Peiho River

“ The first two days of our river journey were enjoyable enough, save for such small annoyances as rats and cockroaches, which latter took forcible possession of our cabin at night-time. But the delightful weather and novel scenery amply atoned for such small discomforts as these. The Peiho is a thick, muddy stream. Its banks are continually slipping down and being dammed up by the natives, which accounts in a great measure for the dirty pea-soup colour of the water. ”

“ The Peiho is navigable for small steamers as far as Tientsin during the greater part of the year, but from the end of November to the beginning of March it is frozen up.
In the southern provinces the Si-kiang, or Western river, is the most considerable. It has a length of over 1000 m. This river takes its rise in the prefecture of Kwang-nan Fu in Yun-nan, whence it reaches the frontier of Kwang-si at a distance The Si-kiang. of about 90 li from its source. Then trending in a north-easterly direction it forms the boundary between the two provinces for about 150 li. ”

“ Our French allies occupied quarters provided for them in the part of the city on the left side of the Peiho, the British and Indian being on the right of that river.
The city was of great commercial importance, its population some 800,000; streets narrow and filthy, houses low and dilapidated; in extent stretching away to and embracing the point of junction between the Imperial Canal and Peiho, thus covering a space of at least four miles by three. ”

“ It is very strange to me to be going up the Peiho river again. The fertility of the plain through which it runs strikes me more than it did formerly. The harvest is at hand, and the crops clothe it luxuriantly. The poor people in the villages do not appear to fear us much. We treated them well before, and they expect similar treatment again. The Admiral did his work of occupying Tientsin well.... He has great qualities.
[Sidenote: Tientsin.]
Tientsin.—Sunday, August 26th.—We reached this place about midnight. ”

“ Although only thirty miles distant as the crow flies, Tientsin is quite eighty by river from Taku, for the Peiho is, towards the mouth, the most tortuous river in the world. It is not unusual to steam steadily on for an hour, and find yourself, at the expiration of that time only a few hundred yards from where you started. The effect produced by the shipping ascending and descending the river is very odd, the intricate bends of the river giving the steamers the appearance of moving about on dry land. ”

“ Owing to the great quantity of soil which is brought down by the waters of the Yellow river, and to the absence of oceanic currents, this delta is rapidly increasing and the adjoining seas are as rapidly becoming shallower. As an instance, it is said that the town of P‛utai was one Chinese mile [2] west of the seashore in the year 200 B.C., and in 1730 it was 140 m. inland, thus giving a yearly encroachment upon the sea of about 100 ft. Again, Sien-shwuy-kow on the Peiho was on the seashore in A.D. 500, and it is now about 18 m. ”

“ The scenery of the Peiho is repelling in its ugliness, and wearisome from its extreme monotony. The country is absolutely flat, and there is nothing, [235] now that the harvest is carried in, but a parched saline plain, of mud and yellow grass, extending for hundreds of miles all around.
Our Home on the Peiho.
The only hills are those of the graves—these unwieldy mounds of battened earth, that stand in rows along the bank, or are collected in a field—a family burial place, with mounds of varying sizes. The greater the man, the larger is the tumulus raised over him. ”

“ Besides causing frequently recurring floods, with immense loss of life and property, this river has a way of changing unexpectedly its bed; so lately as 1856, it turned off at right angles near the city of Kʽai-fêng, in Honan, and instead of emptying itself into the Yellow Sea about latitude 34°, found a new outlet in the Gulf of Peichili, latitude 38°.
Kʽang Hsi several times visited Hangchow, returning to Tientsin by the Grand Canal, a distance of six hundred and ninety miles. ”

“ The only ones of any importance are in the Pesháwar Valley. These draw their supplies from the Kábul, Bára, and Swát rivers, but the works supplied by the first two streams only command small areas. The Lower Swát Canal was begun in 1876, but the tribesmen were hostile and the diggers had to sleep in fortified enclosures. The work was not opened till 1885. A reef in the river has made it possible to dispense with a permanent weir. The country is not an ideal one for irrigation, being much cut up by ravines. ”

“ The Peabody River, which rolls modestly enough now, seeming, indeed, a mere thread of brook dancing through a rocky bed by far too large for it, will by and by, when the rains come, rise and roar and rush with such impetuosity that these great water-worn stones, now bleaching quietly in the sun, shall be wrenched up from their resting-places, and whirled down the river with such fury and uproar that the noise of their crashing and rolling shall break in upon your dreams at night. ”

“ Leaving Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca, he soon reached that great waterway, the Peace River, and with several canoes began to stem the moderate current of this stream, which is at this point about one fourth of a mile in width and quite deep.
The origin of names is always interesting, and that of the Peace River is said to be derived from a circumstance of Indian history. The tribe of Indians called the Knisteneux, who originally inhabited the Atlantic seaboard and the St. Lawrence valley, migrated in a northwesterly direction. ”

“ The soil and climate seem to be so favorable, that less labor is wanted than in most other countries. A great deal, if not most of the fertility in the valley must be ascribed to the ingenious system of irrigation, which they have introduced by a dam constructed in the river above Paso, and turning a considerable quantity of water into a canal. ”

“ The so-called rivers of the delta, the Ngawun, Pyamalaw, Panmawaddy, Pyinzalu and Pantanaw, are simply the larger mouths of the Irrawaddy, and the whole country towards the sea is a close network of creeks where there are few or no roads and boats take the place of carts for every purpose. There is, however, one true river of some size, the Hlaing, which rises near Prome, flows southwards and meets the Pegu river and the Pazundaung creek near Rangoon, and thus forms the estuary which is known as the Rangoon river and constitutes the harbour of Rangoon. ”

“ Soon after leaving Lake Ibrahim the Nile is described by Chaillé-Long as again expanding into a vast morass covered with vegetation, and with a mean depth of scarcely more than 10 or 12 feet. This is the Kioja or Kapeki lagoon, which was discovered by the Italian explorer Piaggia, and a short distance below which the Nile is joined by the navigable river Kafu. Farther on it describes a bend towards the east and north, after which it trends abruptly westwards to its confluence with the great lake Mwútan-Nzigé, or Albert Nyanza. ”

“ Even the water in the Carriedo water pipes cannot be said to be pure. It comes from a river far from the city. On the banks of this river are many native villages, and the people throw all sorts of refuse into the stream. ”

“ Hina, goddess of the river, warned the visitor of his danger and told him how the angry waters would sweep everything before them. In the legend, "The Coming of Paoa," you will find his answer.
In those days there must have been much more water in the river than there is today, for a certain amount is now diverted above Rainbow Falls for water power.
In spite of the decreased volume the river is still very violent and treacherous. At high water big boulders are clumsily rolled down stream and when the river is unusually high even trees are torn from the banks and carried out to sea. ”

“ But the Pigeon River, through the last twenty miles of its course before it flows into Lake Superior, is so obstructed by falls and by cascades in rocky canyons as to be impossible of navigation. On the Canadian side the land is too mountainous and the distance too great for portaging to be practicable ”

“ After some stay, we set out with fresh boats and crews, and were five days passing the wild rapids between here and Wieng Chan. The river finds its way among low hills in a narrow, deep channel between clay-slate rocks alternating with sandstones and conglomerates with a general easterly dip. The rapids are of the whirlpool and eddy character, and extend for miles on end; the water is in places confined to a width of 150 feet, and the rushes, boilings, spinnings, and general deafening pandemonium which results is astounding; not one place is like another, nor one whirlpool like the next. ”

“ The coast on the south and south-west sides of this Gulf is very low, resembling, in this respect, the shore at the entrance of the Pei-ho, or Pekin river, where it is uniformly low and sandy; occasionally a few houses are to be seen, and also square mounds or buildings like forts, but generally, a low white beach is all that can be discovered. The coast is not visible till within about three leagues distance, and the eye elevated eighty feet from the sea, which is the height of the Lyra's foretop-gallant yard. The depth of water when the land first came in sight, was generally five fathoms ”

“ The valleys, generally of rich fertility, are about one-third under cultivation.
There are numerous rivers, few of which are navigable by sea-going ships. Vessels drawing up to 13 feet can enter the Pasig River, but this is due to the artificial means employed.
The principal Rivers are:—In Luzon Island the Rio Grande de Cagayán, which rises in the South Caraballo Mountain in the centre of the island, and runs in a tortuous stream to the northern coast. It has two chief affluents, the Rio Chico de Cagayán and the Rio Magat, besides a number of streams which find their way to its main course. ”

“ Up to that date, excepting to the fur-traders and a few missionaries, settlers, explorers, geologists and sportsmen, the Peace River region was practically unknown; certainly as little known to the people of Ontario, for example, as was the Red River country thirty years before. It was thought to be a most difficult country to reach—a terra incognita—rude and dangerous, having no allurements for the average Canadian, whose notions about it, if he had any, were limited, as usual, to the awe-inspiring legend of "barbarous Indians and perpetual frost." ”

“ The only people who, through their employments, knew the interior well were the Indians and half-breed hunters. It was the statements of these, therefore, and of the few prosperous farmers and stockmen scattered here and there, which afforded us our only reliable knowledge.
The most extensive prairies adjacent to the Upper Peace River are those to the north already described. The nearest on the south side are the prairies of Spirit River, a small stream which divides several townships of first-class black, loamy soil, well wooded in parts, but with considerable prairie. ”

“ The navigation along the whole coast is difficult, and no vessel can travel at night.
There are a large number of rivers in the Protected Territory, and the whole of it, with the exception of the district around Port Moresby, appears to be well watered. The largest rivers are those which drain the basin of the vast level region which begins on the west side of the Gulf of Papua. The largest of these rivers is the Fly River, which rises some hundreds of miles in the interior. It is supposed that many of the smaller rivers are mere branches leading into the Fly. ”

“ Nothing, indeed, can be imagined more arduous than this tracking up a swift river, against constant head winds in bad weather. Much of it is in the water, wading up "snies," or tortuous shallow channels, plunging into numberless creeks, clambering up slimy banks, creeping under or passing the line over fallen trees, wading out in the stream to round long spits of sand or boulders, floundering in gumbo slides, tripping, crawling, plunging, and, finally, tottering to the camping-place sweating like horses, and mud to the eyes—but never grumbling. ”

“ Deep gorges with foaming torrents cleft them in all directions, and we drove across a flat where the road winds amid scrub and stones and yellow grasses, with the Waiho river eddying among its boulders on the right hand. As one proceeds, one of the finest, and perhaps one of the strangest, views in the world unfolds ”

“ Kewei consists of two villages, separated by a salt-water creek. The natives on the east side of the creek (which is bridged by a method peculiar to the Malay countries) being far more friendly than those on the west. There appears to be no fresh water near the village. We intended to have landed some coal here, and to have formed a dépôt, but the sea and surf were too heavy to attempt it, and we concluded to make the dépôt at Sumanti, the next large river further up, and after finishing our business here. ”

“ The Kiamesha has been explored from its sources to its confluence by Major Long, who first visited it in 1817. The country about the sources of this river is mountainous, being broken into numerous irregular peaks and ridges, of an old ferruginous sandstone, with its stratifications highly inclined towards the south. The timber in the mountainous country is the yellow pine, intermixed with red, white, and mountain oak, the small chesnut, the American box or hop hornbeam (ostrya virginica) , the red cedar, &c. ”