Salween River

“ In the dry season the banks are alternate stretches of blinding white, fine sand, and a chaos of huge boulders, masses and slabs of rock, with here and there, usually where a tributary enters, long stretches of shingle. In the rains all these disappear, and the water laps against forest trees and the abrupt slope of the hills. The average difference between high and low water level of the Salween throughout the Shan States is between 50 and 60 ft., and in some places it is as much as 90. ”

“ Nearly the whole district is a maze of mountains intersected by deep ravines, the only level land of any considerable extent being found in the valley of the Yōnzalīn, While the country is covered with dense forest, of which 128 sq. m. are reserved. The district is drained by three principal rivers, the Salween, Yōnzalīn and Bilīn, fed by mountain torrents. The Yōnzalīn, which rises in the extreme N., is navigable with some difficulty in the dry season as far as Papun ”

“ In course of time also, canals, were it only a few yards in length, might be formed for the purpose of connecting the stream by a more direct channel, instead of compelling ascending vessels to navigate the continued sinuosities of the river throughout its entire course.
Swan Hill, a green oasis rising amidst what is, apparently, a desert of reeds, is a valuable station, containing some excellent pasture. Indeed, from these very reeds, which are annually burnt, springs up a “second growth,” affording admirable food for cattle ”

“ Its upper course is rapid, and the river carries a great deal of silt, which is deposited near its mouth in low islands and spits, dividing the river into narrow channels. The entrance is being extensively improved by means of jetties, and a 26-foot channel will be secured to the city of Savannah, 18 miles from the sea. ”

“ Of course I often found less than this, but not in what I considered the main channel.
"Thirty-six and a quarter miles below the Big Salmon, the Little Salmon—the Daly of Schwatka—enters the Lewes. This river is about 60 yards wide at the mouth, and not more than two or three feet in depth. The water is clear and of a brownish hue; there is not much current at the mouth, nor as far as can be seen up the stream. The valley which, from the mouth, does not appear extensive, bears north-east for some distance, when it appears to turn more to the east. ”

“ An hour's industrious work with a half-canteen would take any one outside, or if a boy was too lazy to dig his own tunnel, he could have the use of one of the hundred others that had been dug.
But escaping was only begun when the Stockade was passed. The site of Savannah is virtually an island. On the north is the Savannah River; to the east, southeast and south, are the two Ogeechee rivers, and a chain of sounds and lagoons connecting with the Atlantic Ocean. To the west is a canal connecting the Savannah and Big Ogeechee Rivers. ”

“ This is in turn dissolved by every successive rain, and carried off into the Saline river, giving to its water the brackish taste, from which it has derived its name. There is a barrenness around the stream, contrasting strongly with the other rivers that grace the prairie. Around them is always a rich forest of the deepest, rankest green. Every thing marks the luxuriance of the soil, and the nourishment yielded by the streams to the lofty trees which hang like guardians over their waters.
But the Saline is far different. There107 are no groves to fringe its banks. ”

“ The prostrate column lay like a wing-dam, half across the stream, and over it the Salmon piled itself. Disintegration followed; bergs heaved themselves into sight and went rolling and lunging after the billow which was rushing down-stream with the speed of a locomotive. They ground and clashed together in furious confusion as the river spun them; the greater ones up-ended themselves, casting off muddy cascades. From the depths of the flood came a grinding and crunching as ice met rock. ”

“ Nor is any aspect of a chalk stream perhaps more beautiful than where some swift-gliding current is running a couple of feet over the growing water-weed, all swaying and flickering in green streamers with every motion of the pellucid and wayward current. The Avon, too, is a prolific and notable trout river, where the disciples of the modern cult of the dry-fly leave no half-mile of water going begging for a lessee, and the May-fly here hatches out right up to the river’s source.
But Salisbury is, of course, the place with which the Avon for the best of reasons is chiefly identified ”

“ After the Tugalo makes its junction with the Seneca, the stream takes the name of Savannah, or as the mountaineers call it—the Sav-a-naw. Below the mouth of the Seneca, the river rapidly widens, and the water assumes a yellowish or muddy color, and it is full of wild and dangerous shoals. The bottoms, on either side, are wide and well cultivated; but on account of the fearful freshets, caused by the rising of the mountain streams [344] above, there are no houses built near the river—they generally being from two to three miles back, and sometimes even farther than that ”

“ In spite of increasing volume from various small affluents—the Meole at Shrewsbury, the Condover brook and the little river Tern which joins it just below—the Severn still retains, in subdued fashion, the qualities of a big hill-born stream running from long pike-haunted deeps into shallow rapids, where persevering anglers still catch occasional trout, and up which the salmon run in high water as they head for their breeding-grounds among the Montgomery Hills. ”

“ It is, however, to be regretted, that Selbourne and its neighbourhood are not better supplied with streams. With the exception of the Well Head, which is a perennial fountain, there is no real river to refresh the eye as it wanders over this beautiful scenery. After a storm of rain a thousand little channels are indeed filled with a temporary flood, but these soon ebb away, enjoying only a short tumultuous existence. No landscape can be said to be perfect without water. ”

“ About fifteen to twenty miles after entering Johnstone Strait, a conspicuous valley is seen on Vancouver Island, the only break in the high mountain range on that side. It is the valley of a stream called Salmon river, named from that delicious fish, which here abound, and in the pursuit of which the Indians have shown this stream to be navigable for canoes for a number of miles inland. A conspicuous conical hill, probably a thousand feet high, rises in the valley and marks it to the traveler. ”

“ All the day the course of the river has been between walls of the black volcanic rock, a dark line of the escarpment on the opposite side pointing out its course, and sweeping along in foam at places where the mountains which border the valley present always on the left two ranges, the lower one a spur of the higher; and, on the opposite side, the Salmon River mountains are visible at a great distance. Having made 24 miles, we encamped about five o'clock on Rock creek--a stream having considerable water, a swift current, and wooded with willow. ”

“ The river Savana is recommended by Dr Cullen from personal examination, as being more navigable (for canoes [XXXIV-50] ) , and approaching nearer the north coast than the Chuquanaqua does; though this does not appear in the Spanish maps. From the head of the Savana, a ravine, about three leagues in length, extends to Caledonia 713 Bay, and there (Dr Cullen says, having passed through it) he thinks a canal might be cut with less difficulty than elsewhere, if it were not for the opposition of the natives. ”

“ In Savannah he has taken refuge in a line constructed behind swamps and overflowed rice-fields, extending from a point on the Savannah River about three miles above the city, around by a branch of the Little Ogeechee, which stream is impassable from its salt-marshes and boggy swamps, crossed only by narrow causeways or common corduroy-roads.
There must be twenty-five thousand citizens, men, women, and children, in Savannah, that must also be fed, and how he is to feed them beyond a few days I cannot imagine. ”

“ The banks become yet farther apart, the water is salt, the tide ebbs and flows, as in the sea. The estuary, indeed, continues for many a mile, still retaining the form of a river-valley. Very probably there was a time when a Severn flowed along a broad valley, where now the Bristol Channel parts England from South Wales, to join another stream which had descended over land, now sunk beneath the Irish Sea, and the two rivers discharged their united waters into a more distant Atlantic Ocean ”

“ One cause of its trade and population not having increased more rapidly may be the bar across the [Pg 283] mouth of the Swan River, having only a depth of six feet at low water, and preventing the approach of ships of large burden. The soil around is sandy, and produces little or no grass; but when well cultivated, it yields excellent vegetables. Two miles from Fremantle, up the river, there is a ferry across to Perth, the seat of government and capital of the colony, which is well situated, the river extending into a broad sheet, named Melville Waters, in front of the town. ”

“ Through the ridge of Benthall Edge the Severn has sawn its way, so that the river-valley now becomes almost a gorge, along which, on the abrupt southern side, the Severn Valley railway has been conducted, and this not without considerable engineering difficulties. Wooded steeps and grey crags on either side of the strong stream flowing at their feet form a series of exquisite pictures, though unhappily not for long, for a change comes where the dirty hand of man has smirched the face of Nature. ”

“ The Harbour of Swansea is capacious,—well constructed, defended by two strong stone piers, about eighteen hundred feet in length,—and affords accommodation to a great many trading-vessels. On the west pier, a light-house and watch-tower offer additional security to the shipping; and every facility is provided for lading and unlading. The tide flows a considerable way up the river, which is navigable to the extent of two miles for vessels of burden. The canal, running parallel with the river, extends to Brecknockshire, a distance of sixteen miles ”

“ Mr. Brockman has had fifteen acres in culture—a great quantity, under existing circumstances—and he as well as others have happily experienced that the sandy soil, at first despised, produces as well as stiff clay soil, and with infinitely less trouble. The present prices of hay are 5l. here; 8l. at Perth; and 10l. per ton at Fremantle.
You will have had, before this reaches you, all the information you sought as to the Avon River. I fear that there is no large navigable river on this coast, as far as it extends. The Swan serves the purpose of a canal, but the frequent flats are obstacles ”

“ Francis, to its tributary the Salmon, and to Lake Megantie. These lower declivities are richly wooded, and well fitted for a mixed system of corn and pasture farming. The Salmon river, which traverses in a northerly direction nearly the whole district, has beautiful and fertile banks, one part of which, about ten miles long, from its luxuriant verdure is called “The Meadows.” This river, as well as numerous little streams which flow into it, is rapid and broken by falls, unfit for navigation, but convenient for mills. Here the Company have determined to begin their settlement ”

“ Thirty-nine miles farther down, we saw, on the North side of the River, two very large Springs, bursting midway from the lofty precipices, rushing down like rivers, and foaming along over the piles of rock. They looked, at a distance, like banks of snow resting on the cliffs. Seventeen miles below these Springs, are the Salmon Falls. These Falls are not perpendicular, except in one or two small shoots, on the North side. The great body of the water, runs down an inclination of not more than twenty-five feet in three hundred yards. ”

“ The town, which lies beneath the embankment of the railway, in the valley of the river Salwarp, on the right, is on weekdays so enveloped in steam, that little beyond its stacks, and the murky tower of St. Andrew’s Church, are seen. Its staple trade is salt, for the export of which the canal, the Severn, and modern railways offer great facilities. From early times, the subterranean river beneath the town has yielded an uninterrupted supply of the richest brine in Europe ”

“ The last observations that were made, reduced to this place, gave us an elevation of not more than five hundred feet above the sea, or about a hundred feet lower than the country at the depot.
Since the river has been swollen, the fish have eluded us, none having been caught since yesterday morning. Two black swans were however shot on the river. Our present situation is by no means enviable: in the first place, there is every chance that the river may be lost in a multitude of branches, among those marshy flats, and farther navigation thus rendered impossible ”

“ As the summer flood approached its maximum, in the latter part of June, the crevasse widened to more than half a mile, and the whole river, rushing through the break, spread out over an area eight or ten miles in width, and then, collecting in separate streams as it ran down the slope of the basin, discharged at last into the Salton Sea through the flooded channel of the New River barranca. Thousands of acres of land, covered with growing crops, were inundated, and thousands of acres more were so eroded and furrowed by the torrential streams that they never could be cultivated again. ”