A HISTORY OF 



The largest rivers of Asia are, the Hohanho, 

 in China, which is eight hundred and fifty 

 leagues in length, computing from its source 

 at Raja Ribron, to its mouth in the gulf of 

 Changi. The Jenisca of Tartary, about eight 

 hundred leagues in length, from the lake Se- 

 linga, to the Icy Sea. This river is, by some, 

 supposed to supply most of that great quan- 

 tity of drift wood which is seen floating in the 

 seas near the Arctic circle. The Oby, of 

 five hundred leagues, running from the lake 

 of Kila into the Northern Sea. The Amour, 

 in Eastern Tartary, whose course is about 

 five hundred and seventy-five leagues, from 

 its source to its entrance into the sea of 

 Kamtschatka. The Kiam, in China, five hun- 

 dred and fifty leagues in length. The Ganges, 

 one of the most noted rivers in the world, 

 and about as long as the former. It rises in 

 the mountains which separate India from 

 Tartary ; and running through the dominions 

 of the Great Mogul, discharges itself by se- 

 veral mouths into the bay of Bengal. It is 

 not only esteemed by the Indians for the 

 depth and pureness of its stream, but for a 

 supposed sanctity which they believe to be 

 in its waters. It is visited annually by several 

 hundred thousand pilgrims, who pay their 

 devotions to the river as to a god : lor savage 

 simplicity is always known to mistake the 

 blessings of the Deity, for the Deity himself. 

 They carry their dying friends from distant 

 countries, to expire on its banks; and to be 

 buried in its stream. The water is lowest in 

 April or May ; but the rains beginning to fall 

 soon after, the flat country is overflowed for 

 several miles, till about the end of September; 

 the waters then begin to retire, leaving a pro- 

 lific sediment behind, that enriches the soil, 

 and, in a few days time, gives a luxuriance to 

 vegetation, beyond what can be conceived by 

 an European. Next to this may be reckoned 

 the still more celebrated river Euphrates. 

 This rises from two sources, northward of the 

 city Erzerum, in Turcomania, and unites 

 about three days' journey below the same ; 

 from whence, after performing a course of 

 five hundred leagues, it falls into the gulf of 

 Persia, fifty miles below the city of Bassora 

 in Arabia. The river Indus is extended, from 

 its source to its discharge into the Arabian 

 Sea, four hundred leagues. 



The largest rivers of Africa are, the Senegal, 

 which runs a course of not less than eleven 

 hundred leagues, comprehending the Niger, 

 which some have supposed to fall into it. 

 However, later accounts seem to affirm that 

 the Niger is lost in the sands, about three 

 hundred miles up from the western coasts of 

 Africa. Be this as it may, the Senegal is 

 well known to be navigable for more than 

 three hundred leagues up the country ; and 

 how much higher it may reach is not yet dis- 

 covered, as the dreadful fatality of the inland 

 parts of Africa, not only deters curiosity, but 

 even avarice, which is a much stronger pas- 

 sion. At the end of last war, of fifty English- 

 men that were sent to the factory at Galam, 

 a place taken from the French, and nine 

 hundred miles up the river, only one returned 

 to tell the fate of his companions, who were 

 destroyed by the climate. The celebrated 

 river Nile is said to be nine hundred aud 

 seventy leagues, from its source among the 

 Mountains of the Moon, in Upper ^Ethiopia, 

 to its opening into the Mediterranean Sea. 

 The sources of this river were considered as 

 inscrutable by the ancients; and the causes 

 of its periodical inundation wero equally un- 

 known. They have both been ascertained 

 by the missionaries who have travelled into 

 the interior parts of ^Ethiopia. The Nile 

 takes its rise in the kingdom of Gojam," from 

 a small aperture on the top of a mountain, 

 which, though not above a foot and a half 

 over, yet was unfathomable. This fountain, 

 when arrived at the foot of the mountain, ex- 

 pands into a river; and being joined by others, 

 forms a lake thirty leagues long, and as many 

 broad; from this, its channel, in some mea- 

 sure, winds back to the country where it first 

 began ; from thence, precipitating by fright- 

 ful cataracts, it travels through a variety of 

 desert regions, equally formidable, such as 

 Amhara, Olaca, Damot, and Xaoa. Upon its 

 arrival in the kingdom of Upper Egypt, it 

 runs through a rocky channel, which some 

 late travellers have mistaken for its cataracts. 

 In the beginning of its course, it receives 

 many lesser rivers into it; and Pliny was 

 mistaken in saying that it received none. In 

 the beginning also of its course, it has many 



Kircher, Mund. Subt. vol. ii. p. 72. 



