38 Herbert G. Ogden — Geography of the Land. 



ever, was not protected by levees, and another large proportion 

 was only partially protected ; and while, therefore, the disaster 

 impressed the general public with a belief that the levees were a 

 failure, the facts really point to the contrary. In former notable 

 floods it has not been unusual for one hundred or more miles of 

 levee to be washed away before the flood subsided, but on the 

 recent occasion there was a total length of less than five miles 

 destroyed in some 1,100 miles of levee that had been believed to 

 be safe. This is a remarkable showing, and has naturally in- 

 spired the advocates of the system Avith greater confidence- 

 It points to the possibility of constructing levees at a reasonable 

 expense that will stand the pressure of water for the height that 

 it has been computed necessary to build them. There is a grave 

 doubt, however, in the minds of some as to whether the 

 computed heights, the levees holding intact, will afford sufficient 

 cross-secti-on to carry off the volume of water draining from the 

 catchment basins. Some interesting computations on this sub- 

 ject have recently been made by General Greely, the chief' sig- 

 nal officer,* from observations made during an extended period. 

 The question raised is not a new one, but, considered in the light 

 of the statistics presented, seems to involve the problem of the 

 improvement of the river Avith increasing difficulties. General 

 Greely's figures indicate that the cross-section of the lower river 

 will only permit carrying to the sea a volume of about sixty 

 cubic miles of water during an ordinary flood season, and that 

 in the extraordinary flood years, such as 1882 and 1890, the 

 volume to be carried down is about eighty cubic miles, showing 

 an excess of about twenty cubic miles over the capacity of the 

 river in a specified time. These figures should be taken in the 

 nature of a warning ; and while it must be admitted that the 

 intricacy of the problem precludes precision, their i^robable relia- 

 bility should be carefully studied before an extended levee sys- 

 tem is built intended to guarantee protection against excejDtional 

 floods. 



During recent years the complex and perplexing subject of 

 geographic nomenclature has received the careful consideration 

 of a number of the European nations, Avith a a'Icav to reaching a 

 uniformity in treatment and the transliteration of names of un- 

 Avritten languages into Roman characters. England, France, and 



* North American Review, May, 1890. 



