Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

the supply of rivers, and the economy of vegetation. Now, to compare this with the quantity of water discharged by all the known rivers of the world, we shall take, with Buffon, the example of the Po. This river, according to Riccioli, before it divides into branches, has a mean breadth of 1000 feet, and a depth of ten feet, with a velocity of four miles per hour. Consequently, it conveys into the sea about 5,000,000,000 cubic feet per day, or nearly 2,000,000,000,000 cubic feet annually; so that, if we suppose a fifth part of the water which descends in rain upon the land to be dissipated again by evaporation, and another fifth to be decomposed by the processes of vegetation, we should still have remaining as much water as would supply 1500 rivers equal in size to the Po.

Or if we take this view of the subject; the Po appears to traverse a country about 380 miles in length, and the rivers which flow into it on each side arise from sources which are about sixty miles distant from the main stream. Thus the Po, and the rivers which it receives, water a country of about 45,600 square miles. But the surface of the dry land being, according to Buffon's estimate, 63,728,938 square miles, (Buffon's Nat. Hist. i. 136;) if we suppose that each portion of the earth's surface, equal in extent to the basin of the Po, is furnished with a river of the same magnitude, we should have by this computation about 1400 rivers of the same size with the Po to drain the surface of the globe.

It appears by some late experiments of M. Escher, that the annual discharge of the Rhine at Basle is 1,046,763,676,000 cubic feet; that of the Tay appears, from observations made at Perth by the writer of this article, to be about 100,000,000,000 cubic feet, being only about a tenth part of the quantity of water conveyed by the Rhine. The basin of the Tay is 2315 square miles, and the annual supply of rain which it receives about 130,000,000,000 cubic feet; so that, for that extent, about 30,000,000,000 cubic feet of water return to the atmosphere by evaporation or decomposition. In July, 1819, after a long drought, the discharge of the Tay was found to be reduced to 457 cubic feet per second, being only about a tenth part of the average quantity which it conveys to the sea.

PESTILENCE IN PHILADELPHIA.

The following notice of the malignant fever which desolated this city in 1793 is extracted from a pamphlet written by the well known citizen, Matthew Carey :

"MOST people who could by any means make it convenient, fled from the city. Of those who remained, many shut themselves up in their houses, and were afraid to walk the streets. The smoke of tobacco being regarded as a preventive, many persons, even women and small boys, had segars constantly in their mouths. Others placing full confidence in garlic, chewed it almost the whole day; some kept it in their shoes. Many were afraid to allow the barbers or hair dressers to come near them, as instances had occurred of some of them having shaved the dead, and many of them had engaged as bleeders. Some who carried their caution pretty far, bought lancets for themselves, not daring to be bled with the lancets of the bleeders. Some houses were hardly a moment in the day free from the smell of gunpowder, burned tobacco, nitre, sprinkled vinegar, &c. Many of the churches were almost deserted, and some wholly closed. The coffee house was shut up, as was the city library, and most of the public offices; three out of the four daily papers were dropped, as were some of the other papers. Many were almost incessantly purifying, scouring and whitewashing their rooms. Those who ventured abroad, had handkerchiefs or sponges impregnated with vinegar or camphor at their noses, or else smelling bottles with the thieves' vinegar. Others carried pieces of tarred rope in their hands or pockets, or camphor bags tied round their necks. The corpses of the most respectable citizens, even those who did not die of the epidemic, were carried to the grave on the shafts of a chair, the horse driven by a negro, unattended by a friend or relation, and without any sort of ceremony. People hastily shifted their course at the sight of a hearse coming towards them. Many never walked on the foot path, but went into the middle of the streets, to avoid being infected in passing by houses wherein people had died. Acquaintances and friends avoided each other in the streets, and only signified their regard by a cold nod. The old custom of shaking hands fell into such general disuse, that many were affronted even at the offer of the hand. A person with a crape or any appearance of mourning, was shunned like a viper. And many valued themselves highly on the skill and address with which they got to windward of every person they met. Indeed it is not probable that London, at the last stage of the

plague, exhibited stronger marks of terror than were to be seen in Philadelphia, from the 25th or 26th of August till pretty late in September. When people summoned up resolution to walk abroad and take the air, the sick cart conveying patients to the hospital, or the hearse carrying the dead to the grave, which were travelling almost the whole day, soon damped their spirits, and plunged them again into despondency.

"With the poor the case was, as might be expected, infinitely worse than with the rich. Many of these have perished, without a human being to hand them a drink of water, to administer medicines, or to perform any charitable office for them. Various instances have occurred, of dead bodies found lying in the streets, of persons who had no house or habitation, and could procure no shelter.

"A man and his wife, once in affluent circumstances, were found lying dead in bed, and between them was their child, a little infant, who was sucking its mother's breast. How long they had lain thus was uncertain.

"A woman, whose husband had just died of a fever, was seized with the pains of labor, and had nobody to assist her, as the women in the neighborhood were afraid to go into the house. She lay for a considerable time in a degree of anguish that will not bear description; at length she struggled to reach the window, and cried out for assistance; two men, passing by, went up stairs, but they came at too late a stage; she was striving with death, and actually in a few minutes expired in their arms.

"Another woman, whose husband and two children lay dead in the room with her, was in the same situation as the former, without a midwife, or any other person to aid her. Her cries at the window brought up one of the carters employed by the committee for the relief of the sick. With his assistance she was delivered of a child, which died in a few minutes, as did the mother, who was utterly exhausted by her labor, by the disorder, and by the dreadful spectacle before her. And thus lay in one room no less than five dead bodies, an entire family, carried off in an hour or two.

TRENTON FALLS.

THIS beautiful scene is on West Canada creek, about sixteen miles north of Utica. Some estimate may be made of the quantity of water in the stream from its length, which is near sixty miles. It has its source in the same district with Black river, and pursuing a southwesterly direction about twenty five miles, it then turns to the southeast, and after winding its way among the northern Katskills, rushing down numerous precipices, and forming beautiful and romantic cascades, at length joins the waters of the Mohawk three fourths of a mile below the village of Herkimer, and about six miles above Little Falls.

The rock over which the water tumbles is a chocolate colored carbonate of lime; its strata, as at Niagara and throughout the Genesee country, are horizontal and of various thickness. The greatest depth of the channel the water has worn through the rock, is from an hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. There are four principal cascades, all of which are within the space of a mile and a quarter; the first of these is forty feet, the second eight, the third about thirty five, and the fourth is a succession of falls equal in elevation, perhaps, to the three preceding united. The course of the channel through the rock is serpentine, and the beauty of the scene is heightened from the circumstance that no two of the cascades can be viewed at the same time. The banks are almost perpendicular, and in some places even projecting over the water; they are covered with a thick growth of cedar, and the view afforded of them from the bed of the river is beautiful and interesting. The chasm is very narrow, so much that in some instances the passage up and down the stream is frightful if not dangerous.A scanty path way has of late been made into the rock by blasting; this, however, is only wide enough for one person, and was it not for a chain securely attached to strong iron bars inserted into the wall rising almost perpendicular above you, the passage would be considered impracticable. The path is elevated from twenty to thirty feet above the stream, and the channel at this place is so extremely narrow, and the descent so great, that the current hurries by with the rapidity of lightning. The view of the water from this spot, dashing from rock to rock, its deafening roar, the stupendous walls that tower above you, the commotion and agony in the gulph beneath, is imposing, grand and terrific.

The descent to the bottom of the chasm is by means of a staircase erected a short distance below the first fall. It is from the

bed of the river only that this most enchanting scenery can be viewed to any advantage. The first object that meets the eye after descending the stair-case is a small cascade, of six or seven feet a little below, on the right. The stream only a few yards in width, pursuing the serpentine and fantastic channel it has worn through the rock, indicates from its wild and agitated appearance the commotion that may be found above. The only route to view the dif ferent falls is along the west side of the river on a narrow beach composed of a horizontal bed of lime rock; this varies in width: in some places it may be twenty or thirty feet, others not more than two or three. Pursuing the stream a few rods, the water assumes a quicker and more lively motion, and soon the dull rumbling sound of the cataract strikes the ear. A little further on, and a short turn in the chasm brings in view one of the most delightful and picturesque scenes that can be imagined; it is the first cascade of forty perpendicular feet. The sudden and unexpected manner in which the spectator comes within sight of it, the brilliant colors of the water, the column of spray hanging above it, the rock from which it is precipitated, the branching cedars that shoot out laterally from the giddy cliffs, and the whole surrounding scenery, conspire to make the view romantic and beautiful.

Climbing above this, a second cascade soon presents itself. The rock over which it falls intersecting the stream at right angles, seems a wall of square masonry. The water being shallow and extending over a large surface rolls over the ledge in a smooth and almost unruffled sheet. It is a quiet and peaceful scene, and is happily contrasted with the rage and tumult both above and below. Passing above this, which resembles more the work of art than of nature, still another fall descending about thirty five feet appears. This, in the quantity of water, elevation of the ledge, and character of the accompanying scenery, is so similar to the first as to render a description needless.

The fourth, and last of any note, consists of a mass of cascades, and in the variety of objects and novelty of appearance is not less interesting than those already mentioned. The impetuosity of the current, its ungovernable rage and fury, now leaping wild and delirious among ragged rocks, now plunging headlong down their steep sides, and there boiling and whirling in torture,

[ocr errors]

"Its darkly dashing stream,

"Hoarse sounding on the breeze,"

constitute a view indiscribably beautiful and picturesque.

« НазадПродовжити »