Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1877-06-02
THE DANUBE.
Some History of the Great River
on whose Banks The Battles
areto be Eought-Rescin-
bianCe tOths Nissis>ippi.

The Danube Is by far the largest
river i'll Europe. IT. main stem rises in
the Black Forest within 30 miles OF the
Rhine. and flows centrally through
Europe through Bavaria. Austria prop
er. Hungary, between Wal.achia and
Servia. and between Roumania and
Turkey proper--to the sea. having Il
total length of the main river of /, 200
miles. Il has many large tributaries
the Inn and Iser in Bavaria; the Drave
and Suave. in Stvrla and Croatia; the
Thiess. in Hungary the Aluta. Sereth
and PTuth. IN ROumania All of which
except the two first are navigabie for
more than 100 miles. The Danube itself
is navigable for do miles. and with
its tributaries for nearly 1000 miles.
This magnificent river So closely reSem
bles the Mississippi i'll some particulars.
and differs from it 50 widely IN others,
as to make comparison between them
interesting to American readers. The
Danube drains one fourth rs much ter
ritorv as the Mississippi. including al!
OF its tributaries. halt as much as the
Missouri. and as much as the Ohio and
Upper Mississippi together. 1t runs
nearly eastward, has its sources and
those OF its larger tributaries. in the
Tyrolean and SemmerIng Alps. ami in
the Carpathian mountains. Its passage
through Austria and Hungary and again
along the Turkish frontier is similar To
that OF the great American river. with
wide alluvlal bottoms, ovcrtiowed
sometimes IN great freshetS. Its delta
and mouth are exactly simular TO those
of the Mississippi, and have been block,
ed up by sand bars. now happily rem0v-
ed by the genius OF Sir Charles Hartley.
When the Danube breaks through the
Carpathian mountains. it presents tea
lures closely resembling the highlands
OF the Hudson river. though the noun
tain sides are much higher and more
precipitous. The Austrian gcologi>tS
believe that the great sea of Hungary
once covered all of the country between
the Bohemian and Carpathian mountains
on the north and east. and of the Balkan
and Alps on the south and west. This
embraces the whole Of the Austro-liun-
garian empire and Bavaria aud Scrvia
They also believe that the Black sea
then covered the whole OF the slope east
of the Carpathian mountains The great
convul>iun which broke Il passagc-wav
at the EiSin Thor Uron Gate) drained
of the waters ol the hungarian sea,
and formed the channel of the Danube.
and the tall OF the level OF the Black
sea uncovered the territories now called
Roumania and Bulgaria.
The immediate banks of the Danube
east OF the mountains were generally
low. and in many places are. in treshctS.
covered with water for five To twenty
miles back from the river, but there are
many places where the high lands OK
tend both from north and south sides
quite up to the river, where the banks
are from thirty to seventy feet above the
water. These are where the great
Turkish Notifications have been placed,
though some Of them like Wlddin and
Silistria, are built on the low lands. AT
the extreme eastern end OF the Danube.
in the Turkish country OF Dobrudscha. /
the land is like that between New
Orleans and the Cult OF Mexico. There
is a railway sixty miles from lech- |
ernavoda, on the Danube, to kustendii. |
on the Black sea. This railway was
built bv an English company. whose
enoipeer was Sir Samuel Baker, now |
known as the great Egyptian explorer
of the sources of the Nile. The land of
Bulgaria slopes gently from the steep
northern side of the Balkan to the Dan
ube. and when the river is once crossed |
the Russians will have plain ground for
advance until they reach the second line !
of the Turkish dstenses. !