10 SPRINGS, RIVERS, CANALS, LAKE?, 



SECTION II. 



Principal Rivers in the different Quarters of the World. 



THE general course of the largest rivers we are acquainted with 

 is from a thousand to two thousand miles ; and we have them of 

 this length in every quarter of the world ; yet in no instance do we 

 find them much exceeding two thousand miles long. We shall com- 

 mence our rapid tour with those of 



ASIA. 







The rivers that here attract our attention are the Indus and the 

 Ganges. 



Tic INDUS is by the natives called Sinde or Sindet, and in the 

 Sanscrit language Seendho. It is also called Nilab, or the Blue 

 River. The source, both of this and of the Ganges, are to this hour 

 unknown: Major Retinell, and various olher geographers, have of- 

 f< red opinions upon the subject, but at present they are opinions 

 and nothing more. It is generally supposed to originate in the 

 mountains of Mus Tag, which, as laid down by Strahlenburg, run 

 from west to east, forming a chain to the south of Little Bucharia, 

 Its comparative course may be about a thousand British miles, when 

 it forms a Delta in the province of Sindi, entering by numerous 

 mouths into the Indian sea. 



The tributary streams of the Indus chiefly join it in the northern 

 half of its course, where they form the Panjab, or county of Five 

 Rivers. From the west run into Indus the Kamet, with its auxiliary 

 streams, and the Comul ; from the east the Bahut or Hydaspes ; 

 the Chunab or Acesinas ; the Kauvee or Hydraotes ; and the Set- 

 K-ge or Hesudrus, being on the east of the Indus. The whole of 

 this part of Hindustan is even at present but little known to the 

 moderns ; and it is uncertain whether the Caggan, a considerable 

 and distant river to the east, joins the Indus or falls into the gulph 

 of Cuteh. 



The GANGES is a still nobler stream, both in magnitude and 

 length ; for it is swelled by tributary streams of still greater number 

 and power, and its comparative length can be scarcely estimated at 



