CHAPTER III. RIVERS.
A RIVER is a current of fresh water, flowing in a bed or channel, from its source to the sea, or to some lake or larger river, in which it loses itself. Rivers generally rise from small fountains or springs, which bubble out of the ground, and which gain strength as they advance; or they flow from some lake, of which they form the outlet. In some cases they increase gradually by the addition of other rivers, which they receive in their course; but in others, they are swelled suddenly by the fall of periodical rains, or the melting of collected snow, as is the case with the Nile, the Ganges, and other rivers; which, when this rapid increase takes place, overflow their banks, and inundate the surrounding country. In some few cases, rivers rush at once out of the earth in all their force, but when this is the case, it is no doubt a subterranean river which rises suddenly to the surface. It is obvious that as rivers run through a great extent of country they can only be well known when the country through which they take their course has been fully explored; and hence, comparatively, little is known of some of the largest rivers of Africa and Asia. When rivers empty themselves into the ocean, a fearful conflict frequently appears to take place between the waves of the sea and the immense body of fresh water rushing down the river; and this struggle, which is generally called the bore, is, in some rivers, as for example those of India and of South America, terrifically grand, though of course its extent depends greatly on the velocity of the river, as well as its size. Many large rivers do not empty themselves into the sea through one mouth, but divide into two or more streams, enclosing a piece of land, which, from its triangular shape, is generally called the Delta, the Greek letter of that name having a triangular form. Some rivers end in lakes, while others pass through lakes, resuming their original appearance on the other side, and sometimes without mixing their waters.
AMERICAN RIVERS.
Most of the American rivers are of enormous size, particularly those of South America. Even in North America the Mississippi is navigable for boats from the sea to the falls of its principal branch, the Missouri; that is, 1,700 miles from the Mexican Gulf in a direct line, or 3,900 miles by the windings of the stream. Numerous other larger rivers, including the Ohio, run into the Mississippi, and as these rivers branch considerably, the whole amount of boat navigation afforded by the system of rivers of which the Mississippi is the main trunk, has been estimated at 35,000 miles. It is supposed that notwithstanding the immense quantity of fresh water collected by these rivers and poured into the sea, there is no bore; and the tide does not ascend the river at all, probably because it does not discharge itself into the sea by a single mouth, but by a kind of delta. The inundations of the Lower Mississippi are at their height in June, when the waters, 1000 miles from the sea, attain a rise of fifty feet. In the Lower Mississippi, and in the adjoining rivers, are found enormous rafts of drift-wood, formed during the river floods, which sometimes extend for ten or twelve miles in one mass, rising and falling with the stream, and yet having a luxuriant vegetation in summer.
The St. Lawrence flows from Lake Ontario, and has a course of upwards of 1000 miles, but it is only navigable for large ships as high as Quebec, about 400 miles from its mouth. The Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the Schuylkill, are all celebrated rivers of North America; as is the Oregon, otherwise called the Columbia, or River of the West.
The rivers of South America are also of enormous size, particularly the Orinoco and the Amazon. The latter is upwards of 4,000 miles long, and the tides are sensibly felt about 600 miles from its mouth. This river has been found to be more than 620 feet deep, at above a thousand miles from the sea; and it is supposed to be from the depth of this mighty river at its mouth that the salt water is forced so far up. It takes its source partly from the Andes and partly from a lake in Peru, and it empties itself into the Atlantic under the equator, its mouth being 120 miles across. It receives in its course the waters of about 200 rivers, some of them as large as the Danube. Its banks are "clothed with dense and impenetrable woods, which afford a haunt to tigers, bears, leopards, wild boars, and a great variety of venomous serpents; they also abound in birds of the most beautiful plumage, and apes of the most fantastic appearance. The waters swarm with alligators, turtles, and a great variety of fish." Among the vegetable productions of the country, may be mentioned pineapples, which grow wild in great abundance on the banks. In the rainy season the river overflows, and fertilises the adjacent country. The river was first discovered by Francis d'Orellana, from whom it is sometimes called the Orellana, but he called it the river of the Amazons, from having met with some armed women on its banks. The river is also sometimes called by its Indian name of Marañon. Its current is very rapid and violent. The enormous quantity of water discharged by the river Amazon, discolours the ocean to the distance of 300 miles from the American coast; and fresh water may be obtained from the surface of this current, at a great distance from the shore. This river alone discharges a greater quantity of water than the eight principal rivers of Asia, including the Euphrates, the Indus, the Ganges, and the two great rivers of China. "At its mouth, two days before and after the full moon, the phenomenon called a bore occurs in a very formidable shape: it is a wave of water rushing from the sea, with its front as steep as a wall and as high as a house," and this is met by a rush of water of similar height and force from the river. No small vessel can encounter the concussion of the two waters without certain destruction.
The Orinoco is another very large river of South America. It is supposed to take its source in the small lake Ypava, and, after a course of about 1500 miles, it empties itself into the Atlantic by about fifty mouths, seven of which are navigable. During the rainy season, it inundates the immense plains through which it flows, the inundation extending from eighty to ninety miles on each side; and thus, as the river itself is very wide, the country presents to the eye what appears to be a boundless expanse of water. Part of the river runs through one of the Cordilleras of the Andes, whence it falls in magnificent cataracts. A few miles below this, the river divides into two arms, one of which, after a rapid course of nearly 100 miles, joins the Rio Negro, thus forming a natural water communication between the Orinoco and the Amazon, into which latter river the Rio Negro falls. The principal mouth of the Orinoco, which is just opposite the island of Trinidad, is only eighteen miles across; but, as the river is exceedingly deep, such an immense body of water is poured into the sea, that one of the early voyagers, who describes it, compares it to a torrent pouring from a water-spout. This immense body of water rushes into the ocean with such impetuous force, that when it meets the tide, which on that coast rises to a tremendous height, the collision of the waters of the river and the ocean occasions a swell and agitation perfectly terrific. When Columbus, on his third voyage, having taken a more southern course than he had pursued in his former ones, reached the Island of Trinidad, the swell occasioned by the waters of the Orinoco pouring into the ocean was so great, that his ships were exposed to extreme danger, and he had so much difficulty in leading them safely through the strait which separates the island from the continent, that he called the strait the Dragon's Mouth. However, this circumstance led to the discovery of South America, as Columbus justly concluded that such an immense body of water must flow through a country of very great extent; he, therefore, felt certain that he had at last discovered the continent he was in search of, and steering to the west, he soon found land.
ASIATIC RIVERS.
The Ganges is the largest river of India, and its length exceeds 1400 miles. It springs from the Himalaya Mountains, but as the exact spot where it rises was not known, Captains Hodgson and Herbert visited these mountains in August, 1818, to search for the sources of the sacred river. After ascending to the height of 13,000 feet, they arrived at a piece of level ground, whence three peaks rose about 9000 feet higher. Here they appear to have been wonderfully struck with the grandeur of the scene, as the peaks were cased in snow from the base to the summit. They continued their ascent up the highest; and, at the distance of about 800 feet, the travellers found one of the sources of the Ganges issuing from under a very low arch, from which great hoary icicles depended, at the foot of the great snow-bed, here about 300 feet in thickness. This spring is called Yamuna, and its overflowing forms a lake, surrounded by the high peaks of the mountain, which the Hindoos consider sacred, as they say that there the goddess Yamuna holds her secret abode, which no pilgrim dares approach without undergoing a long preparation of penances and prayer. The two other sources are called Bhagirathi, and had been before traced as far as possible by Captains Raper and Hearsay. The first of these rivers was represented by the Hindoos to issue from a chasm or cavern in the mountains, which was called the cow's mouth, from its shape; and this cavern was called Gangotri. Other accounts stated the source of the Ganges to be in a lake considerably to the eastward of the cow's mouth, and the cavern so designated was reported to be a natural tunnel, which perforated the great chain of mountains. Captains Raper and Hearsay, with great difficulty and fatigue, approached near enough to Gangotri to enable them to conclude, from the contraction of the stream and the unbroken sides of the mountains, that there could be no doubt the source of the river was situated in the snowy range. Not quite satisfied, however, with this conclusion, they dispatched one of the Fakirs to the mountain for them,—knowing that these fanatics of India "deem a pilgrimage to Gangotri to have the effect of redeeming the person performing it from all the troubles of this life, and of ensuring him a happy passage through all the stages of transmigration which he is destined to undergo in another,"—to push his inquiries farther into the mountains. This man reported, on his return, that, a few miles beyond Gangotri, the river was lost under vast beds of snow, and that a rock in the midst of the rushing stream resembled the body and head of a cow; and here the valley was terminated by the steep and wall-sided mountain. The party next set out in order to trace the other great stream of the Ganges, the Alaknanda, and "succeeded in reaching a spot four or five miles beyond the temple of Badrinath, where the stream was narrowed to eighteen or twenty feet, and where the north faces of the mountains were completely covered with snow from the summit to the base. A little way beyond this place was a cascade, where the Alaknanda was entirely concealed under immense heaps of snow, beyond which no traveller has been known to pass." The river Ganges is considered holy by the Hindoos, and they believe that the surest way to Heaven is through its waters. "Hence, whenever it is possible, the Hindoo comes to its banks to die, and piously drowns in it his parents and relations, to secure their eternal happiness." With the converse of the feeling of the Gheber, who would consider the eternal fire, which is the object of his worship, polluted by the touch of a corpse, the Hindoo casts his dead, naked, into the sacred stream; "so that those who sail upon the Ganges, have often to make their way through shoals of livid corpses, floating down to the sea, in various stages of corruption."