438 LECTURE XL VI. 



The general inclinations and levels of the continents are discovered by 

 the course of their rivers. Of these the principal are, the River of Amazons, 

 the Senegal, the Nile, the River St. Laurence, the Hoangho, the River La- 

 plata, the Jenisei, the Mississippi, the Volga, the Oby, the Amur, the 

 Oronooko, the Ganges, the Euphrates, the Danube, the Don, the Indus, the 

 Dnieper, and the Dwina ; and this is said to be nearly the order of their 

 magnitudes. But if we class them according to the length of country 

 through which they run, the order will, according to Major Rennel's calcu- 

 lation, be somewhat different : taking the length of the Thames for unity, 

 he estimates that of the River of Amazons at 15|, the Kiang Kew, in China, 

 15$, the Hoangho 13$, the Nile 12$, the Lena 11$, the Amur 11, the Oby 

 10$, the Jenisei, 10, the Ganges, its companion the Burrampooter, the river 

 of Ava, and the Volga, each 9$, the Euphrates 8$, the Mississippi 8, the 

 Danube 7, the Indus 5$, and the Rhine 5. 



We may form a tolerably accurate idea of the levels of the ancient con- 

 tinent, by tracing a line across it in such a direction as to pass no river, 

 which will obviously indicate a tract of country higher than most of the 

 neighbouring parts. Beginning at Cape Finisterre, we soon arrive at the 

 Pyrenees, keeping to the south of the Garonne and the Loire. After taking 

 a long turn northwards to avoid the Rhine, we come to Swisserland, and 

 we may approach very near to the Mediterranean in the state of Genoa, 

 taking care not to cross the branches of the Po. We make a circuit 

 in Swisserland, and pass between the sources of the Danube and of the 

 branches of the Rhine in Swabia. Crossing Franconia, we leave Bohemia 

 to the north, in order to avoid the Elbe, and coming near to the borders of 

 Austria, follow those of Hungary, to the south of the Vistla. The Dnieper 

 then obliges us to go northwards through Lithuania, leaving the Don 

 wholly to the right ; and the Volga, to pass still further north, between 

 Petersburg and Moscow, a little above Bjelesero. We may then go east- 

 wards to the boundary of Asia, and thence northwards to Nova Zembla. 

 Hence we descend to the west of the Oby, and then to the east of the 

 branches of the Volga, and the other inland rivers flowing into the lake 

 Aral and the Caspian sea. Here we are situated on the widely extended 

 elevation of India, in the neighbourhood of the sources of the Indus : and, 

 lastly, in our way from hence towards Kamschatka, we leave the Jenisei 

 and Lena on the left, and the Ganges, the Kiang Kew, the Hoangho, and 

 the Amur to the right. 



The direction of the most conspicuous mountains is, however, a little 

 different from this, the principal chain first constitutes the Pyrenees, and 

 divides Spain from France, then passes through Vivarais and Auvergne, to 

 join the Alps, and through the south of Germany to Dalmatia, Albania, 

 and Macedonia ; it is found again beyond the Euxine, under the names of 

 Taurus, Caucasus, and Imaus, and goes on to Tartary and to Kamschatka. 

 The peninsula of India is divided from north to south by the mountains 

 of Gate, extending from the extremity of Caucasus to Cape Comorin. In 

 Africa, Mount Atlas stretches from Fez to Egypt, and the mountains of 

 the moon run nearly in the same direction ; there is also a considerable 

 elevation between the Nile and the Red Sea. In the new world, the neigh- 



