THE LOWER COURSE The lower course of the Danube stretches from the Iron Gates to the Black Sea. From Bazias to the junction with the small right bank tributary, the Timok, the Danube forms the boundary between Yugoslavia and Rumania. From the Timok to a point 27 m. east of Ruschuk, it forms the boundary between Rumania and Bulgaria, after which it flows entirely through Rumanian territory. Along its lower course, the Danube flows over Quater nary deposits covered by river sands and gravels. Its north bank is low, flat and marshy with numerous small lakes, but its south bank is crowned by low heights which make excellent town sites, e.g., Vidin, Lom-Palanka, Svishtov, Ruschuk and Silistra. At Rus chuk, the railway from Bucharest to Varna, crosses the Danube. The river receives many tributaries along this stretch, those on its left bank, of which the Oltul and Dambovita, on which stands Bucharest, are the most important, draining the Transylvanian Alps, and those on its right bank, draining the northern ridges of the Balkan mountains. At Cernavoda, where the river is crossed by the railway from Bucharest to Constantca, the Black sea port, the Danube is diverted northward by the hills of Dobruja, which form an isolated remnant of the Hercynian foreland of Europe. Along this stretch as far as Braila, the river subdivides into several channels, and spreads out over the surrounding country forming numerous lakes. The river changes its direction again at Galatz, the chief port on the delta of the Danube, and flows east ward toward its mouths. Sea-going vessels having a register up to 4,00o tons can ascend the river as far as Braila, but those up to 600 tons can sail as far as Turnu Severin. Two left bank affluents, the Seret and the Prut, which drain the eastern side of the Carpathian mountains, eiiter the river near Galatz. For 3o m. in an easterly direction from Galatz, the Danube flows as a single channel until it breaks up into the several branches of its delta. Along the northern shore of the river from Galatz to the sea there is a large number of shallow lakes, which indicates the poor drainage of the region. The most important mouths of the river are, reading from north to south, the Kilia, Sulina and St. George, and in 1905 the ratio of the discharge of these three branches was Sulina 9%, St. George 24%, and Kilia 6 7 %. The mean annual outflow of all the mouths is estimated at 315, 20o cu.ft. per sec., and the amount of silt brought down at 108 million tons per year. As the currents of the Black sea along this coast flow from north to south, the silt brought down by the Kilia branch tends to block up the mouths of the other channels.
The delta of the Danube, which is about i,000 sq.m. in area, is a mere wilderness of swamps and marshes covered by tall reeds and through which the silt laden distributaries of the river slowly meander. The monotony of this waste of country is relieved here and there by isolated elevations covered by oak, beech and willows, many of them marking ancient coast lines. The most im portant towns in the delta region are Ismail, Chilia and Vilkof on the Kilia branch, Sulina at the mouth of the Sulina branch and Tulcea and St. George on the St. George's branch. The Kilia branch itself breaks up into a wide delta which is continually ad vancing seaward, and it is estimated that its various mouths pour into the sea 3,00o cu.ft. of sediment per minute. The Sulina branch breaks off from the Tulcea (St. George's) branch, 7 m. below the town of Tulcea, and the St. George's branch again sub divides before entering the sea.
Before engineering works were commenced to make the chan nels navigable, ships drawing only 8 ft. of water experienced great difficulty in entering, for the depth of water in few portions of the channels rarely exceeded this figure and the frequent occur rence of numerous sand banks and bars further added to the diffi culty of shipping. Today, ships drawing 22 ft. of water can reach Braila.
Traffic.—The Danube may be divided for traffic purposes into the maritime Danube from the sea to above Braila, and the fluvial Danube from this point up to Regensburg, where the river at present ceases to be navigable for large craft. Braila and Galatz, situated respectively 171 and 15o kilometres from Sulina (at the mouth of the river), are the usual points for tranship ment between seagoing vessels and barges. Besides transhipping goods on to barges, seagoing vessels also tranship on to railways at Braila and Galatz. Traffic has never equalled that on the Rhine, where the countries are much more highly developed industrially.
In the Treaty of Bucharest (May 1918) the Central Powers reduced the membership of the European commission to "states situated on the Danube or the European coasts of the Black sea." The Treaty of Versailles (June 1919) reinstated the corn mission in "the powers it possessed before the war." It went on that "as a provisional measure, only representatives of Great Britain, France, Italy and Rumania shall constitute this com mission." The commission acquired definite character when the Danube statute was signed in Paris on July 23, 1921. In future, subject to the unanimous consent of the states represented on the commission, any European state which is able to prove its possession of sufficient maritime commercial and European inter ests at the mouths of the Danube may be represented on it. Up to 1926, however, the representation had not been increased.
One representative of each other riparian State.
One representative of each non-riparian State represented in the future as the European commission of the Danube." This commission was to carry on the administration provision ally until the conclusion of a definite statute concerning the Danube.
On July 23, 1921, this statute was signed. Many of its pro visos simply followed the lines of the "convention on the regime of navigable waterways of international concern" concluded at Barcelona on April 2o, 1921. Article i declared navigation on the Danube system to be unrestricted and open to all flags, on a footing of complete equality, from Ulm to the Black sea, and the internationalised portions of the Danube tributaries were defined. The provisional composition of the international commission was confirmed. It had to see that the declaration in Art. 1 was not infringed by any riparian State or States, to draw up a pro gramme of public works for the improvement of the waterway on the basis of proposals submitted by the riparians, controlling and if necessary modifying the annual programmes of the riparian states for current works of maintenance. The cost of such works was borne by the riparian State concerned, assisted, if the commission so decided, by other States interested.
The cost of works of improvement (not maintenance) might be covered by navigation dues, to be imposed (with the com mission's authorisation) by the riparian State which had executed the works, or by the commission itself, if it had executed them at its own charges. Dues were to be assessed on the ship's tonnage and not based on the goods transported, revenue from them was to be applied exclusively to the works for which they were imposed, there was to be no differential treatment of flags. Customs duties levied by a riparian on goods loaded or discharged at the Danubian ports in its territory were also to be levied with out distinction of flag or hindrance to navigation, and were not to be higher than duties levied at other frontiers of the same state. The transport of goods and passengers, even between ports of the same riparian State, was to be unrestricted and open to all flags on a footing of perfect equality, with the exception of regular local services which may only be carried out by foreign craft subject to the observance of the national law of the local sovereign, and in agreement with the authorities of the riparian state concerned (Art. 22). Passage of goods and passengers in transit was to be free. Uniform police regulations were to be drawn up and applied by each riparian on its own territory. A special joint service of Rumania and Yugoslavia, organised with the approval of the commission, will have to take over the main tenance and improvement of the Iron Gates section, with head quarters at Orsova. The commission was to decide on special works to be undertaken (and dues to be levied for the purpose) and to have power to abolish the service when its work was done ; it could inaugurate like services elsewhere if necessary.
The commission was to determine its own procedure and administer its own budget, the presidency being held for six months by each delegation in turn. Its seat was to be at Bratis lava the first five years, and thereafter it might be established at other towns on the Danube, selected at its discretion, for five year periods in rotation. Its property and members were to en joy diplomatic privileges and it was to fly its own flag. It was to deal in the first instance with questions regarding the inter pretation and application of the convention; but the special jurisdiction set up by the League of Nations would ultimately have to deal with complaints from a state that the commission was acting ultra vires, or from the commission against a state for neglecting to carry out its decisions. Every effort was made to insure uniformity between the workings of the International and the European commissions, and between different signatory states.
The convention came into force on June 3o, 1922. One of the most important questions that has been raised since that date was connected with the interpretation of Art. 22 (above), as certain states in eastern Europe were anxious to reserve to their own flag the passenger and goods traffic between ports in their own territory. In the discussion on Art. 22, the Rumanian delegate stated that the carriage of goods on river craft between two ports in the same country did not constitute sabotage if the goods were subsequently transhipped to a seagoing vessel to export, and that Art. 22 imposed no restriction on the traffic carried on up to that time by Greece. It would seem to be established by the decisions of the Powers' conference that casual transport by foreign vessels between two ports in the same state is to be unrestricted even if it takes place repeatedly. (See