THE EARTH. 189 



above sixty, and those very considerable; the 

 river St Lawrence about forty, counting those 

 which fall into its lakes ; the Mississippi receives 

 forty ; and the river Plate above fifty. 



I mentioned the inundations of the Ganges and 

 the Nile, but almost every other great river whose 

 source lies within the tropics, have their stated 

 inundations also. The river Pegu has been call- 

 ed, by travellers, the Indian Nile, because of the 

 similar overflowings of its stream : this it does to 

 an extent of thirty leagues on each side ; and so 

 fertilizes the soil, that the inhabitants send great 

 quantities of rice into other countries, and have 

 still abundance for their own consumption. The 

 river Senegal has likewise its inundations, which 

 cover the whole flat country of Negroland, be- 

 ginning and ending much about the same time 

 with those of the Nile ; as, in fact, both rivers 

 rise from the same mountains. But the diffe- 

 rence between the effects of the inundations in 

 each river is remarkable: in the one, it distri- 

 butes health and plenty ; in the other, diseases, 

 famine, and death. The inhabitants along the 

 torrid coasts of the Senegal can receive no be- 

 nefit from any additional manure the river may 

 carry down to their soil, which is by nature more 

 than sufficiently luxuriant ; or, even if they 

 could, they have not industry to turn it to any 

 advantage. The banks, therefore, of the river 

 lie uncultivated, overgrown with rank and noxi- 

 ous herbage, and infested with thousands of ani- 

 mals of various malignity. Every new flood only 

 tends to increase the rankness of the soil, and to 



