CHAPTER VIII 



RUNNING WATERS 



IT is seldom that a river empties itself into 

 the sea from between high banks of earth or 

 rock. Long before tide-water is reached, the 

 banks have usually fallen back and away from 

 the stream, the course is through undulating 

 country, flat plain, meadow, or marsh, and 

 the stream itself in the last few miles of its run 

 usually flattens out and becomes shallow. About 

 the mouth or mouths, for there are often several 

 of them, are heavy deposits of mud and sand 

 which year by year the stream has been carry- 

 ing down ; and these choke and raise the exit, 

 causing the water to move slower. As it nears 

 sea-level its velocity and its wash are perceptibly 

 lessened, its course is tortuous like that of a 

 wounded snake, and its very slowness is favor- 

 able to the settling of its sedimental mud and 

 sand. At last, when the stream reaches the sea, 

 its final leap of mad freedom into its ocean bed 

 is less apparent in the reality than in the imag- 

 158 



The riMr at 

 the tea. 



