Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-19
RIVERS WHICH ARE FREAKS.
a Mighty Stream That Never Reaches thu
Sea and River of Ink.

One of the most curious rivers that
have come to the knowledge of men is
the Webbe Shebeyli of eastern Africa,
a deep and rapid stream Astounding in
strange fish and ferocious crocodiles
Although it flows for hundreds of miles
through fertile lands the immense vol
ume of water never reaches the sea-
short distance north of the equator the
river is lost in a desert region few
miles from the Indian ocean.
Some of the more recent explorers of
Alaska and British America claim that
the Mississippi can no longer be regarded
as the largest river on the North Ameri-
can continent. This distinction is claim
ed for the great Yukon river. According
to Ivan Petroff, who spent over two
years in Alaska collecting materials for
the last census, the Yukon empties into
Norton sound about one-th;rd more
water than the Mississippi pours into
the Gulf of Mexico The Yukon basin
comprises the larger part of northern
Alaska, and 900 miles from it's mouth the
river is mile in width. Many centuries
before it was discovered by white men it
very likely served as the water highway
into the interior for tribes whom we be-
iieve to have crossed from Asia to the
American continent. The Yukon river is
over 1000 miles in length.
Travellers report that In Algeria there
exists a small stream which the chemis-
try of nature has turned into ink 1t is
formed by the union of two rivulets one
of which is very strongly impregnated
with iron, while the other meanderng
through a peat marsh. imbibes large
quantities of gallic acid, which forms
this small yet wonderful stream.
The Rio de Vinagre, in Colombia. Is q
stream, the waters of which by admix-
ture with sulphuric acid become so sour
that the river has been appropriately
named the Rio de Vinagre, or Vinegar
river.
The Orange, or Garieh river in south
ern Africa, rises in the mountains which
separate Natal from the Orange Free
State. The length of this stream is 1000
miles Its banks abound in various valua-
BILE woods, and around 1t are found rich
copper ores. In this stream are found
many varieties of fish, which are found
until the river passes through rocky re-
gion containing copper, below which the
water is said to be poisonous, almost in
stantly killing the fish that venture-near
it.
"China's Sorrow" curious name for a
river, is the title bestowed upon the great
Hoang Ho which rises in the mountains
of Thibet and follows a wonderfully cir
cutous channel for $500 miles to the yell
low sea. The waywardness of this mighty
volume of water makes the river con-
SIAM SOuTCt VI dnAicly uudIlSeT To the
40, 900 people inhabiting the central
plain of Asia. 1t is known to have sud-
denly changed it's course nine times. 1t
has moved it's mouth four degrees of lati-
tude each time, emptying its vast floods
in different directions and finding new
channel for itself, where scores of towns
and villages have stood. The river has
greatly changed the physical character
of q wide area, converting fertile regions
into a sandy desert or making shadows of
them. Whether 1t is within the power of
modern science to save this great plain
from disastrous overflow and changes of
the rivers bed, Is question which dur
ing late years has been widely discussed,
especially in the scientific circles of Lon
don and Paris.
Another remarkable river is the Indus,
great stream In Hindustan. 1t rises in
Thibet, and it's course is a wonderful one.
On reaching Sussi, its most northern
point 1t turns southwark, loses itself in
the hills and reappears in Takot, In Ko-
histan, The Indus Is 100 miles in length.
After receiving the waters of many tribu-
taries it's channel grows narrow, and here
1t is divided into many channels, some of
which never return to the parent stream.
1t abounds in fish and crocodiles.
That classic river, the Gauges, is erratic
in its course, like the Hoang Ho. 1t is
prominent both in the religion and the
geography of India. 1t varies not only
from season to season, but from year to
year, and frequently exchanges old pass
ages for new ones. 1t has been said that
the Ganges delivers into the sea every
year 534, 000, 900 tons Of mud, sand and 9TH
er solid matter.