Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

more remarkable in it than in those rivers; to wit, that at the extremity of its course, where there is no perceptible cavity, it is in gulphed, but without any fall; the water passes between the pebbles, and it is impossible to force a stick into that place any further than into the betoirs of which we have spoken. What makes this river take that subterraneous direction, is an impediment which its stream meets with in that place; it is there stopped by a rising ground six or seven feet high, whose bottom it has very likely undermined, to gain a free passage, not having been able to make its way over it. At some distance it appears again; but in winter, as there is a greater quantity of water, it passes over that eminence, and keeps an uninterrupted course.

Lastly, the Drôme, after having lost some of its water in its course, vanishes entirely near the pit of Soucy; in that place it meets with a sort of subterraneous cavity near 25 feet wide, and more than 15 deep, where the river is in a manner stopped, and into which it enters, though without any perceptible motion, and never appears again.

M. Guettard finishes this memoir with some observations upon the Ierre. This river is lost in the same manner as the Rille; and though it is very near Paris, this singularity is unknown to almost every body; was it not for the account of M. l'Abbé le Boeuf, M. Guettard would have been also ignorant of it. And as he thinks the chief object of a naturalist's observation ought to be the public good, he examines the means which might be employed to restrain the water of the Ierre. The same object has made him add a description of the manner how the Rhône is lost, or rather how its course is disturbed; for it is now very certain that it does not lose itself, but that its channel is extremely confined, in the place where it was pretended that it lost itself, by two mountains, between whose feet it runs. M. Guettard makes it appear that it might not be impossible to widen that place, and give a sufficient channel to the river, which would render it navigable, and be of vast utility to all the country."

Pantologia, Art. Rivers. Phil. Trans. Year 1690.
Mem, de l'Acad. des Sciences.

SECTION II.

Principal Rivers in the different Quarters of the World.

THE general course of the largest rivers we are acquainted with is from a thousand to two thousand miles; and we have them of this length in every quarter of the world; yet in no instance do we find them much exceeding two thousand miles long. We shall commence our rapid tour with those of

ASIA.

The rivers that here attract our attention are the Indus and the Ganges.

The INDUS is by the natives called Sinde or Sindet, and in the Sanscrit language Seendho. It is also called Nilab, or the Blue River. The source, both of this and of the Ganges, are to this hour unknown: Major Rennell, and various other geographers, have offered opinions upon the subject, but at present they are opinions and nothing more. It is generally supposed to originate in the mountains of Mus Tag, which, as laid down by Strahlenburg, run from west to east, forming a chain to the south of Little Bucharia. Its comparative course may be about a thousand British miles, when it forms a Delta in the province of Sindi, entering by numerous mouths into the Indian sea.

The tributary streams of the Indus chiefly join it in the northern half of its course, where they form the Panjab, or county of Five Rivers. From the west run into Indus the Kamet, with its auxiliary streams, and the Comul; from the east the Bahut or Hydaspes; the Chunab or Acesinas; the Kauvee or Hydraotes; and the Setlege or Hesudrus, being on the east of the Indus. The whole of this part of Hindustan, is even at present but little known to the moderns; and it is uncertain whether the Caggan, a considerable and distant river to the east, joins the Indus or falls into the gulph of Cuteh,

The GANGES is a still nobler stream, both in magnitude and length; for it is swelled by tributary streams of still greater number and power, and its comparative length can be scarcely estimated at

less than fourteen hundred British miles. The Burramport, or Burrampooter, which is its proudest auxiliary, is nearly as long as it self; it is generally conceived that their sources are not very distant from each other, though we have no decisive information upon this subject, and they separate from each other to the distance of a thousand miles before they unite and constitute one common stream, falling at length into the Bay of Bengal by several mouths. Ganga, we have already observed, is an Hindoo term for river generally, and is peculiarly applied to the river before us on account of its unrivalled magnificence. The Hindoos bear a superstitious veneration for all the great rivers which fertilize their country; but the waters of the Ganges are held peculiarly sacred. What tends to increase the veneration which is paid to the Ganges is, that its impetuous force, by which it has opened a passage through mount Himmeleh and re-appears, amidst impending rocks, which the natives consider as forming a strong resemblance to the bead of a cow, expanded to an immense size, an animal which is as highly esteemed by the Hin doos as the apis or sacred ox was in ancient times among the Egyptians. No river in the world imparts greater benefits to the regions through which it passes; for by annually overflowing its banks like the Nile, it waters and manures the country to an extent of an hundred miles. The Hindoos having deified this river, make it an act of religion to go in pilgrimage to it; they suppose the waters to purify from defilement such as bathe in them, and they bury their dead in its slinty shore. It is, moreover, customary with them to remove those who are on the point of death to the banks of the Ganges, or of some creek which runs into it; for, if an Indian dies in his own house, it is rased to the ground. The Hindoos do not always bury their dead, but as frequently burn the corpse, when the ashes are carefully collected by the bramin, who presides at the ceremony, and thrown into the sea or nearest river. Those who can afford the expence, have such ashes put into an urn, which is soldered up, and carried to be thrown into the water of the Ganges. Rude simpli city is ever prone to mistake the blessings of the Deity for the Delty himself *.

* There is a very excellent paper upon the course of the Ganges and Burrampooter from the pen of Major Rennell, in the Philosophical Transactions, Vol. LXXI. art. ix, but too long for insertion in the present work. The reader who is desirous of pursuing the subject farther, may turn to it with great advantage. EDITOR.

Besides these majestic rivers we ought not to leave unnoticed the Penjab; the Godaveri, or Ganga; the Nerbudda; the Kistna, a stream peculiarly sacred, that rises at Balisur, not far to the south of Poonah, and is equally celebrated for the fertility it diffuses, and the rich diamond mines which it visits, particularly those of Visiapour and Golconda; the Pennan; the Paliar; and the Caveri, which last passes by Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore, forming a wider delta or triangle than any other northern river, and enter. ing into the sea after a course of about three hundred miles.

The EUPHRATES is derived from two sources; one of which is about seventy miles from the shores of the Euxine or Black Sea, and running a circuitous course of five hundred leagues, first south westward, and then south-eastward, discharges itself into the Persian gulf. About an hundred miles north-west of Bassora it is joined by the TIGRIS, which rising near the Euparates, proceeds in a pretty straight course through Armenia Major, or Turcomania, until it forms its junction. On this river the ancient city of Nineveh is supposed to have stood.

In the enormous extent of the Chinese empire there are two rivers, that on account of their length and majestic breadth, are peculiarly entitled to notice. These are the Hoanho or Yellow River, and the Kian-ku.

The sources of the first are two lakes, situated amongst the mountains of Tartary, known by the name of Kohonor. They lie about the 35° of north latitude, and 19° of longitude, to the westward of Pekin, being according to Arrowsmith's map of Asia, about 97° east from Greenwich. This prodigious river is extremely winding, and deviates in its course, pursuing a north-east direction to about the 42° of north latitude; when, after running due east, it suddenly bends south to a latitude nearly parallel to its source, and pursues an easterly direction till it is lost in the Yellow Sea. Its comparative course may be estimated at about 1800 British miles, or, according to Lord Macartney's embassy, 2150. At about 70 miles from the sea, where it is crossed by the imperial canal, the breadth is little more than a mile, and the depth only about nine or ten feet; but the velocity equals about seven or eight miles in the hour.

The Kian-ku rises in the vicinity of the sources of the Hoanho; but according to the received accounts and maps, about 200 miles

further to the west, and winds nearly as far to the south as the Hoan. ho does to the north. After washing the walls of Nankin, it enters the sea about 100 miles to the south of the Hoauho. The Kian ku is known by various names through its long progress; and near its source is called by the Eluts, Porticho, or Petchon: the course is about equal to that of the Hoan-ho; these two rivers being considered as nearly or altogether the largest on the face of the globe. They certainly equal if they do not exceed the famous river of the Amazons in South America, and the majestic course of the Ganges does not extend half the length. In the embassy of Lord Macartney, the length of the Kian-ku was estimated at about 2200 miles; and it is observed that these two great Chinese rivers, taking their source from the same mountains, and passing almost close to each other in a particular spot, afterwards separate from each other to the distance of 15° of latitude, or about 1050 British miles, and finally discharge themselves into the same sea, comprehending a tract of land of about 1000 miles in length, which they greatly contribute to fertilize.

AFRICA.

Of the rivers of Africa, the NILE is the most celebrated; it is also called Abanchi, which, in the Abyssinian tongue, signifies "the father of rivers," and by the Africans Neel Shem, which means the Egyptian river. It divides Egypt into two parts. The extent of this river is supposed to be something more than two thousand miles from its source, amidst the mountains of the Moon, in Upper Ethiopia, to its disemboguing into the Mediterranean Sea, by seven channels, through which it has forced its way, two only of which are now navigable. The ancients were entirely ignorant of the source of this river, although many endeavours were used to explore it; but its sources are now well known to lie in about the 12th degree of north latitude. It enters the lake of Dambia, in Abyssinia, crossing it one end with so violent a rapidity, that the waters of the Nile may be distinguished throughout their progress, which is six leagues. Here, according to Lobo, commences its magnificence; and its general course we may venture to give in the picturesque but correct description of Thomson.

« AnteriorContinuar »