Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-11-12
REMARKABLE RIVERS.
Streams That Present Unique AND
CuriOns Features ref Ink.
New York sun.

CurfOnH Features rcf Ink.
New York IN.
A number of rivers that can be
found in almost any atlas possess re.
markable character sites which entitle
them 10 rank among the natural curs
/ iOsities OF the world In Algeria, for
instance, there is a small stream which
! the chemistry of nature has turned in
to true ink. 1t is formed by the union
OF two rivulets, one Of which is very
/ strongly impregnated with iron, while
/ the other meandering through e peat
marsh, imoibes gallo acid Letters
nave eacn written with this compound
OF iron aR0 gallic acid whica unite to
f0tm the little riyar In Columbia
there lis river which, by admixture
! with sulFAuric acid, becomes so sour
that II is appropriately named Rio de
/ Ninsgre, or Vinegar Many var.
leaes Of fish abound in the large Or
ange river 81 South Africa, until toe
river passes through q rocky region
containing copper ores below which
/ the river is said to be poisonous ans
/ to kill every hsh that wil venture in
Itoit
"Ohina's Sorrow is the name that
has been given TO the great Hoaug Ho
which rises in the mountains Of Whlbet
and follows wonderfully circuitous
channel for twenty five hundred miles
to the sea The way wardncss of this
mighty volume of water makes the
river q constant source of anxiety and
danger, instead Of wealth, TO 40, O0O, =
600 of people inhablting the central
plain of China. It's known to have
saddeAly changed its course nine times
1t has moved its mouth over 4 degrees
of latitude eacn time emptying its vast
floods in different direction and dig
ging a new channel for itself where
scores of villages had stood. 1t has
changed the physical character of a
wide area, turning fertile regions into
a sandy waste or making shallow lakes
OF them, in which nothing grows and
over which nothing can sail. Whether
it is within the power of the western
science to save this great plain from
disastrous overHows and changes of
the river bed is a question that has
been considerably discussed ia Eng
land of late years.
Some recent explorers Of Alaska tell
us that the Mississippi can no longer
be regarded as the largest river Of the
North American continent. They
claim that distinction for the great
Yukon river, which, according to Mr..
Ivan Petroff, who spent two years in
Alaska collecting materials for the
last census, empties into Norton sound
one third more water than the Miss
issippi pours into the Gulf Of Mexico.
The Yukon basin comprises the most
Of southern Alaska, and is a mile wide
six hundred miles from its mouth.
Many centuries before If 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 coatinent.
a very curious river is the
Webbe Shebyli of east Africa, a
deep and rapid stream abounding
in fish and crocodiles. Though it
flows for hundreds of miles through
fertile lands, the immense volume of
water never reaches the sea. A little
North of the equator the river loses it
self in a desert region few miles from
the Indian ocean.
Very few great rivers have ever
been thoroughly explored by going up
stream. Travellers tried for two thous-
and wears to find the source of the
Nile by ascending the river. By the
time they had reached the difficult
part of the stream their stores and
energy were exhausted and they could
go no further. 1t was only by SEEK
ing the fountain heads first by overs
land routes that Schwatka was able to
float down the Yukon, that Stanley
mapped the Congo, and that Spoke
solved the secret OF the Nile.
A Kentuckian, while bunting in the
mountains of that state last week,
happened to break open large rock,
disclosing the following legend on the
inside: n. Rees, 1862. How this
inscription came to be on the inside
of the large stone is a mystery which
the local scientists are trying to IN
ravel.
Greatly to her surprise and to her
grocer, a Boston woman found snake
SIX inches long in her milk one morn>
ing last week.
The Oregon Salmon canning busls
ness was started at the suggestion OF
George Francis Train, in a humorous
speech delivered at Portland.
Fifteen years ago nearly all the pea
nuts used in this country wers I'M
ported from Africa. They are largely
used to make alleged olive oil.
Mr.. Spargeon, the preacher who
long ago gave over the world and the
devil, has now played quits with the
) flesh also. He has become yegetar'
; ian.