464 THE GREAT RIVER SYSTEMS. 



Sudden Floods on the Upper Indus. The Indus as the Military Frontier 

 of North Western India. Attock. Wild Scenery. Tremendous Cur- 

 rents and Floods. Kalabagh. The Indus Debouching into the Plains. 

 Ancient Invasions of India and the Indus River. Invasion by Alexander 

 the Great. By Tamerlane. By Nadir Shah. The Sack of Delhi. 

 The Ancient Invasions Practically Unopposed. Modern Military 

 Opinion as to the Value of the Indus Frontier. " India between two 

 Fires." Influence thereon of the British Navy. The Plains Track of 

 the Indus. The Indus during the Rains. The Punjab, the Land of 

 The Five Rivers. Their Juncture with the Indus. Sir C. Napier's De- 

 scription of the Impassable Character of the Indus. "Nullahs" issuing 

 from the Indus. Battles of Miani and Dabo. The Embouchure of the 

 Indus. Karachi. American Rivers. The Mississippi-Missouri. Valley 

 Track of the Upper Mississippi. The Plains Track of the Lower 

 Mississippi. Inundations. Delta and Bar of the Mississippi. Missis- 

 sippi Steamers. Dangers of the Navigation. Snags. Mississippi Steam- 

 boat Accidents. Burning of "The Prairie Belle." The Mississippi 

 Passes. Lake Ponchartrain. Mississippi Swamp Lands. Discover)' of the 

 Mississippi. Its Influence on the Naval Power of the United States. The 

 Saint Lawrence. The Great Lakes. Niagara River. Navigation and 

 Tides of the St. Lawrence. Quebec as a Great Fortress. Influence of 

 Sea Power upon History. The Conquest of Canada. Panorama seen 

 from the Ramparts of Quebec. The Falls of Montmorency. Ice upon 

 the St. Lawrence. Break-up of the Ice. Sudden Transition from Winter 

 to Spring. Estuary of the St. Lawrence. Mighty Cliffs of the Saguenay. 

 Sea Mouth of the St. Lawrence. The Bird Rocks. The Banks of 

 Newfoundland. 



EACH of the great continents is drained by its own 

 river systems. During the course of uncounted 

 ages the rains have excavated these channels across 

 the surface of the land, as a vent for the surplus waters 

 on their descent to that great general reservoir, the 

 ocean. It looks -as if these mighty channels, which 

 we are about to describe, had been constructed by a 

 special design of The Great Architect of Nature for 

 the rivers: but it is not so. This great work of con- 

 struction was assigned to the rivers themselves. Ac- 

 cording to the law of gravitation they effected this by 

 the constant flow of their current, continually eating 

 into the plain, and wearing away the surface of the 

 solid rock. In this great work of the water, an admir- 



