Great Rivers of the World
FAMOUS MARVELS AND MASTERPIECES OF THE WORLD
As Seen and Described by Great Writers
Collected and Edited by ESTHER SINGLETON
Famous Paintings Great Pictures Modern Paintings Great Portraits Wonders of the World Wonders of Nature Famous Women Romantic Castles and Palaces Turrets, Towers and Temples Historic Buildings of America Historic Landmarks of America Great Rivers of the World Famous Sculpture Famous Cathedrals
Fourteen volumes in all. Profusely illustrated. Each sold separately.
You can get any of the series where you bought this book and at the same price.
Great Rivers of the World
As Seen and Described By Famous Writers
COLLECTED AND EDITED BY ESTHER SINGLETON
With Numerous Illustrations
NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
Copyright, 1908, by DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
Published, November, 1908
Preface
Rivers possess so many varied attractions and have so many claims on the attention of the student of science and history, the pleasure-seeker, the traveller, the poet and the painter, that no apology need be offered for gathering into one volume selections from the works of those who have described some of the most famous streams of the world. Lyell says: “Rivers are the irrigators of the earth’s surface, adding alike to the beauty of the landscape and the fertility of the soil: they carry off impurities and every sort of waste débris; and when of sufficient volume, they form the most available of all channels of communication with the interior of continents. They have ever been things of vitality and beauty to the poet, silent monitors to the moralist, and agents of comfort and civilization to all mankind.”
Thoreau says: “The Mississippi, the Ganges and the Nile, those journeying atoms from the Rocky Mountains, the Himmaleh and Mountains of the Moon, have a kind of personal importance in the annals of the world--the heavens are not yet drained over their sources, but the Mountains of the Moon still send their annual tribute to the Pasha without fail, as they did to the Pharaohs, though he must collect the rest of his revenue at the point of the sword. Rivers must have been the guides which conducted the footsteps of the first travellers. They are the constant lure, when they flow by our doors, to distant enterprise and adventure, and, by a natural impulse, the dwellers on their banks will at length accompany their currents to the lowlands of the globe, or explore at their invitation the interior of continents. They are the natural highways of all nations, not only levelling the ground and removing obstacles from the path of the traveller, quenching his thirst, and bearing him on their bosoms, but conducting him through the most interesting scenery, the most populous portions of the globe, and where the animal and vegetable kingdoms attain their greatest perfection.”
In the following pages little will be found dealing with the material blessings bestowed on mankind by the agency of rivers. The average reader is more interested in the antiquarian and legendary lore of the sources, rapids, banks and islands of a famous stream. Length of course and volume of water are matters of no importance to lovers of the picturesque, the venerable, or the romantic. Therefore the literature of the Shannon is more fascinating than that of the Amazon, and the Jordan attracts more pilgrims than the Volga. Small streams like the Wye, the Yarrow, and the Oise consequently find a place among these celebrated rivers.
E. S.
New York, October, 1908.
Contents
THE RHINE Victor Hugo 1
THE SEINE A. Bowman Blake 8
THE GANGES Sir William Hunter 19
MORNING ON THE GANGES Pierre Loti 24
THE COLORADO Henry Gannett 28
THE AVON John Wilson Croker 34
DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE Charles Dickens 46
THE TIGRIS George Rawlinson 52
THE OISE Robert Louis Stevenson 55
THE HUDSON Esther Singleton 65
THE TIBER Strother A. Smith 76
THE SHANNON Arthur Shadwell Martin 87
THE DANUBE I. Bowes 94
THE NIGER J. Hampden Jackson 101
THE AMAZON Joseph Jones 107
THE YANGTSE CHIANG W. R. Carles 113
THE THAMES Charles Dickens, Jr. 122
THE CONNECTICUT Timothy Dwight 131
MOSEL F. Warre Cornish 138
THE IRRAWADDY Emily A. Richings 144
THE CLYDE Robert Walker 155
THE VOLGA Elisée Reclus 162
THE CONGO J. Howard Reed 169
THE MACKENZIE RIVER William Ogilvie 177
THE LOIRE I. Victor Hugo 185 II. Honoré de Balzac 189
THE POTOMAC Esther Singleton 191
THE EUPHRATES George Rawlinson 197
THE WYE A. R. Quinton 201
THE INDIAN RIVER L. C. Bryan 208
THE NILE I. J. Howard Reed 213 II. Isaac Taylor 219
THE DON Elisée Reclus 223
THE COLUMBIA J. Boddam-Whetham 228
THE PO George G. Chisholm 235
THE MENAM Mrs. Unsworth 241
THE MERRIMACK Henry D. Thoreau 249
THE YEN-E-SAY Henry Seebohm 254
THE YARROW John MacWhirter 263
THE MISSISSIPPI Alexander D. Anderson 272
THE ZAMBESI Henry Drummond 280
THE URUGUAY Ernest William White 286
THE TWEED Sir Thomas Dick Lauder 293
NIAGARA John Tyndall 304
THE NIAGARA RIVER G. K. Gilbert 312
THE MEUSE Esther Singleton 316
THE RHONE Angus B. Reach 321
THE YUKON William Ogilvie 328
THE JORDAN Andrew Robert Fausset 338
THE CONCORD Henry D. Thoreau 343
THE TAGUS Arthur Shadwell Martin 350
THE INDUS Edward Balfour 354
Illustrations
THE RHINE Frontispiece
THE SEINE 8
THE GANGES 20
THE COLORADO 28
THE AVON 34
THE ST. LAWRENCE 46
THE HUDSON 66
THE TIBER 76
THE SHANNON 88
THE DANUBE 94
THE THAMES 122
THE CONNECTICUT 132
THE IRRAWADDY 144
THE CLYDE 156
THE VOLGA 162
THE CONGO 170
THE LOIRE 186
THE POTOMAC 192
THE WYE 202
THE INDIAN 208
THE NILE 214
THE DON 224
THE COLUMBIA 228
THE PO 236
THE MENAM 242
THE MERRIMACK 250
THE YARROW 264
THE MISSISSIPPI 272
THE ZAMBESI 280
THE TWEED 294
THE NIAGARA 304
THE MEUSE 316
THE RHONE 322
THE JORDAN 338
THE CONCORD 344
THE TAGUS 350
THE RHINE
VICTOR HUGO
I love rivers; they do more than bear merchandise--ideas float along their surface. Rivers, like clarions, sing to the ocean of the beauty of the earth, the fertility of plains, and the splendour of cities.
Of all rivers, I prefer the Rhine. It is now a year, when passing the bridge of boats at Kehl, since I first saw it. I remember that I felt a certain respect, a sort of admiration, for this old, this classic stream. I never think of rivers--those great works of Nature, which are also great in history,--without emotion.
I remember the Rhone at Valserine; I saw it in 1825, in a pleasant excursion to Switzerland, which is one of the sweet, happy recollections of my early life. I remember with what noise, with what ferocious bellowing, the Rhone precipitated itself into the gulf whilst the frail bridge upon which I was standing was shaking beneath my feet. Ah! well! since that time, the Rhone brings to my mind the idea of a tiger,--the Rhine, that of a lion.