156 msiGL.v OF 



its opi'iiirig into the j.-ulf of Mexico. Tiie river Plate runs a 

 length of more thiiii eight husidred leugues from its souicc in the 

 liver Parana, to its mouth. The river Oroonoko is seven hun- 

 dred and fifty leagues in length, from its source near Pasta, to it s 

 discharge into the Atlantic Ocean. 



Such is the fimaziiig length of the greatest rivers ; and even 

 in some of these, the most remote sources very probably yet con- 

 tinue unknown. In fact, if we consider the number of rivers 

 which they receive, and the little acquaintance we have with the 

 regions through which they run, it is not to be wondered at thiic 

 g£0graj)htrs are divided concerning the sources of most of them. 

 Ao among a liumber of roots by which nourishment is conveyed 

 to a stately tree, it is difficult to determine precisely that by 

 whictj the tree is chieily supplied ; so among the many branches 

 of a great river, it is equally difficult to tell which is the original. 

 Hence it may easily happen, that a similar branch is taken for 

 the capital stream ; and its runnings are pursued, and delineated, 

 in prejudice of some other branch that better deserved the name 

 and the description. In this manner,' in Europe, the Danube 

 is known to receive thirty lesser rivers; the Wolga thirty- tMo 

 or thirty -three. In Asia, the Hohanho receives thirty- five ; the 

 Jenisca abo\e sixty ; the Oby as many ; the Amour about forty ; 

 the Nanquin receives thirty rivers ; the Ganges twenty ; and 

 the Euphrates about ^ leveu. 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 

 consideiable ; the river St Lawrence about forty, counting those 

 which fall iiuo its lakes; the j\Iississippi 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 Lr;:vellers, the Indian 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 quantities of rice into other countries, and 

 have still abundance for their own consumption. The rivei 



1 ]3uff()ii, vol. ii. p. 71. 



