Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-01-08
Remarkable Rivers.

A'number of rivers that eau 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
lstry 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,
meandcring through a peat marsh. inn
bibes a gallic acid. Letters have been
written with this compound of iron and
gallo acid which unite to form the little
river. In Columbia there is a river
which, by admixture with sulphuric
acid, becomes SO sour that it is appro-
priately named Rio de Vinagre; or Vim
egar river: Many varieties Of fish
abound in the large Orange river of
South Africa, until the river passes
through a rocky region containing cop
per ores, below which the river is said
to be poisonous 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 follows a wonderfully circuitous
channel for twenty-five hundred 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, OOO,-
600 OF people inhabiting 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 latitude each time. emptyingi it's vast
floods III different directions and dig
ginga new channel for itself where
scores OF villages had stood. 1t has
greatly changed the physical character
OF a wide area, turning fertile regions
lntc q 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 say this great plain from
disastrous oyertlows 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 the
North American continent. They
claim that distinction for the great Yu-
kon river, which, according to Mr..
lvan Petrotf, 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. lie
Yukon basin comprises the most of
southern Alaska, and is a mile wide six
hundred miles from it's mouth. Many
centuries before it was visited by white
men 1t very likely served as the high
way into the interior of tribes who are
believed to have crossed from Asia ia
this continent.
A very curious river is the Webbe
Shebeyli of east Africa, a deep and
rapid stream. Astounding in fish and
crocodiles. Though it flows for hun
dreds OF miles through fertile lands, the
immense volume of water never reaches
the sea. A little north of the EQUATOR
the Flyer loses Itself in a desert reyion
a lew miles from the Indian ocean.
Very lew great rivers nave ever been
thoroughly explored by going up stream.
Travellers tried for two thousand wears
to find the source Of the Nile by as
cending the river. BY the time they
had reached the difficult part Of the
stream their stores and energy were ex-
hausted, and they could 90 no further.
1t was only by seeking the fountain
heads first by overland routes that
SchWatka was able 10 feat down the
Yukon, that Stanley mapped the Con-
go, and that Spoke solved tie secret OF
the Nile.-Nev York. san.