I 



CHAPTER LXXV 



RUNNING WATERS 



HAVE been told," said Emile, "that the Rhone 

 empties its waters into the sea." 



'The Rhone does run into the sea," returned his 

 uncle. "It pours into it every second five million 

 liters of water." 



"Receiving so much water continually, does not 

 the sea end by overflowing, like a basin, when it is 

 too full?" 



"You are out in your reckoning, my dear child. 

 The Rhone is not the only river that goes to the 

 sea. In France alone there are the Garonne, Loire, 

 Seine, and many less important ones. And that is 

 only a very small part of the streams that flow into 

 the sea. All the rivers in the world join it, abso- 

 lutely all. The Amazon, in South America, is 1400 

 leagues long, and ten leagues wide at its mouth. 

 What an immense quantity of water it must furnish! 



"Imagine that all the streams in the world, small 

 as well as large, the tiniest brooks no less than the 

 enormous rivers, flow unceasingly into the sea. You 

 know the little brook with the crabs. In certain 

 places Kmilr can jump across it; scarcely anywlinv 

 is ili' \vatT <ver his knees. Well, the brook goes to 

 the sea exactly as the Amazon does; every second 



it casts its few liters of water into it; that is all it 



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