Guadalquivir River

“ The province is bisected by the navigable river Guadalquivir (q.v.) , which here receives the Genil and Guadaira on the left, and the Guadalimar on the right. West of the Guadalquivir the surface is broken by low mountain ranges forming part of the Sierra Morena; the eastern districts are comparatively flat and very fertile, except along the frontiers of Cadiz and Malaga, where rise the Sierras of Gibalbin and Algodonales; and there are extensive marshes near the Guadalquivir estuary. Coal, copper, iron ore, silicate of alumina, marble and chalk are the chief mineral products ”

“ These include the Guadalaviar, Júcar, and Segura, important rivers of the eastern watershed. The Minho, Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquivir drain the western valleys, which are formed between the mountain ranges of the Peninsula. The Tagus is the largest river of the Peninsula, the estuary of which forms a magnificent harbor. The Guadalquivir, though the shortest of the larger streams, is the most important on account of its fullness and its course through the most extensive lowland of the Peninsula. ”

“ The Guadalquivir is the only river of Spain which is navigable for a considerable distance above its mouth. Vessels of 200 tons ascend it as far as Seville, a distance of sixty miles. Sanlúcar was formerly the great port of Spain, and its coasting trade is still considerable. None of the other rivers of Andalusia are navigable. The Guadalete, which enters the Bay of Cádiz, is a shallow, sluggish stream; the Odiel and the Rio Tinto are rapid torrents, and their estuary, below Huelva, has been choked up by the sediment brought down by them ”

“ At Cordova a great many idlers collect, toward sunset, in the quay that runs along the right bank of the Guadalquivir. Promenaders on the spot have to breathe the odour of a tan yard which still keeps up the ancient fame of the country in connection with the curing of leather. But to atone for this, they enjoy a sight which has a charm of its own. A few minutes before the Angelus bell rings, a great company of women gathers beside the river, just below the quay, which is rather a high one. Not a man would dare to join its ranks. ”

“ The Guadalquivír is about 200 yards wide at Seville, where it forms a kind of basin, and is navigable for vessels of 150 tons burthen. It is so liable to be swollen by the freshes poured down from the mountains in the upper part of its course, that a permanent bridge has never been attempted; and the banks are so low, that the floods have frequently reached to the very gates of the city. The influence of the tide is felt some little distance above Seville, rendering the water of the river unfit for general purposes. ”

“ Some of our earlier efforts, twenty years ago, resulted in total failure. Setting out by way of the river, the light launches suitable for the shallow marisma proved unequal to the voyage up the broad Guadalquivir; while, on the other hand, the larger craft in which that exposed estuary could be safely navigated were useless in the shallows. One attempt was frustrated by sunstroke; on another our Spanish crew "struck" through stress of weather, leaving us at a lonely spot some thirty miles beyond Bonanza with no alternative but to submit, or go on alone. ”

“ Towards the Atlantic descend also the plains of Lower Andalusia, the so-called Guadalquivir Basin, which lies between the Iberian central pedestal and the Andalusian sedimentary and contorted formations. In this basin lie Spain’s chief seaports for traffic with Africa and America, the island-harbour of Cadiz, the estuary-harbour of Huelva, the starting-point of Columbus, and the river-harbour of Seville, accessible to large vessels at high-tide. ”

“ Navigation up the Guadalquivir from its mouth to Seville (where the river is still tidal) is less dangerous for steamers than for sailing vessels, but is nevertheless uncertain. The construction of a ship-canal 4 m. long from the Punta de los Remedios to the Punta del Verde-two points between which the windings of the river render navigation especially difficult-was first proposed in 1859, and was undertaken in 1907. Dredging operations were begun at the same time, so that on completion of the canal vessels drawing 25 ft. (instead of I6ft.) could come up to Seville. ”

“ What the camels do when the valley is flooded no one knows, but they must go to some place of refuge, for every one knows what happens to the cattle if they are caught by the flood.
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Some years ago a ten months’ drought was broken by a terrific thunderstorm which in one night raised the Guadalquivir many feet. A friend of ours had some eight hundred cattle herded on the Isla Mayor, a large island in the river about half-way between Seville and San Lucar. They were caught by the flood water, although it did not rise high enough to sweep them away. ”

“ Guacho, a native of the South American pampas.
Guadalquivir, the most important river of Spain, rises in the Sierra de Cazorla, in the southern province of Jaen, and flows in a SW. direction through Andalusia, passing Cordova and Seville, to which town it is navigable for steamers; after a course of 374 m. it discharges into the Gulf of Cadiz at San Lucar de Barrameda.
Guadeloupe (168) , a French island among the Lesser Antilles, in the W. Indies; is subject to earthquakes; produces sugar and coffee; has belonged to France since 1816. ”

“ At about four miles from Cordoba the Guadajoz, or river of Castro, is crossed by fording, and between it and the Guadalquivír the ground is broken by steep hills. The road falls into the Arrecife from Seville, on reaching the suburb on the left bank of the river. ”

“ From Lebrija on the east to Almonte on the west, and from the Atlantic almost up to Seville itself, the map is vacant. This huge area is, in fact, a wilderness, and in winter the greater part a dismal waste of waters. For league after league as one advances into that forbidding desolation, the eye rests on nothing but water—tawny waters meeting the sky all round the horizon. The Guadalquivir intersects the marisma, its triple channel divided from the adjacent shallows and savannahs by low mud-banks. ”

“ The Yguatú flows due west in the twenty-fifth degree, and may be as large as the Guadalquivir. Its banks (according to the accounts of the natives, and as I saw with my own eyes) are populous, and the inhabitants are the richest people of all that land and- 118 - province, both for agriculture and stock-raising. They rear plenty of fowls, geese, and other birds; and they have abundance of game, such as boar, deer, dantas, [314] partridges, quails, and pheasants; and they have great fisheries in this river. They grow plenty of maize, potatoes, cassava, mandubies, and many other fruits ”

“ This singularly secluded and romantic valley is about eight miles in length and five wide, and, though sunk deep below the mountain ridges that girt it in on every side, is at least 1500 feet above the level of the Mediterranean. Its soil is rich, and is rendered peculiarly fertile by the numerous sources of the Guadiaro, which traverse it in all directions. The name of this river—composed of the Arabic words, Guada al diar—signifies, water of the houses; an appellation it probably obtained, from the number of habitations that are said to have lined its productive banks in former days. ”

“ In November the rain set in; during December it descended day after day, and by the end of the month the swollen flood of Guadalquivir had spread itself laterally over its low riparian terrain to a breadth of perhaps sixty miles of unbroken water. Miniature breakers dashed up against the leeward shores; the marsh lands which border the marisma were submerged, and the whole delta, extending to Seville, was under water. From the moment we beheld that tawny expanse, it was clear that all hope of success in wildfowling enterprise must be abandoned. ”

“ The tides reach as far as the custom-house in summer, but in winter the current is so strong, that the tides are often imperceptible. The mouth of the river is so full of shifting sands, that the passage of large vessels is rendered very dangerous. Its banks are decorated with country-seats and cottages inhabited by fishermen. By means of this fine stream, Guayaquil exports the produce of its departments to Peru, Panama, and Quito, receiving European goods from Tierra Firme; from New Spain, and Guatimala, naptha, tar, cordage and indigo. ”

“ The distance between Javita and San Fernando, where Guahiba had left her infants, is twenty-five leagues in a straight line. A fearful wilderness of gigantic forest trees, and intermingling underwood, separated these two missions;—a savage and awful solitude, which, probably, since the beginning of the world, had never been trodden by human foot. All communication was carried on by the river; and there lived not a man, whether Indian or European, bold enough to have attempted the route along the shore. It was the commencement of the rainy season. ”

“ Palm-trees, I thought, rose towards heaven, like passionate souls longing for release from earthly bondage; Spanish women, full-breasted and sinuous, danced boleros, fandangos, while the air rang with the joyous sound of castanets, and toreadors in picturesque habiliments twanged the light guitar.
Alas! the Guadalquivir is like yellow mud, and moored to the busy quays lie cargo-boats lading fruit or grain or mineral; there no perfume scents the heavy air. The nights, indeed, are calm and clear, and the stars shine brightly ”

“ The Sarstun forms the southern boundary of the British possessions, and is navigable for small canoes as far as the rapids of Gracias á Dios. None but timber-cutters disturb its solitudes. The Polochic is at present the most useful river of Guatemala. It [9] rises near Tactic, and is a foaming torrent for much of its course in Alta Verapaz. At Pansos the waters are navigable for light-draft steamers, except in very dry seasons ”

“ Throughout the whole of its length the Rio de la Pasion must be a very sluggish stream. In its westerly course before its junction with the Chixoy there are reaches of the river where during the dry season hardly any current it is perceptible, and after heavy rains the flood-waters extend for so many miles through the forest that one is almost led to think that this region from the mouth of the Chajmaic northward may at one time have formed the bed of a great lake. ”

“ Any weakness in the Gatun Dam would ruin the whole project. You can see, of course, why this is so, because the water in that Gatun Lake will be relied upon to fill the locks which will raise vessels up or down.”
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“But suppose the Chagres River cuts up ugly, as you said it does sometimes?” asked Merritt.
“Well,” said Rob, “I heard Mr. Mainwaring say that the great lake will be so big that a flood would affect its level no more than a cup of water poured into a bath tub. The river will merely serve to keep the lake filled and supply the water needed to work the locks.” ”

“ On the sea coast, the air is hot and unhealthy, but on the heights, pure and wholesome.
The chief productions of this country are wheat, maize, cotton, and cochineal, all of which are produced in very great abundance. Guadalaxara contains two cities, six towns, and 322 villages; there are five mines of silver of great value, the chief of which is Copala.
The great river of this country is the river Santiago, which crosses it from east to west, communicating with Lake Chapala. ”

“ The Tajo presents similar features, and below its confluence with the Alberche it enters a deep defile, hemmed in by precipitous walls of granite.
The Guadiana passes through a similar gorge, but only after it has reached the soil of Portugal. The hydrography of its head-streams, the Giguela and Záncara, which rise in the Serranio of Cuenca, offers curious features; but, as they are for the most part dry during summer, the bountiful springs known as the ojos, or “eyes,” of the Guadiana are looked upon by the inhabitants as the true source of the river. ”

“ The great towns of Guadalaxara, are Guadalaxara, where the governor, the bishop, and the officers of the supreme court of the royal audience reside; its population is 19,500 souls. It is placed [101] on the Rio Esquitlan, or Santiago, which flows from Lake Chapala. At the distance of twelve miles from the town, this Great River has a cataract, and is very rapid. The city stands on a plain, in which there are many rivulets, surrounded by mountains, and covered with oaks and pines. Handsome gardens are seen in all directions, which abound with every sort of fruits. ”

“ It flows through the Lake of Izabal, and, as the Rio Dulce, empties into the Gulf of Amatique over a bar of sand. The Motagua is nearly parallel to the Polochic, and rises near Santa Cruz del Quiché. From Gualan it is navigable in canoes. Smaller streams are the Ulúa, Aguan, and Segovia in Spanish Honduras, which are navigable for pitpans. Finally we have the San Juan, known as one of the elements of the “Nicaragua Canal” route, but not at present navigable for boats of any size.
All the rivers of Central America that can be used for commerce require a special river service ”

“ The Segura forces itself a passage through several mountain defiles before it reaches the plain of Murcia. The Júcar and Guadalaviar (Wad-el-Abiad, or “white river”) have fewer obstacles to overcome, but some of the gorges through which they pass are nevertheless of surpassing beauty.
The volume of these rivers is comparatively small, and the husbandmen dwelling along their banks economize the water as far as possible. Reservoirs, or pantanos, have been constructed at the outlet of each valley, whence the water is distributed over the fields by means of innumerable canals of irrigation. ”