K I V 
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upon this statute must he begun within one 
year after the offence is committed, 
KITE, among divines, denotes the par- 
ticular manner of celebrating divine service, 
in a particular country. 
K1 i 1 ERA, a genus of the’ class and order 
polyandria monogynia. The calyx is four- 
leaved ; petal one; legume one-c’elled, two- 
valved. There are five species, trees of the 
West Indies. 
Rt 1TTAL, a book directing the order and 
manner to be observed in celebrating religi- 
ous ceremonies, and performing divine ser- 
vice, in a particular church, diocese, order, 
or the like. 
IUV ERS- AY ith any person who. has care- 
fully observed the course of rivers, and 
traced them to their sources, there can be 
little doubt that they are formed by the con- 
fluence of springs, or of the little streams or 
rivulets that issue from them ; with perhaps 
the (exception of those rivers which proceed 
from lakes, where the reservoir is ready- 
formed, and generally by the same means. 
In the beginning of the present century, 
the philosophical world was agitated by a 
debate concerning the origin of those waters 
which are necessary for the supply of rivers, 
&c. One party contended strongly for the 
existence of a large mass of water within the 
bowels of the earth, which supplied not only 
the rivers but the ocean itself ; at the head of 
these we -may place the ingenious but fanciful 
Burned. The French philosophers, on the 1 
contrary, asserted, that the waters of the ! 
ocean were conveyed back by some subter- 
raneous passages to the land, and being fil- 
trated in their passage, returned again.., t° the 
sea in the course of the rivers ; but this opi- 
nion appears contrary to all the known prin- 
ciple of hydrostatics. 
In opposition to these hypotheses, our il- 
lustrious countryman Halley contended that 
the process of evaporation, and the immense 
deposition of water in consequence of it, were 
fully adequate to the whole supply. If, in- 
deed, we consider the immense quantity of 
water which is continually carried up into 
the atmosphere by evaporation (see Evapo- 
ration), and consider that this is a process 
which is continually going oiq not only from 
the ocean but from the rivers themselves, 
and from the whole surface of the earth, we 
shall see but little reason to doubt of Dr. 
Halley’s hypothesis; but may reasonably 
conclude, that this kind of circulation is ear- 
lier! on through all nature; and that the sea 
receives back again through the channel of 
the rivers, that water which it parts with to 
the atmosphere. 
All rivers have their source either in moun- 
tains, or elevated lakes; and it is in their 
descent from these, that they acquire that 
velocity which maintains their future cur- 
rent. At first their course is generally rapid 
and .head long ; but it is retarded in its journey 
by the continual friction against its banks', 
by the many obstacles it meets to divert its 
stream, and by the plane’s generally becom- 
ing more level as it approaches towards the 
sea- 
Rivers, as every body has seen, are always 
broadest at the mouth, and narrower towards 
their source. But what is less known, and 
probably more deserving curiosity, is, that 
they run in a more direct channel as they 
R I V 
R I V 
immediately leave their sources; and that 
their sinuosities and turnings become more 
numerous ^s they proceed. It is a certain 
..sign among the savages of North America, 
that they are near the sea, when they find 
the rivers winding, and every now and then 
changing their direction. Anri this is even 
now become an indication to the Europeans 
themselves, in their journeys through those j 
trackless forests. As those sinuosities, there- 1 
lore, increase as the river approaches t.ie j 
sea, it is not to be wondered at, that they : 
Sometimes divide, and thus disembogue by I 
different channels. The Danube disem- j 
bogties into the Euxine by seven mouths ; j 
the N:le, by the same number; and the! 
V Volga, by seventy. 
t 1 he largest rivers of Europe are, first, the [ 
Wolga, which is about six hundred and fifty ! 
leagues in length, extending from Reschow , 
to Astrachan. It is remarkable of this river, ■ 
tiiat it abounds with water during the sum- 
mer months of May and June; but all the 
rest of the year is so shallow as scarcely to 
cover its bottom, or allow a passage for load- 
ed vessels that trade up its stream. The 
next in order is the Danube. The course 
of this is about four hundred and fifty leagues, 
from the mountains of Switzerland to the i 
Black Sea. i lie Don, or Tamils, which is [ 
four hundred leagues from the source of that 
branch of it called the Softna, to its mouth in 1 
the Euxine Sea. In ©ne part of its course it 
approaches near the Wolga ; and Peter the , 
Great had actually begun a canal, by which j 
he intended joining those tw r o livers ; but • 
this he did not iiv© to finish. The Nieper, i 
or Borystluenes, which rises in the middle of 
Muscovy, and runs the course of three hun- 
dred and fifty leagues, to empty itself into 
the Black Sea. The Old Cossacks inhabit j 
the banks and islands of this river ; and fre- 
quently cross the Black Sea, to plunder the 
maritime places on the coasts of Turkey. 
I he Dwina, which takes its rise in a province 
ol the same name in Russia, that runs a ; 
course of three hundred leagues, and disem- 
bogues into the White Sea, a little below 
Archangel. 
The largest rivers of Asia are, the Hoanho, 
m China, which is eight hundred and fifty 
leagues in length, computed from its source 
at Raja Ribron, to its mouth in the Gulph 
of Changi. r l he Jenisca of Tartary, about 
eight, hundred leagues in length, from the 
lake Selinga to the Icy Sea. This river is, 
by some, supposed to supply most of t hat 
great quantity of drift-wood’ which is seen 
floating in the seas, near the Arctic circle. 
I he Oby, of five hundred leagues, running 
from the lake of Kila into the Northern Sea. 
The Amour, in Eastern Tartary, whose 
course is about five hundred and seventy-five 
leagues, from its source to its entrance into the 
sea of Kamtschatka. The Kiam, in China, five 
hundred and fifty leagues in length. The 
Gauges, one of the most noted rivers in the 
world, ami about as long as the former. It 
rises in the mountains which separate India 
from I artarv ; and running through the do- 
minions of the Great Mogul, discharges it- 
self by several mouths into the bay of Ben- 
gal. It is not only esteemed by the Indians 
for the depth and pureness of its stream, but 1 
for a supposed sanctity which they believe ! 
to be in its waters. It is visited annually by j 
several hundred thousand pilgrims, who pay ! 
their devotions to the river as to a god; for 
savage simplicity is always known to mistake 
the blessings of the Deity for the Deity him-' 
■ seif. They carry their dying friends) from 
distant countries, to expire on its banks, and 
to be buried in its stream. The water is 
lowest in April or May ; but tiie rains be- 
ginning to fall soon after, the fiat country is 
overflowed for several miles, til! about the 
end ot September; the waters then begin to 
retire, leaving a prolific sediment behind, 
that enriches the soil, and, in a few days time, 
gives a luxuriance to vegetation, beyond 
what can be conceived bv an European. 
Next to this may be reckoned the still more 
•celebrated river Euphrates. 'This rises from 
two sources, northward of the city Erzerum, 
in Turcomania ; and unites about three days 
journey below the same, whence, after per- 
forming a course of live hundred leagues, it 
falls into the Gulph of Persia, fifty miles be- 
low the city of Bassora in Arabia. The 
river Indus is extended, from its source to 
its discharge into the Arabian sea, four hun- 
dred leagues. 
The largest rivers of Africa are : the Sene- 
gal, which runs a course or not less than 
eleven hundred! eagues, comprehending the 
Niger, which some have supposed to fall 
into it. Later accounts, however, seem to 
affirm that the Niger is tost in the sands, 
about three hundred miles up from the west- 
ern coasts of Africa. Be this as it may, the 
Senegal is well known to be navigable for 
more than three hundred leagues up the 
country; and how much higher it may reach 
is not yet discovered, as the dreadful fatality 
of the inland parts of Africa not only deters 
curiosity, but even avarice, which is a much 
stronger passion. The celebrated river Nile 
is said to be nine hundred and seventy 
leagues, from its source among the moun- 
tains of the Moon, in Upper Ethiopia, to its 
opening into the Mediterranean Sea. Upon 
its arrival in the kingdom of Upper Egypt, 
it runs through a rocky channel, which some 
late travellers have mistaken for its cata- 
racts. In the beginning of its course, it - re- 
ceives many lesser rivers into it; and Pliny 
was mistaken, in saying that it received 
none. In the beginning also of its course, it 
has many windings ; but, for above three 
hundred leagues from the sea, runs in a direct- 
line. Its annual overflowings arise from a 
very obvious cause, which is almost univer- 
sal with the great rivers that take their source 
near the Line. The rainy season, which is 
periodical in those climates, Hoods the rivers; 
and as this always happens in our summer, 
so the Nile is at that time overflown. From 
these inundations the inhabitants of Egypt 
derive happiness and plenty ; and, when the 
river does not arrive at its accustomed 
height, they prepare for an indifferent har- 
vest. It begins to overflow about the 17th 
of June ; it generally continues to augment 
for forty days, anti decrease in about as 
many more. The time 01 increase and de- 
crease, however, is much more inconsider- 
able now than it was among the antients. 
Herodotus informs us, that it was a hundred 
days rising, and as many falling ; which shews 
that the inundation was much greater at that 
time than at present. M. Buffon has as- 
cribed the present diminution, as well to the 
lessening of the mountains of the Moon, by 
their substance having so long been washed 
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