—very +one-sided. What they found convenient to take by +force, they took; and what they found convenient to pay +for, they paid for—at their own price.</p> + +<p>Rumours had reached the post that the coast Indians +contemplated a raid, and, in consequence, the friendly +Indians in the vicinity remained about nearly all summer. +Unfortunately, they went away for a short time, and, during +their absence, the coast Indians arrived and pillaged the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</span> +place, and set fire to it, leaving nothing but the remains of +two chimneys, which are still standing. This raid and +capture took place on Sunday, the 1st of August, 1852. +Mr. Campbell was ordered to leave the country within +twenty-four hours, and accordingly he dropped down the +river. On his way he met some of the local Indians, and +returned with them, but the robbers had made their escape. +Mr. Campbell went on down the river until he met the +outfit for his post on its way up from Fort Yukon. He +turned it back. He then ascended the Pelly, crossed to the +Liard, and reached Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie, late +in October.</p> + +<p>Nothing more was ever done in the vicinity of Fort Selkirk +by the Hudson’s Bay Company after these events, and +in 1869 the company was ordered by Capt. Chas. W. Raymond, +who represented the United States Government, +to evacuate the post at Fort Yukon, which he had ascertained +to be west of the 141st meridian. The post was +occupied by the company, however, for some time after the +receipt of the order, until Rampart House, which was intended +to be on British territory, and to take the trade +previously done at Fort Yukon, was built. Under present +conditions the company cannot very well compete with the +Alaska Fur Company, whose agents do the only trade in +the district, and they appear to have abandoned—for the +present at least—all attempts to do any trade nearer to it +than Rampart House, to which point, notwithstanding +the distance and difficulties in the way, many of the Indians +on the Pelly-Yukon make a trip every two or three years +to procure goods in exchange for their furs.</p> + +<p>On the 19th I resumed my journey northwards. Opposite +Fort Selkirk, the Pelly-Yukon River is about one-third<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</span> +of a mile broad; and it maintains this width down to White +River, a distance of ninety-six miles. Islands are numerous, +so much so that there are few parts of the river where +one or more are not in sight; many of them are of considerable +size, and nearly all are well timbered.</p> + +<p>Between Stewart and White Rivers the river spreads out +to a mile and upwards in width, and is a maze of islands and +bars. Stewart River, which was reached on the following +day, enters from the east in the middle of a wide valley, +with low hills on both sides, rising on the north side in +clearly marked steps or terraces to distant hills of considerable +height. The river, a short distance up, is two hundred +yards in width, the current slack, the water shallow and +clear, but dark-coloured; while at the mouth, I was fortunate +enough to meet a miner, named McDonald, who +had spent the whole of the summer of 1887 on the river +and its branches, prospecting and exploring. He gave me +a good deal of information, which I have incorporated in +my map of the district. This man had ascended two of +the main branches of the river. At the head of one of +them he found a large lake, which he named Mayhew +Lake. On the other branch he found falls, which he estimated +to be from one to two hundred feet in height. +McDonald went on past the falls to the head of this branch, +and found terraced gravel hills to the west and north; he +crossed them to the north and found a river flowing northwards. +On this he embarked on a raft, and floated down it +for a day or two, thinking it would turn to the west and +join the Stewart, but finding it still continuing north, and +acquiring too much volume to be any of the branches he +had seen while passing up the Stewart, he returned to his +point of departure, and after prospecting among the hills<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</span> +around the head of the river he started westwards, crossing +a high range of mountains composed principally of shales +with many thin seams of what is called quartz, ranging +from one to six inches in thickness. On the west side of +this range he found the head-waters of Beaver River, which +he descended on a raft, taking five days to do so.</p> + +<p>It is probable the river flowing northwards, on which he +made a journey and returned, is a branch of Peel River. +The timber on the gravel terraces of the water-shed, he +described as small and open. He was alone in this unknown +wilderness all summer, not seeing even any of the +natives. There are few men, I think, so constituted as to +be capable of isolating themselves in such a manner.</p> + +<p>On the 1st of September, we passed the site of the +temporary trading-post shown on the maps as Fort Reliance. +Several days of continuous rain now interrupted +our work so that Forty Mile River (Cone Hill River of +Schwatka) was not reached till the 7th of September.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c49">THE JORDAN</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ANDREW ROBERT FAUSSET</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Jordan is two hundred miles long from its source +at Antilebanon to the head of the Dead Sea. It is +not navigable, nor has it ever had a large town on its banks. +The cities Bethsham and Jericho on the west, and +Gerasa, Pella, and Gadara to the east of Jordan produced +intercourse between the two sides of the river. Yet it is +remarkable as the river of the great plain (<i>ha Arabah</i>, now +el Ghor) of the Holy Land, flowing through the whole +from north to south. Lot, from the hills on the north-west +of Sodom, seeing the plain well watered by it, as Egypt is +by the Nile, chose that district as his home, in spite of the +notorious wickedness of the people.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f35"> +<img src="images/fig35.jpg" alt="jordan"> +<p class="caption">THE JORDAN</p> +</div> + +<p>Its sources are three. The northernmost near Hasbeya +between Hermon and Lebanon; the stream is called Hasbany. +The second is best known, near Banias, <i>i. e.</i>, +Cæsarea Philippi, a large pool beneath a high cliff, fed by +gushing streamlets, rising at the mouth of a deep cave; +thence the Jordan flows, a considerable stream. The +third is at Dan, or Tel el Kady (Daphne); from the north-west +corner of a green eminence a spring bursts forth into a +clear wide pool, which sends a broad stream into the valley. +The three streams unite at Tel Dafneh, and flow +sluggishly through marshland into Lake Meron. Captain +Newbold adds a fourth, <i>wady el Kid</i> on the south-east of the +slope, flowing from the springs Esh Shar. Indeed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</span>Antilebanon abounds in gushing streams which all make +their way into the swamp between Banias and Huleh and +become part of the Jordan. The traditional site of Jacob’s +crossing Jordan at his first leaving Beersheba for Padan +Aram is a mile and a half from Merom, and six from the +Sea of Galilee: in those six its descent with roaring +cataracts over the basaltic rocks is 1,050 feet. This, the +part known to Naaman in his invasions, is the least attractive +part of its course; and was unfavourably contrasted +with Abana and Pharpar of his native land. From the Sea +of Galilee, it winds 200 miles in the sixty miles of actual +distance to the Dead Sea. Its tortuous course is the secret +of the great depression (the Dead Sea being 663 feet below +the lake of Galilee) in this distance.</p> + +<p>Three banks may be noted in the Ghor or Jordan valley, +the upper or first slope (the abrupt edge of a wide table +land reaching to the Hauran Mountains on the east and the +high hills on the west side), the lower or middle terrace +embracing the strip of land with vegetation, and the true +banks of the river bed, with a jungle of agnus castus, +tamarisks, and willows and reed and cane at the edge, the +stream being ordinarily thirty yards wide. At the flood, +the river cannot be forded, being ten or twelve feet deep +east of Jericho; but in summer it can, the water being +low. To cross it in the flood by swimming was an extraordinary +feat performed by the Gadites who joined David; +this was impossible for Israel under Joshua with wives and +children. The Lord of the whole earth made the descending +waters stand in a heap very far from their place of +crossing, viz: by the town of Adam, that is beside Zarthan +or Zaretan, the moment that the feet of the priests bearing +the ark dipped into the water. The priests then stood in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</span> +the midst of the dry river bed till all Israel crossed over. +Joshua erected a monument of twelve large stones in the +river bed where the priests had stood, near the east bank of +the river. This would remain at least for a time as a +memorial to the existing generation besides the monument +erected at Gilgal.</p> + +<p>By this lower ford, David passed to fight Syria, and afterwards +in his flight from Absalom to Mahanaim, east of +Jordan. Thither Judah escorted him and we crossed in a +ferry boat. Here Elijah and Elisha divided the waters with +the prophets’ mantle. At the upper fords Naaman washed +off his leprosy. Here too the Syrians fled, when panic-struck +by the Lord.</p> + +<p>John the Baptist “first” baptized at the lower ford near +Jericho, whither all Jerusalem and Judea resorted, being +near; where too, our Lord took refuge from Jerusalem, +and where many converts joined Him, and from whence +He went to Bethany to raise Lazarus. John’s next baptisms +were at Bethabara; thither out of Galilee the Lord +Jesus and Andrew repaired after the baptisms in the +south, and were baptized. His third place of baptism was +near Ænon and Salim, still farther to the north, where the +water was still deep though it was summer, after the passover, +for there was no ford there; he had to go thither, the +water being too shallow at the ordinary fords. John moved +gradually northwards towards Herod’s province, where ultimately +he was beheaded; Jesus, coming from the north +southwards, met John half-way.</p> + +<p>The overflow of Jordan dislodged the lion from its lair +on the wooded banks. Between Merom and Lake Tiberias +the banks are so thickly wooded as often to shut out the +view of the water.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</span></p> + +<p>Four-fifths of Israel, nine tribes and a half, dwelt west, +and one-fifth, two and a half, dwelt east of Jordan. The +great altar built by the latter was the witness of the oneness +of the two sections. Of the six cities of refuge three were +east, three west of Jordan at equal distances.</p> + +<p>Jordan enters Gennesareth two miles below the ancient +city Julias, or Bethsaida, of Gaulonitis on the east bank. It +is seventy feet wide at its mouth, a sluggish, turbid stream. +The lake of Tiberias is 653 feet below the Mediterranean +level. The Dead Sea is 1,316 feet below the Mediterranean, +the springs of Hasbeya are 1,700 above the Mediterranean, +so that the valley falls more than 3,000 feet in +reaching the north end of the Dead Sea. The bottom descends +1,308 feet lower, in all 2,600 below the Mediterranean. +The Jordan, well called “the Descender,” descends +eleven feet every mile. Its sinuosity is less in its +upper course. Besides the Jabbok it receives the Hieromax +(<i>Yarmuk</i>) below Gennesareth. From Jerusalem to +Jordan is only a distance of twenty miles; in that distance +the descent is 3,500 feet, one of the greatest chasms in +the earth; Jerusalem is 2,581 feet above the Mediterranean.</p> + +<p>Bitumen wells are not far from the Hasbeya in the north. +Hot springs abound about Tiberias; and other tokens of volcanic +action, tufa, etc., occur near the Yarmuk’s mouth and +elsewhere. Only on the east border of Lake Huleh, the +land is now well cultivated, and yields largely wheat, maize, +rice, etc. Horses, cattle, and sheep, and black buffaloes +(the “bulls of Bashan”) pasture around. West of Gennesareth +are seen corn, palms, vines, figs, melons, and pomegranates. +Cultivation is rare along the lower Jordan, but +pink oleanders, arbutus, rose hollyhocks, the purple thistle,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</span> +marigold, and anemone abound. Tracks of tigers and wild +boars, flocks of wild ducks, cranes, and pigeons have been +seen by various explorers. There are no bridges earlier than +the Roman. The Saracens added or restored some. The +Roman bridge of ten arches, was on the route from Tiberias +to Gadara. In coincidence with Scripture, the American +survey sets down three fords: that at Tarichæa, the second +at the Jabbok’s confluence with the Jordan, and that at +Jericho. The Jordan seldom now overflows its banks; but +Lieutenant Lynch noticed sedge and driftwood high up in +the overhanging trees on the banks, showing it still at times +overflows the plains. The flood never reaches beyond the +lower line of the Ghor, which is covered with vegetation. +The plain of the Jordan between the Sea of Galilee and the +Dead Sea is generally eight miles broad, but at the north +end of the Dead Sea the hills recede so that the width is +twelve miles, of which the west part is named “the plains +of Jericho.” The upper terrace immediately under the +hills is covered with vegetation; under that is the Arabah +or desert plain, barren in its southern part except where +springs fertilize it, but fertile in its northern part and cultivated +by irrigation. Grove remarks of the Jordan: “So +rapid that its course is one continued cataract, so crooked that +in its whole lower and main course it has hardly a half mile +straight, so broken with rapids that no boat can swim any +distance continuously, so deep below the adjacent country +that it is invisible and can only be with difficulty approached; +refusing all communication with the ocean, and ending in a +lake where navigation is impossible, unless for irrigation, +it is in fact what its Arabic name signifies, nothing but a +‘great watering place,’ <i>Sheriat el Khebir</i>.”</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c50">THE CONCORD</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">HENRY D. THOREAU</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Musketaquid, or Grass-ground River, though +probably as old as the Nile or Euphrates, did not begin +to have a place in civilized history, until the fame of its +grassy meadows and its fish attracted settlers out of England +in 1635, when it received the other but kindred name +of Concord from the first plantation on its banks, which appears +to have been commenced in a spirit of peace and harmony. +It will be Grass-ground River as long as grass +grows and water runs here; it will be Concord River only +while men lead peaceable lives on its banks. To an extinct +race it was grass-ground, where they hunted and fished, and +is still perennial grass-ground to Concord farmers, who own +the great meadows, and get the hay from year to year. +“One branch of it,” according to the historian of Concord, +for I love to quote so good authority, “rises in the +south part of Hopkinton, and another from a pond and a +large cedar-swamp in Westborough,” and flowing between +Hopkinton and Southborough, through Framingham, and +between Sudbury and Wayland, where it is sometimes +called Sudbury River, it enters Concord at the south part +of the town, and after receiving the North or Assabeth +River, which has its source a little farther to the north and +west, goes out at the north-east angle, and flowing between +Bedford and Carlisle, and through Billerica, empties into the +Merrimack at Lowell. Between Sudbury and Wayland the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</span> +meadows acquire their greatest breadth, and when covered +with water, they form a handsome chain of shallow vernal +lakes, resorted to by numerous gulls and ducks. Just above +Sherman’s Bridge, between these towns, is the largest expanse, +and when the wind blows freshly in a raw March +day, heaving up the surface into dark and sober billows or +regular swells, skirted as it is in the distance with alder-swamps +and smoke-like maples, it looks like a smaller Lake +Huron, and is very pleasant and exciting for a landsman to +row or sail over. The farmhouses along the Sudbury +shore, which rises gently to a considerable height, command +fine water prospects at this season. The shore is more flat +on the Wayland side and this town is the greatest loser by +the flood. Its farmers tell me that thousands of acres are +flooded now, since the dams have been erected, where they +remember to have seen the white honeysuckle or clover +growing once, and they could go dry with shoes only in +summer. Now there is nothing but blue-joint and sedge +and cut-grass there, standing in water all the year round. +For a long time, they made the most of the driest season to +get their hay, working sometimes till nine o’clock at night, +sedulously paring with their scythes in the twilight round +the hummocks left by the ice; but now it is not worth the +getting when they can come at it and they look sadly round +to their wood-lots and upland as a last resource.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f36"> +<img src="images/fig36.jpg" alt="concord"> +<p class="caption">THE CONCORD</p> +</div> + +<p>It is worth the while to make a voyage up this stream, +if you go no farther than Sudbury, only to see how much +country there is in the rear of us; great hills, and a hundred +brooks, and farmhouses, and barns, and haystacks, +you never saw before, and men everywhere. Sudbury, +that is <i>Southborough</i> men, and Wayland, and Nine-Acre-Corner +men, and Bound Rock, where four towns bound on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</span>a rock in the river, Lincoln, Wayland, Sudbury, Concord. +Many waves are there agitated by the wind, keeping nature +fresh, the spray blowing in your face, reeds and rushes +waving; ducks by the hundred, all uneasy in the surf, in +the raw wind, just ready to rise, and now going off with a +clatter and a whistling like riggers straight from Labrador, +flying against the stiff gale with reefed wings, or else circling +round first, with all their paddles briskly moving, just over +the surf, to reconnoitre you before they leave these parts; +gulls wheeling overhead, muskrats swimming for dear life, +wet and cold, with no fire to warm them by that you know +of; their laboured homes rising here and there like haystacks; +and countless mice and moles and winged titmice +along the sunny, windy shore; cranberries tossed on the +waves and heaving up on the beach, their little red skiffs +beating about among the alders;—such natural tumult as +proves the last day is not yet at hand. And there stands all +around the alders, and birches, and oaks, and maples, full +of glee and sap, holding in their buds, until the waters subside. +You shall perhaps run aground on Cranberry Island, +only some spires of last year’s pipe-grass above water, to +show where the danger is, and get as good a freezing there +as anywhere on the North-west Coast. I never voyaged so +far in all my life. You shall see men you never heard of +before, whose names you don’t know, going away down +through the meadows with long ducking-guns, with watertight +boots wading through the fowl-meadow grass, on +bleak, wintry, distant shores, with guns at half-cock, and +they shall see teal, blue-winged, green-winged, shelldrakes, +whistlers, black ducks, ospreys, and many other wild and +noble sights before night, such as they who sit in parlours +never dream of. You shall see rude and sturdy, experienced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</span> +men, keeping their castles, or teaming up their summer’s +wood, or chopping alone in the woods, men fuller of talk +and rare adventure in the sun and wind and rain, than a +chestnut is of meat; who were out not only in ’75 and +1812, but have been out every day of their lives; greater +men than Homer, or Chaucer, or Shakespeare, only they +never got time to say so; they never took to the way of +writing. Look at their fields, and imagine what they might +write, if ever they should put pen to paper. Or what have +they not written on the face of the earth already, clearing, +and burning, and scratching, and harrowing, and ploughing, +and subsoiling, in and in, and out and out, and over and +over, again and again, erasing what they had already written +for want of parchment.</p> + +<p>As yesterday and the historical ages are past, as the work +of to-day is present, so some flitting perspectives, and demi-experiences +of the life that is in nature are in time veritably +future, or rather outside to time, perennial, young, divine, +in the wind and rain which never die.</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The respectable folks,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where dwell they?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They whisper in the oaks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And they sigh in the hay;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Summer and winter, night and day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Out on the meadow, there dwell they.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They never die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor snivel, nor cry,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor ask our pity</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a wet eye.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A sound estate they never mend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To every asker readily lend;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the ocean wealth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the meadow health,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Time his length,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the rocks strength,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the stars light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the weary night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the busy day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the idle play;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And so their good cheer never ends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For all are their debtors, and all their friends.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Concord River is remarkable for the gentleness of its +current, which is scarcely perceptible, and some have referred +to its influence the proverbial moderation of the inhabitants +of Concord, as exhibited in the Revolution, and +on later occasions. It has been proposed, that the town +should adopt for its coat of arms a field verdant, with the +Concord circling nine times around. I have read that a +descent of an eighth of an inch in a mile is sufficient to +produce a flow. Our river has, probably, very near the +smallest allowance. The story is current, at any rate, +though I believe that strict history will bear it out, that the +only bridge ever carried away on the main branch, within +the limits of the town, was driven up stream by the wind. +But wherever it makes a sudden bend it is shallower and +swifter, and asserts its title to be called a river. Compared +with the other tributaries of the Merrimack, it appears to +have been properly named Musketaquid, or Meadow River, +by the Indians. For the most part, it creeps through broad +meadows, adorned with scattered oaks, where the cranberry +is found in abundance, covering the ground like a moss-bed. +A row of sunken dwarf willows borders the stream on one +or both sides, while at a greater distance the meadow is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</span> +skirted with maples, alders, and other fluviatile trees, overrun +with the grape-vine, which bears fruit in its season, purple, +red, white, and other grapes. Still farther from the stream, +on the edge of the firm land, are seen the gray and white +dwellings of the inhabitants.</p> + +<p>The sluggish artery of the Concord meadows steals thus +unobserved through the town, without a murmur or a pulse +beat, its general course from south-west to north-east, and +its length about fifty miles; a huge volume of matter, +ceaselessly rolling through the plains and valleys of the +substantial earth with the moccasined tread of an Indian +Warrior, making haste from the high places of the earth to +its ancient reservoir. The murmurs of many a famous +river on the other side of the globe reach even to us here, +as to more distant dwellers on its banks; many a poet’s +stream floating the helms and shields of heroes on its bosom. +The Xanthus or Scamander is not a mere dry channel and +bed of a mountain torrent, but fed by the overflowing +springs of fame;—</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“And thou Simois, that as an arrowe, clere</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through Troy rennest, aie downward to the sea”;—</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>and I trust that I may be allowed to associate our muddy +but much abused Concord River with the most famous in +history.</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Sure there are poets which did never dream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon Parnassus, nor did taste the stream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Helicon; we therefore may suppose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those made not poets, but the poets those.”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>The Mississippi, the Ganges and the Nile, those journeying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</span> +atoms from the Rocky Mountains, the Himmaleh, +and Mountains of the Moon, have a kind of personal importance +in the annals of the world. The heavens are not +yet drained over their sources, but the Mountains of the +Moon still send their annual tribute to the Pasha without +fail, as they did to the Pharaohs, though he must collect the +rest of his revenue at the point of the sword. Rivers must +have been the guides which conducted the footsteps of the +first travellers. They are the constant lure, when they +flow by our doors, to distant enterprise and adventure, and, +by a natural impulse, the dwellers on their banks will at +length accompany their currents to the lowlands of the +globe, or explore at their invitation the interior of continents. +They are the natural highways of all nations, not +only levelling the ground and removing obstacles from the +path of the traveller, quenching his thirst and bearing him +on their bosoms, but conducting him through the most interesting +scenery, the most populous portions of the globe, +and where the animal and vegetable kingdoms attain their +greatest perfection.</p> + +<p>I had often stood on the banks of the Concord, watching +the lapse of the current, an emblem of all progress, following +the same law with the system, with time, and all that +is made; the weeds at the bottom gently bending down the +stream, shaken by the watery wind, still planted where +their seeds had sunk, but erelong to die and go down likewise; +the shining pebbles, not yet anxious to better their +condition, the chips and weeds, and occasional logs and +stems of trees that floated past, fulfilling their fate, were +objects of singular interest to me, and at last I resolved to +launch myself on its bosom and float whither it would bear +me.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c51">THE TAGUS</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">ARTHUR SHADWELL MARTIN</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE Tagus rises in that maze of mountains between +Cuenca and Tereul on the frontier of New Castile +and Aragon. It is the largest river of the Iberian peninsula, +having a length of 566 miles. It is of little commercial +advantage, however, as a means of traffic and communication, +because in Spain its shallows, rapids and cataracts +render it unnavigable through much of its course; and only +from Villavelha, eighteen miles within the Portuguese frontier +does it become navigable for the remaining 115 miles +to its mouth. It flows from its source first north-westwards +for about thirty miles to its junction with the Gallo, +where it turns to the south-west to Toledo, whence it flows +westwards to the frontier of Portugal at Abrantes. There +it again curves south-westwards and falls into the Atlantic +ten miles below Lisbon.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f37"> +<img src="images/fig37.jpg" alt="tagus"> +<p class="caption">THE TAGUS</p> +</div> + +<p>The waves of the Tagus, according to ancient historians, +rolled with gold; it is even said that the sceptre of the +kings of Portugal is made of the gold dust found in the deposit +of this river. However, the Tagus is not now endowed +with this auriferous virtue; and its banks in nowise +deserve the brilliant descriptions indulged in by ancient +and modern poets. They are generally escarpments and +rocky gorges. The traveller, who follows the course of +the stream through a country often bare, arid and uncultivated, +or burnt up by the sultry rays of the sun, sees little +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</span>but an impetuous water course, narrow and impeded with +dangerous rocks, forming dangerous cataracts and rapids. +The rocky cliffs that hem it in have little vegetation beyond +a few evergreen oaks; and with a few rare exceptions, +notably the valleys of Aranjuez and Talavera, which +have been embellished with human art and culture there +are few parts of Spain so poor and savage in character. In +winter, the Tagus has a considerable rise, and covers the +few plains to be found along its banks; but in summer, +like most of the other Spanish rivers it dwindles to almost +nothing; so that even below Santarem, from Alcantara to +the confluence of the Zezere, navigation is interrupted by +numerous cataracts.</p> + +<p>“Of the various phases of its most poetical and picturesque +course—first green and arrowy amid the yellow cornfields +of New Castile; then freshening the sweet Tempe of +Aranjuez, clothing the garden with verdure, and filling the +nightingale-tenanted glens with groves; then boiling and +rushing around the granite ravines of rock-built Toledo, +hurrying to escape from the cold shadows of its deep prison, +and dashing joyously into light and liberty, to wander far +away into silent plains and on to Talavera, where its waters +were dyed with brave blood, and gladly reflected the flash +of the victorious bayonets of England,—triumphantly it +rolls thence, under the shattered arches of Almaraz, down +to desolate Estremadura, in a stream as tranquil as the +azure sky by which it is curtained, yet powerful enough to +force the mountains of Alcantara. There the bridge of +Trajan is worth going a hundred miles to see; it stems the +now fierce condensed stream, and ties the rocky gorges together; +grand, simple, and solid, tinted by the tender +colours of seventeen centuries, it looms like the grey<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</span> +skeleton of Roman power, with all the sentiment of loneliness, +magnitude, and the interest of the past and present.</p> + +<p>“How stern, solemn, and striking is this Tagus of Spain! +No commerce has ever made it its highway—no English +steamer has ever civilized its waters like those of France +and Germany. Its rocks have witnessed battles, not peace; +have reflected castles and dungeons, not quays or warehouses: +few cities have risen on its banks, as on those of +the Thames and Rhine; it is truly a river of Spain—that +isolated and solitary land. Its waters are without boats, its +banks without life; man has never laid his hand upon its +billows, nor enslaved their free and independent gambols.”</p> + +<p>Travellers and tourists never take in the river as a whole, +but content themselves with keeping to the railroad, and +visiting the more famous towns on the banks,—such as +Toledo, Talavera, Aranjuez, Abrantes and Lisbon.</p> + +<p>At Toledo, the Tagus ages ago forced its way through +a romantic, rocky pass, 2,400 feet above the level of the +sea. The walls of the gorge are 200 feet high. This +ancient city stands on the north bank of the river which +washes its walls on three sides and forms the great protection +of the stronghold. Rushing around it, on the east, +south and west, between rocky cliffs, it leaves only one +approach on the land side, which is defended by an inner +and an outer wall. Its magnificent cathedral still repays +a visit notwithstanding the vandalism of its foes. The +river, after passing Toledo, runs through a deep and +long valley, walled up on either hand by lofty mountains. +Those on the right bank are always capped with snow, +and ranging nearly parallel with the course of the stream, +divide the valley of the Tagus from Old Castile and the +Salamanca country; the highest parts are known by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</span> +names of the Sierra de Gredos, Sierra de Bejar, and Sierra +de Gata. In these sierras the Alberche, the Tietar, and +the Alagon, take their rise, and, ploughing the valley in a +slanting direction, fall into the Tagus.</p> + +<p>Talavera de la Reyna is a delapidated ancient town +surrounded with interesting old walls, and abounding in +antique picturesque fragments. It is situated on the Tagus, +seventy-five miles south-west of Madrid, in the centre of a +fruit-growing district. It is famous for the great battle +fought there in 1809 in which the French suffered a great +defeat by Wellington.</p> + +<p>Aranjuez is on the left bank of the river, twenty-eight +miles south-west of Madrid, in a beautifully wooded valley. +Here, for once, the stream runs smoothly between smiling +banks.</p> + +<p>Abrantes is finely situated on the river seventy miles +above Lisbon. Its surrounding hills are covered with +vineyards and olive groves; it is strongly fortified, and was +an important position during the Peninsula war. Marshal +Junot took this city as the title of his Dukedom.</p> + +<p>Lisbon is built partly on the right bank of the Tagus and +partly on hills behind. It extends for five miles along the +estuary, which here forms a safe and spacious harbour.</p> + +<p>The principal affluents of this neglected river are the +Jarama, Guaddarama, Alberche, Alagon and Zezere from +the north, and the Guadiela and Rio del Monte from the +south.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c52">THE INDUS</h2> +</div> + +<p class="c sp">EDWARD BALFOUR</p> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>HE source of the Indus is in latitude 31° 20′ north, +and longitude 80° 30′ east, at an estimated height +of 17,000 feet, to the north-west of Lakes Manasarowara +and Rawan H’rad in the southern slopes of the Gangri or +Kailas Mountains, a short way to the eastwards of Gartop +(Garo). The Garo river is the Sing-ge-chu or Indus. +From the lofty mountains round Lake Manasarowara, +spring the Indus, the Sutlej, the Gogra, and the +Brahmaputra. A few miles from Leh, about a mile above +Nimo, the Indus is joined by the Zanskar river. The +valley where the two rivers unite is very rocky and precipitous, +and bends a long way to the south. From this +point the course of the Indus, in front of Leh and to the +south-east for many miles, runs through a wide valley, but +the range of the mountains to the north sends down many +rugged spurs. A little lower, the Indus is a tranquil but +somewhat rapid stream, divided into several branches by +gravelly islands, generally swampy, and covered with low +Hippophae scrub. The size of the river there is very +much less than below the junction of the river of Zanskar. +The bed of the Indus at Pitak, below Leh, has an elevation +of about 10,500 feet above the level of the sea, but the +town is at least 1,300 feet higher. From the sudden melting +of accumulations of ice, and from temporary obstacles, +occasioned by glaciers and avalanches in its upper course,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</span> +this river is subject to irregularities, and especially to +debacles or cataclysms, one of which, in June, 1841, produced +terrific devastation along its course, down even to +Attock.</p> + +<p>At the confluence of Sinh-ka-bab with the Shayok, the +principal river which joins it on the north from the Kara-Korum +Mountains, the river takes the name of Aba-Sin, +Father of Rivers, or Indus proper, and flows then between +lofty rocks, which confine its furious waters, receiving the +tribute of various streams; and at Acho, expanding into a +broader surface, it reaches Derbend, the north-west angle +of the Panjab, where (about 815 miles from its source) it is +100 yards wide in August, its fullest season. From +Derbend it traverses a plain, in a broad channel of no great +depth in Attock, in latitude 33° 54′ north, longitude 72° 18′ +east, having about 200 yards above this place received the +river of Kabul, almost equal in breadth and volume, and +attains a width of 286 yards, with a rapid boiling current, +running (in August) at the rate of six miles an hour. The +breadth of the Indus at Attock depends not only upon the +season but the state of the river upwards, and varies from +100 to 260 yards. The whole length of its mountain +course, from its source to Attock, is about 1,035 miles, and +the whole fall is 16,000 feet, or 15.4 per mile. From +Attock to the sea the length is 942 miles, making its +whole length, from the Kailas Mountains to the Indian +Ocean, 1,977 miles. Its maximum discharge, above the +confluence of the Panjab or Five Rivers, occurs in July and +August, when it is swollen by the seasonal rains, and it +then reaches 135,000 cubic feet, falling to its minimum of +15,000 in December.</p> + +<p>In the Tibetan of Ladakh it is commonly designated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</span> +Tsang-po, or the river, and is the Lampo-ho of the Chinese +Pilgrim, Hiwen Thsang, who travelled in the middle of the +Seventh Century.</p> + +<p>Below the junction of the Panjab rivers down to Schwan, +the Indus takes the name of Sar, Siro, or Sira; from below +Hyderabad to the sea it is called Lar, and the intermediate +portion is called Wicholo (Bich, Hindi), or Central, representing +the district lying immediately around Hyderabad, +just as, on the Nile, the Wustani, or Midlands of the +Arabs, represents the tract between Upper and Lower +Egypt. Sir A. Burnes mentions that Sar and Lar are two +Baluch words for north and south. The Indus or Sind has +been called by that name from time immemorial to the +present day, by the races on its banks. The ancients knew +that this was the native appellation. Pliny (lib. 6, vi), +says, “Indus incolis Sindus appellatus.” The Chinese call +the river Sin-tow.</p> + +<p>From Attock the course of the Indus to the sea, 940 +miles, is south and south-west, sometimes along a rocky +channel, between high and perpendicular cliffs, or forcing +its way, tumbling and roaring, amidst huge boulders, the +immense body of water being pent within a narrow channel, +causing occasional whirlpools, dangerous to navigation, +to Kalabagh, in latitude 32° 57′ north, longitude 71° 36′ +east, situated in a gorge of the great Salt Range, through +which the river rushes forth into the plain. In this part of +its course it has acquired the name of Nil-ab, or Blue +Water, from the colour imparted to it by the blue limestone +hills through which it flows. There are some remains of +a town on the bank of the river, named Nil-ab (where +Timur crossed the Indus) supposed to be the Naulibus or +Naulibe of Ptolemy. At Kalabagh the Indus enters a level<span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</span> +country, having for a short time the Khursuri Hills, which +rise abruptly on the right. It now becomes muddy, and as +far as Mittunkote, about 350 miles, the banks being low, +the river, when it rises, inundates the country sometimes as +far as the eye can reach. Hence the channels are continually +changing, and the soil of the country being soft—a +mud basin, as Lieutenant Wood terms it,—the banks and +bed of the river are undergoing constant alterations. +These variations, added to the shoals, and the terrific blasts +occasionally encountered in this part of the river, are great +impediments to navigation. The population on its banks +are almost amphibious; they launch upon its surface, +sustained by the inflated skins or mussaks, dried gourds, and +empty jars used for catching the celebrated pulla fish, the +Hilsa of Bengal. At Mittunkote the Indus is often 2,000 +yards broad, and near this place, in latitude 28° 55′ north, +longitude 70° 28′ east, it is joined, without violence, by the +Panjnad, a large navigable stream, the collected waters of the +Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, and Jhelum. Its true channel, +then a mile and a quarter wide, flows thence through +Sind, sometimes severed into distinct streams, and discharges +its different branches by various mouths into the Indian +Ocean, after a course of 1,977 miles. The Indus, when +joined by the Panjnad, never shallows, in the dry season, to +less than fifteen feet, and seldom preserves so great a breadth +as half a mile. Keeled boats are not suited to its navigation, +as they are liable to be upset. The Zoruk, or native +boat, is flat-bottomed. Other boats are the Dundi, Dund, +Kotal, and Jumpti. Gold is found in some parts of the +sands of the Indus.</p> + +<p>The shore of its delta, about 125 miles in extent, is low +and flat, and at high tide, to a considerable distance inland,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</span> +overflowed; and generally a succession of dreary, bare +swamps.</p> + +<p>In the mouths of the Indus, the tides rise about nine feet +at full moon, and flow and ebb with great violence, particularly +near the sea, when they flood and abandon the banks +with incredible velocity. At seventy-five miles from the +ocean they cease to be perceptible.</p> + +<p>Between the Seer and Kori mouths, at the south-east of +the delta, it is overspread with low mangrove jungle, running +far into the sea, and from the Seer is a bare, uninhabited +marsh. The main stream of the Indus has discharged +its waters at many points between Cape Monze, +immediately west of Kurachee and gulf of Cutch, if not even +that of Cambay. Pitti, Hajamri, and Kediwari, now sea-channels +and tidal creeks, shut off from the river, except +during the monsoon, are all former mouths of the Indus. +The Buggaur or Gharra is still a considerable stream during +the inundation; it takes off from the Indus close to +Tatta.</p> + + +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="transnote"> + +<p class="c">Transcriber’s Notes:</p> + +<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.</p> + +<p>Perceived typographical errors have been changed.</p> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78095 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78095-h/images/cover.jpg b/78095-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..67dc042 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig1.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..56fa923 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig1.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig10.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig10.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..555e6d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig10.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig11.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig11.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..710f9d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig11.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig12.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig12.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2cc69b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig12.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig13.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig13.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c68cdea --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig13.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig14.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig14.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b90fed --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig14.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig15.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig15.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fe545a --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig15.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig16.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig16.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b3f3cb --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig16.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig17.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig17.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..96e7e38 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig17.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig18.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig18.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6ce28a --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig18.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig19.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig19.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..884fa48 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig19.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig2.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..737a9e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig2.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig20.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig20.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7db944b --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig20.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig21.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig21.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..650db2c --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig21.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig22.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig22.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..70c5c06 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig22.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig23.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig23.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c99de1 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig23.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig24.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig24.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..38691b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig24.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig25.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig25.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ab88a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig25.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig26.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig26.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5d94f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig26.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig27.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig27.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d55497 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig27.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig28.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig28.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d076bce --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig28.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig29.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig29.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b45e4e --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig29.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig3.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5471a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig3.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig30.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig30.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5ae039 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig30.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig31.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig31.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d0e875 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig31.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig32.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig32.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..64a69a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig32.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig33.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig33.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..82d3201 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig33.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig34.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig34.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0fd44d --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig34.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig35.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig35.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f0b945 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig35.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig36.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig36.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c969aaa --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig36.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig37.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig37.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0305a92 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig37.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig4.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..130dfa4 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig4.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig5.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5bdbb8f --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig5.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig6.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig6.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a89684 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig6.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig7.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig7.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..213051e --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig7.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig8.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig8.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..225a7b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig8.jpg diff --git a/78095-h/images/fig9.jpg b/78095-h/images/fig9.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec77829 --- /dev/null +++ b/78095-h/images/fig9.jpg |
