Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-12-23
THE WORLDS REMARKABLE
RIVERS.
Streams That Present Unique and
Curious Features.

A number of rivers that can be found
in almost any atlas possess remarkable
characteristics which entltle them to
ran among the natural curioSities of
the world. In Algeria. for instance,
there is small stream which the chem
istry of nature has turned into true ink.
1t is formed by the union of two rlvu.
lets, one of which is very strongly i'm
pregnated with iron, while the other,
meanderIng through peat marsh, i'm
bibes gallic acid. Letters have been
written with this compound of iron
and gallo acid which unite to form the
little river. In Colombia there is a
river which, by admlxture with sui
phuric acid, becomes so sour that it is
appropriately named Rio de Vi2agre,
or Vinegar river. Many varieties of
fish abound in the large Orange river
OF South Africa until the river passes
through rocky region containing cop
per ores, below which the water is said
to be poisonous and to kill the fish that
venture Into 1t.
"Chlna's Sorrow" is uame that has
been given to the great Hoang HO,
which rises IN the mountains of Thibet
and follows a wonderfully circuitous
channel for :, 800 miles to the sea. The
waywardness of this mighty volume of
water makes the river a constant source
OF anxiety and danger, instead of
wealth, to 170, 900, 900 of people inbab-
iting the central part of China. 1t Is
known TO have suddenly changed its
course nine times. 1t has moved its
mouth over degrees of latitude each
time, emptying Its vast floods in differ
ent directions aHd digging new cham
mel for itself where scores of villages
had stood. Il has greatly changed the
physical character of wide area,
turning fertile regions Into a sandy
waste or making shallow lakes of them,
nwhich nothing grows, and over which
hothiDg can sail. Whether it is within
the power of western science to save
this great plain from disastrous over
lows and changes of the river bed is
Question that has been considerably
discussed in England of late years.
Some recent explorers of Alaska tel
us that the Mississippi can nolonger he
regarded as the largest river of the
North Am sricdn continent. They claim
that distinction fO- the great Yukon
river. which, according to Nj. Ivan
Petroff, who spent two years in Alaska
collecting materials for the last census,
emptieS into Norton sound One-third
more water than the Mississippi pourS
into the Gulf of Mexico. The Yukon
basin comprises The most of southern
Alaska. and is u mile wide 600 miles
from its mouth. Many centuries before
1t was visited by white men It very
likely served as the highway into the
interior of tribes who are believed to
have crossed from Asia to this conti-
nent.
\ very curious river IS the Webbe
ShebeylI OF east Africa, a deep and
rapid stream, abounding in fish and
crocodiles. Though it flows for hun
dreIs of mikes Though fertile lands,
the immense volume of water never
reaches The sea. \ little north OF the
equator the river loses itself in desert
region 4 few miles from the Indian
ocean.
Very few great rivers have ever
been thoroughly explored by going up
stream. Travellers tried for 1000
years to find the source of the Nile by
ascending the river. by tia time they
had reached the difficult part of the
stream their stores and energy were
exhausted and they could go no fur
ther. 1t was only by seeking the
fountain heads first by overland routes
- Il
the Yukon, that Stanldy mapped the
Congo, and that Spoke solved the Sc
cret of the Nile.