A RIVER VIEW 197 



through which the current moves very slowly, and 

 which would fill from the sea were its supplies from 

 the mountains cut off. Its fall from Albany to the 

 hay is only about five feet. Any object upon it, 

 drifting with the current, progresses southward no 

 more than eight miles in twenty-four hours. The 

 ebb tide will carry it about twelve miles, and the 

 flood set it back from seven to nine. A drop of 

 water at Albany, therefore, will be nearly three 

 weeks in reaching New York, though it will get 

 pretty well pickled some days earlier. 



Some rivers by their volume and impetuosity 

 penetrate the sea, but here the sea is the aggressor, 

 and sometimes meets the mountain water nearly 

 half way. 



This fact was illustrated a few years ago, when 

 the basin of the Hudson was visited by one of the 

 most severe droughts ever known in this part of the 

 State. In the early winter, after the river was 

 frozen over above Poughkeepsie, it was discovered 

 that immense numbers of fish were retreating up- 

 stream before the slow encroachment of the salt 

 water. There was a general exodus of the finny 

 tribes from the whole lower part of the river; it 

 was like the spring and fall migration of the birds, 

 or the fleeing of the population of a district before 

 some approaching danger: vast swarms of catfish, 

 white and yellow perch, and striped bass were en 

 route for the fresh water farther north. When the 

 people alongshore made the discovery, they turned 

 out as they do in the rural districts when the 



