, 1885-11-25
rHg WORLDS asMARkAeLE RIVERS.
streams That Present Unique and Curious
FeatnreA-A River OF Ink
FN..- y.-t- u..u

streams That Present Unique and Curious
Features "a River OF lux.
New York SUM-
A number Of riyors that can be found
in almost any atlas possess remarkable
characteristics which entitle them to
rank among the natural curiosities of
the world. In Algeria, for instance,
there is a small stream which the chem
istry of nature has turned into true ink.
1t is formed by the union of two rivu-
lets, one OF which is very strongly i'm
pregnated with iron, while the other,
%meandering through a peat marsh, i'm
bites gallic acid. Letters have been writ
ten withthis compound of iron and gallo
acid which unite to form the little river.
In 9 olOmbia there is a river which, by
admi ture with sulphuric acid, becomes
so sou that it is appropriately named
lilo de inagre, or Vinegar river.
Many varieties of fish abound in the
large range river of South Africa until
the river passes through n rocky region
containing copper ores, below which the
water is said to be poisonous and to kill
the fish that venture into il.
"China's Sorrow" is a name that has
tceu given to the great Hoang Ho,
which rises in the mountain of Ihibet
and follows a wonderfully circuitous
channel for 800 miles TO tho sea. The
waywardness of this mighty volume OF
water makes the river Il constant source
of anxiety and danger, Instead of
wealth, to l10, 0ON, 600 of people inhab-
ing the central plain Of China. 1t is
known TO have suddenly changed its
course nine times. 1t has moved
its mouth over 4 degrees of lat
itude each time, emptying its vast
floods in different directions and dig
ging a new channel for itself where
scores of villages had stood. 1t has
greatly 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 west
ern science to save this great plain from
disastrous over ows and changes of the
river bed is a 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
regarded as the largest river of tho
, orth 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 oue-third
more water than the Mississippi cur
into the gulf of Me leo. The Yukon
Iasin comprises the most of southern
Alaska, and is n mile wide D mile
from its mouth. Many centuries before
it was visited by white men it very
likely served as the highway into tbs
interior of tribes who are believed to
have crossed from Asia to this con
tinent.
A very curious river is the Webln
Shebeyli of east Africa, n deep and rapid
stream, Astounding in fish and Gro, o1iles
Though it flows for hundreds OF miles
through fertile lands, the immense vol
ume OF water never reaches the sea. =
little north of the equator the river loses
itself in a desert region a 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 fui
the source OF the Nile by ascending the
river. BY the time they had reache |
the difficult part of the stream the r
stores and energy were c haustcd an /
they could go no further. 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.