Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-09-23
WHERE GREAT RIVERS RISE.
Origin of Streams tnat Confer Pros
perity upon Millions of Souls.

In his address before the British
Science Association, Sir Richard Temple,
President of the Geographical Section,
said:-
While the prevailing characteristics of
our plateau Che Plateau OF Mid-Asia)
are wildness, ruggedness, or desolatlon,
vet within it are the sources OF several
great rivers which sustain the most
teeming peoples on the face OF the earth.
The monarch, as it were, of all these
noble waters is the Yang tse kiang.
Though it's head streams have been but
inperfectly explored, yet its true source
Is known to be in the Kuenlun Noun
tains already mentioned. After quitting
our plateau and passing ont OF its prison
house in the mountains through natural
gates of the utmost magnificence, it rer-
meates the most thickly peopled prov
irces of China-provinces inhabited by
abont 12O. 900, coo of souls. It sustains
the life of this enormous population by
supplying the necessary moisture, and
by affOrding the means OF irrigation and
of water traffic. No river has ever in
ancient or modern times played so i'm
portant q part in the increase Of the hu-
man race as the Yangtse-hang. Its
supply of water is immense and untsll-
ing, and the most essential characters
tic is caused by ifs connection with the
snow-cIad and ice bound regions OF our
plateau. within which it has course OF
700 miles before entering China proper.
Amid the same Kuen-lun range the
Hoang- horises from unexplored springs.
which the Chinese figure to themselves
rs "the starry sea" After bursting
through several watersheds, making
wondrous bends from its main direction
near the base of our plateau, aud chang
ing its course more than once to the
confusion of comparative geography, it
traverses Northern China and confers
agricultural prosperity on some 70, ,OOO,-
900 OF souls. It also has course of
some 400 miles within our plateau, IN
conseo eouence of which its water supply
is perennially snow-fed. Again, the IRA
waddy and the Mekhong, the former
watering Burmah and the latter water
ing Cambodia, rise in the off-shoots of
the Kuen-lun.
That region, then, in respect OF the
parentage of important rivers, stands In
the first rank. This benefcent clrcum-
stance rises from the direction OF sub
sidiary ranges which admit to this part
of our plateau some of the moisture
laden breezes from the Pacific Ocean.
Similarly, the two Indian rivers, the
Brahmapootra and the Indus, with Its
afiluent, the Sutlei, have their origin at
great distance within our plateau, and
their water supply is indefinitely aug
mented in consequence. Notwlthstand-
ing the vast volume Of their waters,
these rivers play an economic part,
which, though great, is much less than
that OF the main Chinese rivers. The
Brabmap0otra, above its junction with
the Megna. cannot be said to sustain
more than $4,000, 600 people, and the
Indus. together with the Sutlej, may
support 100000. The Ganges and
Jumna, issuing from masses of snow on
the southern scarp of our plateau sus-
tain, before their junction at Allahabad,
a population of 0,000, 000-quite ire
spectiye of the deltaic population OF the
Lower Ganges, for whom moisture Is
supplied from other sources. Of these
Indian rivers, the waters perpetually
snow-fed, are largely drawn away for
canals of irrigation on grand scale.
Taken all in all, despite defects, the
Ganges Canal is the most imposing ex-
ample OF hydraulic engineering that has
yet been seen. From the glaciers OF
the Pamir and the western terminus OF
the Than Shan there spring the head
streams of the Oxus, the Jaxartes, and
other rivers ending in the inland sea OF
Aral. To these, in Persian phrase, the
epithet of ''gold scatterer" or 'wealth
dispenser" is felicitously applied by the
natives. OF the rivers rising in the
northern section of our plateau, the
Amur has possibilities of which the
future may see the development. But
the great rivers of Siberia, such as the
Obi, the Yenisei, and the Lena, though
flowing through rich soils and atfording
marvellous facilities for several systems
of inland navigation to be connected
with each other, yet have their long
estuaries in the permanently frost-bound
lands of the Tundra, aud their mouths
in the arctic waters frozen during most
months Of the year. Therefore, they
can never, in economic Importance, vie
with the rivers above mentioned which
flow INTO the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
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