The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-29
FREAKISH STREAMS.
REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF
SOME LARGE RIVERS.

The Mississippi No Longer Holds First
Place In North America-A River of
Writing Fluid-wonderful Channel of
"China's Sorrow"
1t is recognized fact in science that
very few great rivers have been thor
oughly explored by going up stream.
For nearly 2, 900 years travellers and ex-
plorers endeavored to discover the
sources Of the Nile by ascending that
wonderful river. But by the time they
had reached the difficult part of the
stream their supplies and energy were
exhausted. and they could go no farther.
1t is only by seeking the sources of
rivers by overland routes that explorers
meet with success 1t was in this man.
ner that Henry M. Stanley traced the
route of the Kongo in Africa. In this
way of procedure Frederick Schwatka
was enabled to float down to Yukon
and Speke found the secret of the river
Nile.
One of the most curious rivers that
has 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 A
short distance north Of the equator the
river is lost in 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 regard
ed as the largest river on the North
American continent This distinction
is claimed 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
third more water than the Mississippi
pours into the gulf of Mexico The Yu-
kon basin comprises the larger part of
northern Alaska, and 600 miles from
its 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 that we believe 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 n small stream which the chem
istry of nature has turned into ink 1t
is formed by the union of two rivulets,
one of which is very strongly impreg-
mated with iron, while the other,
Imeandering through peat marsh, i'm
Fbibes large quantities of gallo acid
Letters have been written with the nat
ural compound of iron and gallo acid
which forms this small, yet wonderful,
stream.
The Rio de Vinagre, in Colombia, is
n stream the waters of which, by ad-
mixture with sulphuric acid, become so
sour that the river has been appropri-
ately 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 River
Free State. The length Of this stream is
ZOO miles. Its banks abound i'll vari-
Gus valuable woods, and around it are
found rich copper ores. In this stream
are many varieties of fish, which are
found until the river passes through q
rocky region containing copper, below
which the water is said to be poisonous,
almost instantly killing the fish that
venture near it.
"China's Sorrow a curious name
for a river is the title bestowed upon
the great Hoang Ho, which rises in the
mountains of Tibet and follows won
derfully circuitous channel for $500
miles to the Yellow sea. The hayward
ness of this mighty volume of water
makes the river constant source of anx-
lety and danger to the ITO, 600, 900 of
people irhabiting the central plain
Asia. 1t is known to have suddenly
changed its course nine times. 1t has
moved its mouth four degrees Of lati-
tude each time, emptying its vast floods
in different directions, and finding a
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 fer
tile regions into a sandy desert or max
ing shadows of them Whether it is
within the power Of modern science to
save this great plain from disastrous
overflow and changes Of the rivers bed
Is a question which during late years
has been widely discussed, especially in
the scientific circles of Paris and Lon
don
Another remarkable river is the In
dus, great stream in Hindustan. 1t
rises in Tibet. and its course is a Won
derful one. On reaching Sussi, its most
northern point, it turns southwark, loses
itself in the hills and reappears at Takot
IN kohistan. The Indus is l, 700 miles
In length. After receiving the waters Of