Chapter II: English and American Literature -- Outline Charts of English and (4)

Mountains by folding are generally of moderate elevation, while mountains by fracture include the highest chains of the globe. The Appalachian Mountains in North America, and the Jura in Europe, are examples of the first; the Rocky Mountains, Andes, Alps and Himalayas, of the second.

Folded mountains are curved into long arches, either entire or broken at the summit and forming a system of long, parallel ridges, of nearly equal height, separated by trough-like valleys. Here and there, however, deep gaps, or gorges, cut the chains allowing the rivers to escape from one valley to another.

In systems of mountains produced by fracture, there is usually one main central chain, with several subordinate ranges. They have, however, less regularity and similarity among themselves than the parallel chains of mountains by folding.

The crests are deeply indented, cut down one-third or one-half the height of the range, forming isolated peaks and passes which present to the eye the appearance of a saw, called in Spanish Sierra; in Portuguese, Serra. Such ranges are frequently distinguished by these terms, as the Sierra Nevada, in North America; and the Serra do Mar, in Brazil.

HOW VALLEYS ARE FORMED

Valleys among mountains owe their existence primarily to folds or fissures in the Earth’s crust, produced in the upheaving of the ranges; but they are subsequently deepened, widened and otherwise changed in form and extent, by the action of rains and frosts, and the streams to which they furnish a pathway. Most of the Alpine lakes, celebrated for their picturesque beauty, occupy deep basins at the outlet of transverse valleys.

Valleys in plains and plateaus are mainly, if not entirely, the result of the erosion, or wear of the surface, by running water.

Little rills, formed by the rains or issuing from springs, set out on their course down the slope of the ground, each wearing its small furrow in the surface. Uniting they form a rivulet which wears a broader and deeper channel; and the rivulets in turn combining, form rivers which produce still greater effects.

The great basin of the Mississippi for example, is one grand central valley, cut by the main stream in the line of lowest level, towards which the valleys of the Missouri, the Arkansas, the Ohio, and a multitude of smaller streams, all converge.

1. MOUNT EVEREST, the loftiest mountain in the world, is situated in Nepal, India, and rises to an ascertained height of 29,000 feet--almost six miles. It was named for Sir George Everest, an English engineer, and outline Surveyor-General of India. Everest is only one of numerous gigantic peaks of the Himalayas--often called the “Roof of the World”--and is apparently guarded against all attempts at ascent by a rampart of lofty pinnacles. It is best viewed from a point near Darjeeling, India, one hundred and twenty miles distant. From this point travelers are enthralled with the glistening peak of mountain piles as nowhere else on earth. Though a thousand times described, the view is so surpassingly sublime that its full glory can never be depicted in words.

2. MONT BLANC (_mòn-blon-g_) is the highest mountain in Europe, and of the Alps. It is located between Great and Little St. Bernard passes, on the frontier of France, Switzerland and Italy; and is best seen and approached from the village of Chamounix (_shä-mo-nē´_), France. It was first ascended in 1786, but frequently since, and, in 1893, an observatory was built on its summit. The Mont Blanc chain is famous for glaciers. Many great poets have described the majesty of Mont Blanc, among them, Goethe, Victor Hugo, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, and Coleridge.

3. THE MATTERHORN, or Mount Cervin, a splendid mountain obelisk, towers above Zermatt, Switzerland, on the Italian border. The eastern side seems almost vertical, and its ascent is very difficult; hence its name which is due to the formation of the rocky, horn-shaped peak. The loss of life attending its ascent has given the Matterhorn the grim name “Fatal Mountain.”

4. MONTE ROSA (_mŏn´te rō´sa_), “rosy mountain,” is next to Mont Blanc, the highest Alpine peak. It is the border between Italy and Switzerland, sixty miles north of Turin, Switzerland. Unlike the Matterhorn, Monte Rosa is easy of ascent and is frequently climbed by ladies. Its name refers to the glaciers which abound and reflect beautiful colors.

5. JUNGFRAU (_yung´frau_), “virgin,” is one of the Bernese Alps, Switzerland, thirteen miles from Interlaken. It is so named from the pure whiteness of its snowclad peak. A wonderful mountain railway now reaches to the summit, most of the line being through tunnels. Jungfrau is 13,670 feet high.

6. MOUNT ELBURZ is one of the loftiest and most impressive of all the Caucasian mountains. It is an extinct volcano with two peaks, the western peak 18,470 feet above sea-level, and the other 18,347 feet. It is covered with glaciers, and constitutes a watershed which divides Asia from Europe. The Caucasus gave its name to that great branch of the human race that has ruled the world for many generations.

7. MOUNT SINAI (_si´nā_ or _-nī_), famous as the sacred mountain on which Moses received the Ten Commandments, is an individual peak in a vast rocky mass that almost fills the peninsula of Sinai between the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Akaba. It is named from _Sin_, the Babylonian moon-god. At its foot, in a ravine, is the monastery of St. Catherine, founded by the Emperor Justinian; a short distance from it the Chapel of St. Elias (Elijah); while on its summit is a little pilgrim church. Its height is 8,593 feet.

8. PIKE’S PEAK. This famous mountain is six miles from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and may be ascended by a cog railway. It is one of the best-known summits of the Rocky Mountains, and rears its snowy crest to a height of 14,134 feet. On its top is one of the highest weather stations in the world. The view from the observatory is superb, embracing thousands of square miles of mountain and plain.

9. MOUNT ST. ELIAS, on the Alaskan side of the Canadian frontier, was long considered the highest peak in North America. It is a volcanic mountain, stands in a wild, inaccessible region, and is clothed almost from base to summit with eternal snow. Besides, there are huge glaciers, impassable precipices and yawning chasms. Its height is 18,020 feet. It was ascended by the Duke of the Abruzzi in 1897.

10. MOUNT ASSINIBOINE (_as-sin´i-boin_) is frequently called the “Matterhorn of the Canadian Rockies”. It is 11,860 feet in height, and is located near the boundary of British Columbia and Alberta, about twenty miles south of Banff, in one of the most beautiful scenic regions in America. In the immediate vicinity there are geysers, caves, waterfalls, numerous lakes, natural bridges, and glaciers.

11. MOUNT POPOCATEPETL (_pō-pō-kă-tā-pet´l_) is one of the giant volcanic peaks standing guard over Mexico City. Its summit is perpetually covered with snow, but it may be ascended from Popo Park, the terminal of the railway which climbs its slope, to a height of 8,000 feet. The peak itself is 17,887 feet, at the apex of which is a huge crater sheathed with ice, from which clouds of vapor are continually ascending. No great eruption, however, has taken place since 1540. The most imposing spectacle of all from the summit is the remarkable formation of clouds below.

12. MOUNT SALCANTAY, one of the most beautiful peaks of the Andes, in Peru, is 21,000 feet in height. Its grandeur is enhanced by the presence of glaciers and the enveloping clouds. It rises to a sharp point with its sides covered with snow and ice, and lifts its head magnificently thousands of feet higher than the surrounding mountains. It has been recently explored by the Yale University expedition.

13. MOUNT ROBSON, the highest point in the Canadian Rockies, reaches an elevation of 13,700 feet. It is on the border between Alberta and British Columbia, one of the remarkable “show places” of the Canadian Rockies. All around it is the finest of scenery--huge mountains, snow-crested peaks, rushing rivers that swirl and foam, mysterious canyons and earth-strewn boulders.

14. MOUNT RAINIER (_rā´ner_) an isolated mountain of the Cascade Range, forty miles southeast of Tacoma, Washington, is an extinct volcano, 15,529 feet in height. There are still two craters at the summit which give off heat and sulphurous fumes. Thick forests cover the lower region of the mountain, while higher up there are fourteen glaciers. It is difficult of ascent, though frequently made. A bridle path leads to a point over 7,000 feet in elevation from which a magnificent view of several of the glaciers may be had.

MOUNT ARARAT, famed as the mountain where Noah’s ark landed after the flood, as recorded in Genesis, is in the Turkish province of Armenia. Ararat is really a twin mountain, the two peaks of which are about seven miles apart, with an elevation of about 17,000 and 13,000 feet, respectively. They rise above a beautiful alluvial plain, and quite naturally the higher peak--Great Ararat--is the one made historically immortal as the motherland of the human race. From their isolation and bareness the two peaks are very impressive, and it is little wonder that Armenia regards these mountain tops as a crown of glory and all other lands as her daughters. Within her borders, too, she gives rise to the beautiful rivers Euphrates, Tigris, Pison, Araxes, and many others. The first modern ascent of the mountain was made in 1829, though often since.]

REMARKABLE CANONS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN PLATEAUS

Wonderful examples of valleys by erosion occur in the plateaus adjacent to the Rocky Mountains. The Grand Canon of the Colorado, three hundred miles long, has a depth of from three thousand to six thousand feet below the surrounding country. The sides of this tremendous gorge, which are nearly or quite precipitous, exhibit the successive geological strata down to the oldest rocks. A similar formation exists in the upper course of the Yellowstone, one of the main tributaries of the Missouri, and to a less extent in all the streams flowing through the high barren plateaus.

Valleys descending the slopes of mountains are formed in the same manner. The gathering drops make the rill, and the rill its little furrow; rills combine into rivulets, and rivulets make a gully down the hill-side; rivulets unite to form torrents, and these work with accumulating force, and excavate deep gorges in the declivities. Other torrents form in the same manner about the mountain ridge, and pursue the same work of erosion until the slopes are a series of valleys and ridges, and the summit a bold crest overlooking the eroding waters. The larger part of the valleys of the world are formed entirely by running water.

ISLANDS OF THE WORLD

The multitude of small and apparently fragmentary bodies of land, called islands, form only about one-seventeenth part of the entire land surface of the globe.

CONTINENTAL AND OCEANIC ISLANDS

Continental islands are situated in the immediate vicinity of the continents, and form properly a part of the continental structure. They have the same kinds of rocks and mountain forms, and the same varieties of plants and large animals, which are found on the neighboring coasts of the mainland.

The size of this class of islands varies extremely. Some are mere isolated rocks, while others occupy large areas, like the British Isles, Japan Islands and Madagascar; or, more extensive still, Papua and Borneo, each of which has an area exceeding two hundred thousand square miles.

The distinctive character of Oceanic islands is that they lie at a distance from the continents, in the midst of the ocean basins. They are always small, and, though sometimes forming lines, or bands, they more frequently occur in groups.

The rocks which make up the body of the continents and continental islands--sandstone, slate, granite, and the various metamorphic rocks--are entirely wanting in oceanic islands. The latter are composed either of volcanic substances, or of limestone. Hence they present much less variety in relief forms than the continental islands.

FORMS OF VOLCANIC ISLANDS

The islands of volcanic origin are more or less circular in outline; are usually considerably elevated, with rapid slopes; and are of moderate size. Sometimes two or more volcanoes, clustered together, form a single island of larger size and more irregular outline.

Occasional islands rise but little above the surface of the sea, their craters being filled by sea water. Many, however, rise to Alpine heights--like the peaks of Hawaii, in the Hawaiian Islands, nearly fourteen thousand feet in elevation; Pico de Teyde, in the Canaries, fourteen thousand feet; and Tahiti, in the Society Islands, over seven thousand feet above the level of the sea.

WONDERFUL STRUCTURE OF CORAL ISLANDS

Coral islands are among the most striking phenomena of the tropical seas. Whitsunday Island in the midst of the Pacific is an excellent example. Rising but a few feet above the surface of the ocean, it forms a narrow, unbroken, nearly circular ring, surrounding a central lagoon of quiet water. When first seen, it presents the aspects of an angry surf breaking on a white beach of coral sand, in strong contrast with the deep blue color of the sea. Behind this a garland of luxuriant vegetation, whose tropical beauty, enhanced by the noble cocoa-palm encircles the quiet waters of the lagoon, while all around spreads the broad blue sea.

=TWO OF THE GREATEST MARVELS OF LAND AND SEA=

This greatest of nature’s gorges is more than twelve miles across, a mile deep, and extends over two hundred miles in length. This whole vast space has been sculptured by the wear of the river through countless centuries. Its unparalleled magnitude, its architectural forms and suggestions, and its wealth of color effects create a picture that is grand beyond description.]

This vast reef of coral islands was built by a colony of coral insects, or polyps, as innumerable as the stars of the Milky Way. It rose from the floor of the ocean, builded out of myriads upon myriads of the dead skeletons of these marvellous insects.]

COMBINATION OF VOLCANIC AND CORAL ISLANDS

A large number of volcanic islands in the Pacific are encircled by coral reefs, which, when near the shore, are called fringing reefs. When at a considerable distance, leaving a lagoon of quiet water between them and the volcanic island, they are termed barrier reefs.

CORAL REEFS AND THEIR BUILDERS

Coral reefs are masses of limestone originally secreted, in the form of coral, by minute polyps which live in countless numbers in the tropical seas. The coral produced by a single community of polyps grows chiefly upward; but multitudes of distinct communities often live so near together that the small lateral growth of each brings them into contact.

Their separate, fragile structures, gradually broken up and compacted by various means, are in time transformed into a solid mass, forming walls of coral rock frequently of enormous extent. The great barrier reef near the northeastern shores of Australia, the longest known, is not less than one thousand two hundred and fifty miles in length.

The coral polyp is one of the master-builders of the world. It may be likened to a sea-anemone, but is inferior in muscular organism, and immensely superior in defensive organization.]

Reef-building polyps do not live below the depth of one hundred or one hundred and twenty feet, and hence require a foundation near the surface. This is supplied by submarine mountains and plateaus, or the slopes of those volcanic cones which form the high islands.

Growing vertically, the reefs repeat at the surface the outlines of their bases, which fact gives rise to the circular figure both of atolls and reefs in mid-ocean, and to the elongated, wall-like form of reefs adjacent to the continents, like those of Florida and of Australia.

DISTRIBUTION OF CORALS

Reef-building polyps are confined to the tropical seas, where the winter temperature is not below sixty-eight degrees. Coral formations are most extensive in the Pacific Ocean, especially south of the Equator, and in the two great archipelagoes of the East and West Indies; but a large number of coral islands also occur in the Indian Ocean. The Coral Sea, east of northern Australia, is particularly remarkable for the great extent of its coral reefs.

THE ATOLL FORM OF ISLAND

The usual form of coral islands is that of a broken ring, numerous channels affording entrance into the lagoon. Such a group of islands is called an atoll, a Malay term, which has been adopted to designate these singular structures. The central lagoon enclosed by an atoll, is invariably shallow, seldom exceeding a few scores, or at most hundreds, of feet in depth; while the outer sea reaches a depth of thousands of feet at a short distance from the shore, showing that the atoll rests upon a submarine mountain.

Atolls are often clustered together in large numbers, forming extensive archipelagoes. Paumotu, or Low Archipelago, numbers eighty coral islands, nearly all of which are atolls; the Caroline, Gilbert and Marshall islands together contain eighty-four atolls, while the Laccadive and Maldive islands form two long double series of atolls extending eight hundred miles from north to south.

(See next page for the Area, Population and Countries to which these islands belong).

=ISLANDS OF WESTERN HEMISPHERE=]

=MOST NOTED ISLANDS OF THE WORLD--WESTERN HEMISPHERE=

-------------------------------------------+--------+----------
| =Area | =Popula-
=Name and Sovereignty= | Square | tion=
| Miles= |
-------------------------------------------+--------+----------
=Anticosti= (to Britain) | 2,600 | 500
=Bahamas= (to Britain) | 4,404 | 58,000
=Bermudas= (to Britain) | 20 | 20,000
=Cape Breton= (to Britain) | 3,120 | 100,000
=Cuba= (Independent) | 44,164 | 2,155,000
=Dominica= (to Britain) | 291 | 35,000
=Falkland= (to Britain) | 5,500 | 3,250
=Feeji, or Feejee= (to Britain) | 7,435 | 155,000
=Galapagos= (to Ecuador) | 2,400 | 400
=Greenland= (to Denmark) | 46,740 | 15,000
=Guadeloupe= (to France) | 688 | 182,000
=Hawaiian= See Sandwich. | |
=Isla de Pinos= (Isle of Pines) (to Spain) | 1,200 | 32,000
=Jamaica= (to Britain) | 4,200 | 865,000
=Long Island= (to U. S.) | 1,682 | 2,700,000
=Martinique= (to France) | 378 | 180,000
=New Foundland= (to Britain) | 42,734 | 218,000
=Porto Rico= (to U. S.) | 3,604 | 1,120,000
=Prince Edward= (to Britain) | 2,184 | 94,000
=Santo Domingo= (Independent) | 28,250 | 2,700,000
=Sandwich or Hawaiian= (to U. S.) | 6,449 | 192,000
=Staten Island= (to U. S.) | 65 | 86,000
=Tahiti= (to France) | 1,500 | 30,000
=Tierra del Fuego= (to Argentina) | 18,500 | 1,700
=Trinidad= (to Britain) | 1,750 | 350,000
=Vancouver= (to Britain) | 15,937 | 55,000
-------------------------------------------+--------+----------

=ISLANDS OF EASTERN HEMISPHERE=]

=MOST NOTED ISLANDS OF THE WORLD--EASTERN HEMISPHERE=

-------------------------------------------+--------+----------
| =Area | =Popula-
=Name and Sovereignty= | Square | tion=
| Miles= |
-------------------------------------------+--------+----------
=Balearic Islands= (to Spain) | 1,935 | 326,000
=Borneo= (to Britain and Holland) |284,000 | 2,000,000
=Canary Islands= (to Spain) | 2,807 | 420,000
=Candia, or Crete= (to Turkey) | 3,365 | 243,000
=Cape Verde Islands= (to Portugal) | 1,480 | 148,000
=Celebes= (to Holland) | 71,470 | 2,000,000
=Ceylon= (to Britain) | 25,332 | 3,595,000
=Corsica= (to France) | 3,378 | 290,000
=Cyprus= (to Britain) | 3,584 | 140,000
=Elba= (to Italy) | 85 | 27,000
=England= (Independent) | 88,729 |40,835,000
=Formosa= (to Japan) | 13,458 | 3,392,000
=Gothland= (to Sweden) | 1,217 | 56,000
=Hainan= (to China) | 16,000 | 2,000,000
=Iceland= (to Denmark) | 39,756 | 86,000
=Ireland= (to Britain) | 32,360 | 4,382,000
{Honshiu | 87,485 |37,415,000
=Japan= {Khiushiu | 16,840 | 7,727,000
{Skikoku | 7,031 | 3,290,000
{Hokkaido (Yezo) | 36,299 | 1,140,000
=Java= (to Holland) | 50,554 |30,100,000
=Madagascar= (to France) |227,950 | 2,745,000
=Madeira Islands= (to Portugal) | 314 | 150,600
=Malta= (to Britain) | 117 | 229,000
=New Guinea= See Papua. | |
=New Zealand= {N. Island | 44,468 | 564,000
(to Britain) {S. Island | 58,325 | 445,000
=Papua, or New Guinea= (to Britain, | |
Germany and Holland) |313,183 | 710,000
{Luzon | 40,969 | 3,800,000
{Mindanao | 36,292 | 500,000
=Philippines= (to U. S.) {Panay | 4,611 | 744,000
{Cebu | 1,762 | 593,000
{Leyte | 2,722 | 358,000
=St. Helena= (to Britain) | 47 | 3,520
=Sakhalin= (Japan and Russia) | 29,000 | 30,000
=Sardinia= (to Italy) | 9,306 | 854,000
=Sicily= (to Italy) | 9,935 | 3,685,000
=Spitzbergen= (to Norway) | 27,000 | ...
=Sumatra= (to Holland) |165,000 | 3,200,000
=Van Diemen, or Tasmania= (to Britain) | 26,215 | 197,000
=Zanzibar= (to Britain) | 640 | 115,000
-------------------------------------------+--------+----------

1. Midnight Sun Within the Arctic Circle. 2. The Geyser At Rest. 3. Picture Diagram of a Section through a Volcano like Vesuvius. 4. The Geyser in Action. 5. Section of the Earth’s Crust across France and Italy.

1. Precambrian or Archaean. 2. Cambrian and Ordovician. 3. Silurian. 4. Carboniferous Limestone. 5. Coal Measures. 6. Permian. 7. Trias. 8. Jurassic. 9. Chalk. 10. Tertiary. 11. Volcanic Rocks. 12. Glacial Deposits. 13. Granite. 14. Gneiss. 15. Schist. 16. Alluvium.]

VOLCANOES, GEYSERS AND EARTHQUAKES

In this little Bay of Santorin, enclosed by an island of the same name in the Grecian Archipelago, occurred probably the most remarkable volcanic exhibition known. During an eruption in 1866 flames issued from the sea rising sometimes to a height of twenty-five feet, and a dense column of white smoke mounted to an immense height. Within a few days a new island appeared which gradually became united to the present Santorin.]

CAUSE, STRUCTURE AND LOCATION OF VOLCANOES

The primary cause of volcanoes, as of geysers, earthquakes and other similar phenomena of nature, is the intensely heated condition of the earth’s interior. It is the same force that has produced the irregular features of the earth’s surface--its mighty mountain chains, the sunken basins of the oceans, and its hills, valleys and gorges. Quite logically, volcanoes are most numerous and most intense along the deep mountain fissures which establish a ready communication between the interior and the surface of the earth. Consequently the significant facts about them are: (1) Nearly all volcanoes are either along the highest border of the continents, or in the great central zone of fracture; (2) most of the volcanic groups exhibit a linear arrangement; (3) the agent at work in these mighty engines is mainly vapor of water, or steam power.

WHAT VOLCANOES ARE AND HOW THEY ACT

The form of typical volcanic mountain is that of a cone, with a circular basin or depression, called a crater, at its summit. In the center of the crater is the mouth of a perpendicular shaft or chimney, which emits clouds of hot vapor and gases; and in periods of greater activity, ejects ashes, fragments of heated rock, and streams of fiery lava.

Volcanic ashes, when examined under a microscope, are found to be simply pulverized lava, frequently in minute crystals, and bear no resemblance to ashes in the ordinary sense of the term.

The lava stream, when flowing white hot from the crater, is not unlike a jet of melted iron escaping from a furnace, and moves at first with considerable rapidity. It soon cools on the surface, and becomes covered with a hard, black, porous crust, while the interior remains melted and continues to flow. If the stream is thick, the lava may be found still warm after ten or even twenty years.

The amount of matter ejected by volcanoes is very great. The whole island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian Islands, seems to be only an accumulation of lava thrown out by its four craters. All high oceanic islands are of the same character. Iceland, with an area of forty thousand square miles, is a vast table-land from three thousand to five thousand feet in elevation, composed of volcanic rock similar to the lavas still ejected by its numerous volcanoes.

VESUVIUS THE MOST REMARKABLE VOLCANO

Nearly all active volcanoes have intervals of comparative repose, interrupted by periods of increased activity, which terminate in a violent ejection of matter from the interior, during which the volcano is said to be in a state of eruption.

The phenomena which characterize these differing phases of volcanic activity may be best made clear by describing them as actually observed in Vesuvius, one of the most carefully studied and most active volcanoes of modern times.

Vesuvius is a solitary mountain rising to the height of nearly 4,000
feet, from the midst of a highly cultivated plain which borders upon
the shores of the Bay of Naples. Though the mountain has a regular
conical form, two summits, very nearly equal in height, are visible
from Naples--Monte Somma on the north, and Vesuvius proper on the
south.

The Eruption begins generally with a tremendous explosion which
seems to shake the mountain to its very foundations, and hurls into
the air dense clouds of vapor and ashes. Other explosions succeed
rapidly, and with increasing violence, each sending up a white,
globular cloud of steam, or aqueous vapor. This long array of
clouds, accompanied by dark ashes, volcanic sand, and fragments of
red-hot lava of all sizes, soon forms a stupendous column.

Finally the boiling lava overflows the rim of the crater, and
descends in fiery torrents down the slopes; or, bursting the
mountain by its weight, finds a vent through some fissure far below
the summit. After the expulsion of the lava the eruption is
generally near its end, though it does not necessarily terminate at
once. Alternate phases of outbursting steam, ashes, and lava may
continue with more or less violence for weeks or even months.

The sudden condensation of the enormous accumulation of hot vapor
thrown into the air by the eruption, gives rise to striking
atmospheric phenomena. Vivid flashes of lightning start from all
parts of the column, and play about the clouds above; and often a
local thunderstorm, formed in the midst of a clear sky, pours a
heavy rain of warm water and ashes upon the slopes of the mountain.
The hot, destructive mud torrents, created by these rains, have
often been mistaken for lava streams.

The majesty of the spectacle is still greater at night. Though
flames of burning gases are of rare occurrence, the clouds and
columns of vapor are strongly illuminated by the reflection of the
white-hot lava within the crater; and fragments of this lava
constantly thrown into the air give the column all the brilliancy of
a gigantic piece of fire-work. The sky itself, far and wide,
partakes of the same vivid coloring, and the whole scene resembles a
vast conflagration.

SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION OF VOLCANOES

In size they vary from mere mounds a few yards in diameter, such as the salses or mud-volcanoes near the Caspian, to Etna, 9,652 feet high, with a base thirty miles in diameter; Cotopaxi, in the Andes, 18,880 feet high; or Mauna Loa, in the Sandwich Isles, 13,600 feet high, with a base seventy miles in diameter and two craters, one of which, Kilauea, is the largest active crater in our earth, being seven miles in circuit.

Two great terrestrial zones include nearly all the known volcanoes of the globe, arranged in long bands or series, or in isolated groups.

FIRST ZONE. This includes the vast array of mountain chains, peninsulas, and bands of islands which encircle the Pacific Ocean with a belt of burning mountains. Within it occur, in the New World: (1) the Andes mountains, with three of the most remarkable series of volcanoes--those of Chili, Bolivia, and Ecuador--separated by hundreds of miles; (2) the volcanic group of Central America; (3) the series of Mexico; (4) the series of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains; (5) the group of Alaska; and (6) the long series of the Aleutian Islands.

In the Old World are: (1) the series of Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands; (2) the group of Japan; (3) the series south of Japan, including Formosa, the Philippine and the Molucca Islands; and (4) the Australian series, including New Guinea, New Britain, New Hebrides, and New Zealand. In this vast zone there are not less than four hundred volcanoes, one hundred and seventy of which are still active.

SECOND ZONE. This contains the belt of broken lands and inland seas, which extending round the globe, separates the northern from the southern continents, and intersects the first zone, in the equatorial regions, nearly at right angles.

In it are: (1) the volcanic regions of Central America and Mexico, and the series of the Lesser Antilles; (2) the groups of the Azores and Canary islands (3) the Mediterranean islands and peninsulas, including all the active volcanoes of Europe; (4) Asia Minor with numerous extinct volcanoes; (5) the shores of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and the two Indias, rich in traces of volcanic action; (6) the East Indian Archipelago with hundreds of burning mountains; and (7) the Friendly Islands and other volcanic groups of the central Pacific.

In this zone there are no less than one hundred and sixty volcanoes, so that the two volcanic zones together contain five hundred and sixty, or five-sixths of all known.

ISOLATED VOLCANOES. The volcanoes not included in these two great zones are isolated, in the midst of the oceans, or in the broken polar lands. The most noted are the Hawaiian Island group, in the Pacific; Bourbon and Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean; Cape Verde Islands, Ascension, St. Helena, and Tristan da Cunha, in the Atlantic; Iceland and Jan Mayen, in the Arctic Ocean; and Erebus and Terror, in Antarctic.

=MOST NOTED VOLCANOES=

=Name= =Location= =Height
(feet)=
=Altar= Ecuador 17,710
=Antisana= Ecuador 19,335
=Asosan= Japan 5,630
=Cayambi= Ecuador 19,255
=Chimborazo= Ecuador 21,424
=Copiapo= Chile 19,700
=Cotocachi= Ecuador 16,300
=Cotopaxi= Ecuador 18,880
=Demavend= Persia 18,500
=Etna= Sicily 9,652
=Fujiyama= Japan 12,390
=Hecla= Iceland 5,110
=Hood, Mt.= Oregon 11,225
=Iztaccihuati= Mexico 16,076
=Kirishima-yama= Japan 5,530
=Llullaillac= Chile 21,000
=Maipo= Chile 17,670
=Mauna Kea= Hawaii 13,953
=Mauna Loa= Hawaii 13,600
=Misti= Peru 20,015
=Nevado de Colima= Mexico 14,210
=Orizaba= Mexico 18,310
=Pelée= Martinique, W. I. 4,300
=Pichincha= Ecuador 15,918
=Pico, Peak of= Azores 7,013
=Popocatepetl= Mexico 17,748
=Ruiz= Colombia 17,388
=Sahama= Peru 23,000
=Sangai= Ecuador 17,459
=San Jose= Chile 20,020
=St. Elias, Mt.= Alaska 18,024
=St. Helena, Mt.= United States 10,000
=Stromboli= Lipari Islands 3,090
=Tahiti, Peak of= Friendly Islands 7,400
=Teneriffe= Canary Islands 12,000
=Tolima= Columbia 18,069
=Toluco= Mexico 14,950
=Tunguragua= Ecuador 16,690
=Vesuvius= Italy 4,260

EARTHQUAKES

Earthquakes are movements of the earth’s crust, varying in intensity from a slight tremor or shaking of the ground to the most violent convulsions causing enormous destruction over wide areas.

KINDS OF MOTION OBSERVED IN EARTHQUAKES

The wave-like or undulatory motion is most common and least destructive. It appears to be the normal one, and it is possible that the others may be simply the result of various systems of waves intersecting one another. The waves either advance in one direction, like waves of the sea, or spread from a central point, like ripples produced by dropping a pebble into still water.

The earthquakes of the Andes are chiefly linear, being propagated along the mountains, with the undulations perpendicular to the direction of the ranges. The destructive earthquake at Lisbon, was a central one, the concentric waves gradually diminishing in intensity with increasing distance from the place of origin.

The vertical motion acts from beneath like the explosion of a mine, and when violent nothing can resist its force. The earthquake at Calcutta, in September, 1828, owed its great destructiveness to the fact that the main shock was vertical; and one in Murcia, Spain, in 1829, destroyed or injured more than three thousand five hundred houses.

The rotary or whirling motion is the most dangerous, but happily the rarest of all. In the great earthquake of Jamaica, in 1692, the surface of the ground was so disturbed that fields changed places, or were found twisted into each other.

EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS AND SOUNDS

Probably no part of the earth’s surface is entirely free from vibration, but, fortunately, destructive earthquakes are confined to comparatively limited regions. In most cases each shock lasts only a few seconds, but the tremblings that follow may be continued for days, weeks, or even months. Noises of sundry kinds usually precede, accompany, or succeed an earthquake. Some earthquakes, however, are not attended by any subterranean sounds. This has been the case with some of the most destructive South American disturbances. Thus at the time of the terrible shock which destroyed Riobamba in Ecuador in 1797, a complete silence reigned. On the other hand, subterranean sounds may be heard without any earth-tremor being perceived.

The sound which accompanies many earthquakes is due to the transmission to the air of vibrations in the soil. To produce sound-waves in the air, the ground must vibrate like a drumhead. Hence no sound will be heard when the oscillations are horizontal.

The velocity of propagation of an earthquake is very variable. Thus in the case of the earthquake of Lisbon in 1755, it seems to have considerably exceeded one thousand feet per second, while in the Lisbon earthquake of 1761 the rate was three times greater. At Tokio, in 1881, the velocity, as estimated by Professor Milne, varied between four thousand feet and nine thousand feet per second.

DEPTH OF EARTHQUAKES. Various attempts have been made to estimate the depth at which earthquakes originate. Mallet was of opinion that the centrum of the Neapolitan earthquake of 1857 was probably five and one-half miles from the surface. The same eminent physicist thought that an earthquake centrum probably never exceeded a depth of thirty geographical miles. According to Professor Milne, the angles of emergence of the earth-waves obtained during the Yokohama earthquake of 1880 showed that the depth of origin of that earthquake might be between one and one-half and five miles; and he gives a table, compiled from the writings of various observers, which exhibits the mean depths at which certain earthquakes have originated. These estimated depths range from 17,260 feet to 127,309 feet.

The area disturbed by an earthquake is generally proportionate to the intensity of the shock. The great earthquake of Lisbon disturbed an area four times as great as the whole of Europe. In the form of tremors and pulsations, Mr. Milne remarks, it may have shaken the whole globe.

In a violent submarine earthquake the ordinary earth-wave and sound-wave are accompanied by sea-waves. These waves may be twenty, sixty or even eighty feet higher than the highest tide, and are usually more dreaded than the earthquake shock itself in such regions as the maritime districts of South America. The greatest sea-wave on record is that which in 1737, is said to have broken near Cape Lopatka, at the south end of Kamchatka, two hundred and ten feet in height.

=NOTABLY DESTRUCTIVE EARTHQUAKES=

79. One accompanied by the eruption of Vesuvius; the cities of
Pompeii and Herculaneum buried.

742. Awful one in Syria, Palestine, and Asia; more than 500 towns
were destroyed and the loss of life surpassed all calculations.

936. Constantinople overturned; all Greece shaken.

1137. Catania, in Sicily, overturned, and 15,000 persons buried in
the ruins.

1186. At Calabria; one of its cities and all its inhabitants
overwhelmed in the Adriatic Sea.

1456. At Naples, 40,000 persons perished.

1537. At Lisbon; 1,500 houses and 30,000 persons buried in the
ruins; several neighboring towns ingulfed with their inhabitants.

1596. In Japan; several cities made ruins, and thousands perished.

1662. One in China, when 300,000 persons were buried in Pekin alone.

1693. One in Sicily, which overturned fifty-four cities and towns,
and 300 villages. Of Catania and its 18,000 inhabitants not a trace
remained; more than 100,000 lives were lost.

1726. Palermo nearly destroyed; 6,000 lives lost.

1731. Again in China; and 100,000 people swallowed up at Pekin.

1746. Lima and Callao demolished; 18,000 persons buried in the
ruins.

1754. At Grand Cairo; half of the houses and 40,000 persons
swallowed up.

1755. Quito destroyed.

1755. Great earthquake at Lisbon. In about eight minutes most of the
houses and upward of 50,000 inhabitants were swallowed up, and whole
streets buried. The cities of Coimbra, Oporto, and Braga suffered
dreadfully, and St. Ubes was wholly overturned. In Spain, a large
part of Malaga became ruins. One-half of Fez, in Morocco, was
destroyed, and more than 12,000 Arabs perished there. About half of
the Island of Madeira became waste; and 2,000 houses in the Island
of Mytilene, in the Archipelago, were overthrown. This awful
earthquake extended 5,000 miles; even to Scotland.

1759. In Syria, extended over 10,000 square miles; Baalbec
destroyed.

1783. Messina and other towns in Italy and Sicily overthrown; 40,000
persons perished.

1797. The whole country between Santa Fe and Panama destroyed,
including Cusco and Quito, 40,000 people buried.

1840. Awful and destructive earthquake at Mount Ararat, in one of
the districts of Armenia; 3,137 houses were overthrown, and several
hundred persons perished.

1842. At Cape Haytien, St. Domingo, which destroyed nearly
two-thirds of the town; between 4,000 and 5,000 lives were lost.

1851. In South Italy; Melfi almost laid in ruins; 14,000 lives lost.

1852. At Philippine Isles; Manila nearly destroyed.

1853. Thebes, in Greece, nearly destroyed.

1854. St. Salvador, South America, destroyed.

1854. Amasca, in Japan, and Simoda, in Nippon, destroyed; Jeddo much
injured.

1855. Broussa, in Turkey, nearly destroyed.

1857. In Calabria, Montemurro and many other towns destroyed, and
about 22,000 lives lost in a few seconds.

1858. Corinth nearly destroyed.

1859. At Quito; about 5,000 persons killed, and an immense amount of
property destroyed.

1868. Cities of Arequipa, Iquique, Tacna, and Chincha, and many
small towns in Peru and Ecuador destroyed; about 25,000 perished.

1883. Krakatoa island, between Sumatra and Java, East Indies, was
the scene of a series of volcanic discharges in May to August, 1883,
constituting the most tremendous eruption known to history. A cubic
mile of rock material was hurled into the air, and the explosions
were heard 150 miles away. Violent atmospheric disturbances and
gigantic sea-waves, the latter causing great loss of life, estimated
at more than 30,000. As a result of the explosion, the north part of
the island, including its highest peak, altogether disappeared.

1886. Shocks throughout eastern United States; at Charleston, S. C,
41 lives and $5,000,000 worth of property lost.

1893. Islands of Zante and Stromboli, the former west of Greece, the
latter one of the Lipari group, west of Calabria, Italy, severely
shaken. Great loss of lives and property at Zante.

1906. Severe shocks in California wrecked San Francisco and adjacent
towns, and caused the greatest fire in history, lasting two days.
Great loss of life, and $300,000,000 of property destroyed; over
300,000 homeless. Stanford University buildings were damaged to the
extent of $2,800,000, including the fine Memorial Church.

1906. At Valparaiso, Chile, causing great destruction of life and
property.

1907. Large part of Kingston, Jamaica, destroyed.

1909. In Sicily and southern Italy, Messina and many towns and
villages desolated. Appalling loss of life; thousands buried alive;
the survivors homeless; one of the greatest earthquakes of modern
times if not of all time.

GEYSERS

Geysers are eruptive hot springs found chiefly in volcanic districts, but particularly in the Yellowstone Park, Iceland, New Zealand, Tibet and the Azores. At intervals these fountains of hot water and steam sometimes rise to a height of two hundred feet. The eruptions occur at intervals varying from every hour to once a day.

All the geyser waters hold in solution a considerable quantity of silica. The highly heated water decomposes the felspar and other volcanic rocks, and becoming slightly alkaline with the soda or potash these contain, it is enabled to form a silicious solution. The silica taken up is deposited again round the mouth of the orifice. Minute plants termed algæ are known to live in the hot water, and to aid in throwing down the silica from solution to form the sinter deposits.

The cause of the periodical eruptions is probably to be found in the gradual increase of heat with the depth of the tube. In the middle and lower parts the temperature is far above the boiling-point (212° F.) at the ordinary pressure. But at last the lower portion rises to a position where the temperature is above the boiling-point at the pressure it there sustains, and then, flashing into steam, it hurls the column above into the air. After playing for a few minutes the water falls back into the basin, and remains quiet for a time.

WONDERFUL GEYSERS OF THE YELLOWSTONE

The geysers of the Yellowstone region are probably the most picturesque and wonderful in the world. On the Firehole River alone there are probably fifty geysers, throwing columns of water to a height of from fifty to two hundred feet, while smaller jets rise occasionally to two hundred and fifty feet. The “Old Faithful” geyser, in this region, throws up a column of water six feet in diameter to a height of one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet, at intervals of about an hour. Near the north entrance to the National Park, also, are the hot springs of the Gardiner River; here the “White Mountain,” built up of terraces of white calcareous deposits, rises to a considerable height, with a diameter of one hundred and fifty yards at the top.

The geysers of Iceland are situated within sight of Mount Hekla and are the hottest springs in Europe. The principal geysers of this region are known as the “Great Geyser” or “Roarer,” and the “Stroker” or “Churn.”

The geysers of New Zealand attained celebrity chiefly on account of the beautiful terraces associated with them. Unfortunately, volcanic activity manifested itself throughout the region in 1886, resulting in the destruction of the terraces. The basins connected with these geysers, catching the overflow of water, are, like those of Yellowstone region, largely used by bathers, and are much resorted to by invalids.

The three localities mentioned are where geysers attain their highest development; but they also exist in many volcanic regions notably in Japan, South America, and the Malay Archipelago.

The circulation of the waters of the earth is just as marvellous as that of the blood in the human body. First, it is drawn up from the sea by the sun and rises as vapor; the cool air condenses it first into cloud and then rain or snow; it runs together, forming springs and waterfalls and rivers; and finally it finds its way to the sea, where again the never-ending journey begins.]

THE WATERS OF THE EARTH

The underground lake in its magnificent setting of dazzling stone columns and stalactites in the Cheddar Caves, England. All these wonderful natural halls, chasms and snowy incrustations were formed by the age-long action of the water on the limestone rocks through which it filtered.]

Water is found in Nature in three states or conditions--as ice, vapor or steam, and as simple water. These three forms have the same chemical composition--the substance being a compound of oxygen and hydrogen, represented by the formula H₂O; but the physical condition depends entirely on its temperature. Under ordinary atmospheric conditions water is a _solid_ below 32 degrees Fahrenheit; a _gas_ above 212 degrees Fahrenheit, and a _liquid_ between these temperatures.

The purest form of water which exists in nature is rain water, though this always contains a little oxygen and carbon dioxide dissolved from the air. To obtain pure water artificially, any ordinary water is distilled, when all the solids dissolved in it are left behind. River water and spring water always contain a small quantity of solid matter, the amount and nature of the dissolved solids depending on the nature of the rocks over which the water has flowed.

Geographically it may be considered under the four heads of _springs_, _rivers_, _lakes_, and the _ocean_, which taken together forms the _hydrosphere_ of the earth.

WHERE SPRINGS HAVE THEIR SOURCE

SPRINGS, or the natural fountains of water, take their rise from reservoirs stored under ground. Water maintains a level, and hence the height to which a spring will rise depends on that of the level from which it is supplied. If the internal reservoir be on a hill, and the spring should gush out in a valley, the water may rise to a considerable height and form a natural fountain; but, on the other hand, if the reservoir be at some depth below the surface, the water may never reach the surface, and mechanical aid may be required to obtain it.

These internal reservoirs are in a great measure supplied by moisture derived from rain, snow, mist, and dew. The atmospheric water enters the earth through porous rocks, or by means of fissures, and continues to sink until arrested in its progress by rocks, such as clay, which will not permit the water to pass, or by faults which check it from spreading. The waters will then gush forth as a spring, of greater or less size, according to the supplies it may have received.

HOW MINERAL SPRINGS ARE FORMED

All springs contain a certain portion of air and gas, and also some solid matter, usually in the form of salts. When these salts are abundant, mineral springs are the result, which may be classified according to the character of their several properties, as acidulous, chalybeate, sulphurous, saline, calcareous, and silicious.

Acidulous or acid springs are those surcharged with carbonic acid
gas.

Chalybeate springs are those in which iron, in the form of carbonate
or sulphate, is held in solution.

Sulphur, in the form of sulphureted hydrogen or sulphate of lime, is
the distinguishing ingredient in Sulphurous springs.

Saline springs are of two kinds--brine and medicinal; brine when
containing a greater or less amount of chloride of sodium or common
salt, and medicinal when containing other salts, as sulphate of
soda, etc.

Calcareous springs are those highly charged with the salts of lime,
and which have the property of petrifying substances placed within
their reach, and also of depositing their contents, forming the
stalactites and stalagmites of caverns, etc.

Silicious springs are so called from holding silica or flint in
solution. The last-named are all hot or thermal as well as mineral
springs, deriving their heat either from the natural heat of the
earth at great depths, or from volcanic action. When occurring near
volcanoes, they are frequently charged with bitumen, petroleum,
naptha, asphaltum, etc.

WHY WATER FLOWS FROM ARTESIAN WELLS

An important class of artificial springs or wells is known as Artesian Wells. Where bent pervious beds of rock lie between two bent impervious beds, so as to make a basin-shaped depression, lower in the middle than at the edges, the rain which sinks into the pervious rock where it reaches the surface will begin to gather in the central part of the porous rock as in a reservoir.

If a hole be now bored in the hollow of the upper impervious bed till it reaches the water-bearing stratum, the water will flow out at the top. The water thus obtained may have fallen a distance of many miles several months previously, and if the gathering-ground be high the issue at the well may be forced by the pressure of the water behind to a considerable height.

FORMATION, CHARACTERISTICS AND PECULIARITIES OF RIVERS

Rivers have their sources from springs or from the melting of accumulations of snow. They do not, however, receive their largest supplies from the actual summits of mountains, for copious springs are rarely met with in such situations, nor are glaciers formed on the highest points of mountains, but more usually on slopes of the upper mountain valleys. It is, accordingly, in the latter localities that many of the largest rivers take their rise.

WATERSHED. It not unfrequently happens that several rivers take their rise in one mountain ridge, some flowing in one direction, and others taking an opposite course. Such a ridge is termed a _watershed_. Thus the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Danube all take their rise in the Alps, the first discharging itself into the North Sea, the second into the Mediterranean Sea, and the last into the Black Sea.

BASIN. The portion of country drained by a river and its tributary streams is called its _basin_, from its catching the rains which fall within its circuit, and which the river carries to the sea. The largest river-basin in Europe is that of the Volga, in Asia, that of the Ganges, in Africa that of the Nile, in North America that of the Mississippi, and in South America that of the Amazon.

=THE GREAT RIVERS OF THE WORLD=

+-----------------------------+-------+----------------+-------------+
| |=Length| | =Area of |
| =RIVER= | in | =Emptying Into=| Drainage in |
| |Miles= | |Square Miles,|
| | | | etc.= |
+-----------------------------+-------+----------------+-------------+
|Mississippi-Missouri (United | 4,330 |Gulf of Mexico | 1,245,000 |
|States) | | | |
|Nile (Egypt) | 3,500 |Mediterranean | 1,050,000 |
|Amazon (Brazil): the only | 3,300 |At Ocean on the | 2,700,000 |
|large river with direct | |Equator | |
|latitudinal course | | | |
|Yangtze-Kiang (China) | 3,000 |Yellow Sea | 548,000 |
|Congo (Central Africa) | 2,900 |Atlantic Ocean | 1,430,000 |
|Lena (Russia in Asia) | 2,800 |Arctic Ocean | 856,000 |
|Amur (Russia in Asia) | 2,800 |Gulf of Saghalin| 772,000 |
|Mekong (Indo-China) | 2,800 |China Sea | Nav. 200 |
| | | | miles |
|Yenisei (Russia in Asia) | 2,700 |Bay of Yenisei | 1,000,000 |
|Niger (West Africa) | 2,600 |Atlantic Ocean | 808,000 |
|Hoangho (China) | 2,500 |Gulf of | 376,400 |
| | |Pe-Chi-Li | |
|Obi (Russia in Asia) | 2,300 |Gulf of Obi | 1,125,000 |
|Plata-Parana (Argentina and | 2,300 |Atlantic Ocean | 2,300,000 |
|Brazil) | | | |
|Mackenzie (Canada) | 2,300 |Arctic Ocean | 676,000 |
|Volga (Russia in Europe) | 2,200 |Caspian Sea | 560,000 |
|St. Lawrence (United States | 2,200 |Gulf of St. | 500,000 |
|and Canada) | |Lawrence | |
|Yukon (Alaska) | 2,200 |Behring Sea | 500,000 |
|Indus (India) | 2,000 |Arabian Sea | 373,000 |
|Sao Francisco (Brazil) | 1,800 |Atlantic Ocean | 249,000 |
|Sir Daria (Turkestan) | 1,800 |Sea of Aral | 175,000 |
|Brahmaputra or Burrampooter | 1,800 |Bay of Bengal | Nav. 800 |
|(India) | | | miles |
|Rio Grande del Norte (U. S. | 1,800 |Gulf of Mexico | 240,000 |
|and Mexico) | | | |
|Danube (Austria-Hungary) | 1,780 |Black Sea | 311,000 |
|Saskatchewan-Nelson (Canada) | 1,732 |Hudson Bay | 730,000 |
|Euphrates (Turkey in Asia) | 1,700 |Persian Gulf | 260,000 |
|Zambesi (East Africa) | 1,600 |Indian Ocean | 800,000 |
|Ural (Russia in Europe) | 1,500 |Caspian Sea | 85,000 |
|Arkansas (United States) | 1,500 |Mississippi | 181,000 |
| | |River | |
|Orinoco (Colombia and | 1,500 |Atlantic Ocean | 364,000 |
|Venezuela) | | | |
|Ganges (India) | 1,500 |Bay of Bengal | 409,000 |
|Amu (Turkestan) | 1,400 |Sea of Aral | 174,000 |
|Columbia (United States) | 1,400 |Pacific Ocean | 260,000 |
|Dnieper (Russia in Europe) | 1,400 |Black Sea | 203,000 |
|Murray (Australia) | 1,400 |Indian Ocean | 351,000 |
|Don (Russia in Europe) | 1,300 |Sea of Azov | 166,000 |
|Orange (S. W. Africa) | 1,200 |Atlantic Ocean | 370,000 |
|Irawaddy (East India) | 1,200 |Indian Ocean | Nav. 800 |
| | | | miles |
|Colorado (United States) | 1,100 |Gulf of | 250,000 |
| | |California | |
|Senegal (West Africa) | 1,100 |Atlantic Ocean | 270,000 |
|Tigris (Turkey in Asia) | 1,000 |Euphrates and |Nav. general-|
| | |Persian Gulf |ly for small |
| | | | boats |
|Ohio (United States) | 970 |Mississippi | 201,000 |
| | |River | |
|Churchill (Canada) | 900 |Hudson Bay | Nav. by |
| | | | canoes |
|Magdalena (Colombia) | 840 |Caribbean Sea | Nav. 600 |
| | | | miles |
|Rhine (Germany) | 800 |North Sea | 76,000 |
|Cambia (West Africa) | 750 |Atlantic Ocean | Nav. 300 |
| | | | miles |
|Elbe (Germany) | 720 |North Sea | 57,000 |
|Fraser (British Columbia) | 650 |Gulf of Georgia |Nav. general-|
| | | |ly for small |
| | | | boats |
|Vistula (Germany, Poland) | 600 |Baltic Sea | 120,000 |
|Sacramento (United States) | 600 |Pacific Ocean | Nav. 300 |
| | | | miles |
|Tagus (Portugal) | 570 |Atlantic Ocean | 32,000 |
|Paranahiba (Brazil) | 530 |Atlantic Ocean | Nav. 400 |
| | | | miles |
|Guadiana (Spain) | 510 |Mediterranean | 32,000 |
| | |Sea | |
|Rhone (France) | 500 |Gulf of Lyons | 38,000 |
|Seine (France) | 480 |English Channel | 30,000 |
|Ebro (Spain) | 470 |Mediterranean | 32,000 |
| | |Sea | |
|Susquehanna (United States) | 450 |Chesapeake Bay | Not |
| | | | navigable |
|Potomac (United States) | 450 |Chesapeake Bay | Nav. to |
| | | | Washington, |
| | | | D. C. |
|Oder (Germany) | 440 |Baltic Sea | 43,000 |
|Po (Italy) | 420 |Adriatic Sea | 29,000 |
|Garonne (France) | 380 |Bay of Biscay | 33,000 |
|Hudson (United States) | 350 |New York Bay |Nav. to Troy;|
| | | | 150 miles |
|Loire (France) | 200 |Bay of Biscay | 25,000 |
|Thames (England) | 200 |North Sea | 5,250 |
+-----------------------------+-------+----------------+-------------+