(54 



A HISTORY OF 



and the description. In this manner,* in Eu- 

 rope, the Danube is known to receive thirty 

 lesser rivers ; the Wolga, thirty-two or thirty- 

 three. In Asia, the Hohanho receives thirty- 

 five; the Jenisca above sixty; the Oby as 

 many ; the Amour about forty ; the Nanquin 

 receives thirty rivers,; the Ganges twenty; 

 and the Euphrates about eleven. In Africa, 

 the Senegal receives more than twenty rivers; 

 the Nile receives not one for five hundred 

 leagues upwards, and then only twelve or 

 thirteen. In America, the river Amazon 

 receives above sixty, and those very consi- 

 derable ; 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 called, by travellers, the In- 

 dian 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 quan- 

 tities of rice into other countries, and have 

 still abundance for their own consumption. 

 The river Senegal has likewise its inunda- 

 tions, which cover the whole flat country of 

 Negroland, beginning and ending much about 

 the same time with those of the Nile ; as, in 

 fact, both rivers rise from the same mountains. 

 But the difference between the effects of the 

 inundations in each river is remarkable : in 

 the one, it distributes health and plenty; in 

 the other, diseases, famine, and death. The 

 inhabitants along the torrid coasts of the 

 Senegal, can receive no benefit from any ad- 

 ditional manure the river may carry down to 

 their soil, which is by nature more than suf- 

 ficiently luxuriant ; or, even if they could, 

 they have not industry to turn it to any ad- 

 vantage. The banks, therefore, of the rivers, 

 tie uncultivated, overgrown with rank and 

 noxious herbage, and infested with thousands 

 of animals of various malignity. Every new 

 flood only tends to increase the rankness of 

 the soil, and to provide fresh shelter for the 

 creatures that infest it. If the flood continues 



8 Buffon. vol. ii. p. 74. 



but a few days longer than usual, the impro- 

 vident inhabitants, who are driven up in the 

 higher grounds, want provisions, and a famine 

 ensues. When the river begins to return 

 into its channel, the humidity and heat of the 

 air are equally fatal ; and the carcases of in- 

 finite numbers of animals, swept away by the 

 inundation, putrefying in the sun, produce a 

 stench that is almost insupportable. But 

 even the luxuriance of the vegetation becomes 

 a nuisance. I have been assured, by persons 

 of veracity who have been up the river Sene- 

 gal, that there are some plants growing along 

 the coast, the smell of which is so powerful, 

 that it is hardly to be endured. It is certain, 

 that all the sailors and soldiers who have 

 been at any of our factories there, ascribe the 

 unwholesomeness of the voyage up the stream, 

 to the vegetable vapour. However this be, 

 the inundations of the rivers in this wretched 

 part of the globe, contribute scarcely any 

 advantage, if we except the beauty of the 

 prospects which they afford. These, indeed, 

 are finished beyond the utmost reach of art : 

 a spacious glassy river, with its banks here 

 and there fringed to the very surface by the 

 mangrove-tree that grows down into the wa- 

 ter, presents itself to view. Lofty forests of 

 various colours, with openings between, car- 

 peted with green plants, and the most gaudy 

 flowers ; beasts and animals of various kinds, 

 that stand upon the banks of the river, and, 

 with a sort of wild curiosity, survey the mari- 

 ners as they pass, contribute to heighten the 

 scene. This is the sketch of an African pros- 

 pect; which delights the eye, even while it 

 destroys the constitution. 



Besides these annually periodical inunda- 

 tions, there are many rivers that overflow at 

 much shorter intervals. Thus most of those 

 in Peru and Chili have scarcely any motion 

 by night; but upon the appearance of the 

 morning sun, they resume their former ra- 

 pidity : this proceeds from the mountain 

 snows, which, melting with the heat, increase 

 the stream, and continue to drive on the cur- 

 rent while the sun continues to dissolve them. 

 Some rivers also flow with an even, steady 

 current, from their source to the sea ; others 

 flow with greater rapidity, their stream being 

 poured down in a cataract, or swallowed by 

 the sands, before they reach the sea. 



