The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-11-25
REnIARKABLE RIVERS.
ST. cams Tint Present Unique and Curious
Features--A River of Ink.

A number of rivers that can be found in
almost any atlas possess remarkable charac-
teristics which entitle them to rank among
the natural curiosities of the world. In
Algeria, for instance, there is small stream
which the chemistry of nature has turned
into 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 peat marsh, imbibes
gallo acid. Letters have been written with
this compound of iron and gallic acid which
unite to form the little river In Columbia
there is river which, by admixture with
sulphuric acid, becomes SO sour that II is
appropriately named Rio de Vinagre, or
Vinegar River. Many varieties of fish
abound in the large Orange River of South
Africa until the river passes through
rocky region containing copper ores, be-
low which the water is said to be poison
GUS and to kill the fish that venture into it.
China's Sorrow is the name that has
been given to the great Hoang Ho which
rises in the mountains of Thibet and fol-
lows a wonderfully circuitous channel for
$500 miles to the sea. The waywardness
of this mighty volume of water makes the
river constant source of anxiety and dam
ger instead of wealth. to $1,000, 900 of eo-
pie inhabiting the central plain of China.
1t is known to have suddenly changed its
course nine times. Il has moved its mouth
over A. of latitude each time, empty ing its
vast foods in different directions and dig
ging new channel for itself where scores
of villages had stood. 1t has greatly chang
cd the physical character of 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 western science to save this great plain
from disastrous overfows and changes of
the river bed is question that has been
considerably discussed in England of late
years.
Some recent explorers of Alaska tell us
that the Mississippi can no longer be re-
garded as the largest river of the North
American continent. They claim that dis
tinction for the great Yukon River, which,
according to Mr.. Ivan Petrof, 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 Alas
ka, and is a mile wide 600 miles from its
mouth. Many centuries before it was visit-
cd 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
continent
A very curious river is the Webbe She
beyeli of enst Africa, deep and rapid
stream, Astounding 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 itself in
desert region few miles from the Indian
Ocean.
Very few great rivers have ever been
explored by going up stream.
Travellers tried for 1900 years to find the
sources of the Nile by ascending the river.
By the time they had reached the difficult
part of the stream their stores and energy
we're exhausted and they could go no furth-
Ell. 1t was only by seeking the fountain
heads first by overland routes that Schwatka
was able to float down the Yukon, that
Stanley mapped the Congo, and that Spoke
solved the secret OF the Nile.