SINIA, and EGYPT.
The European rivers are greatly inferior in magnitude to the rivers which drain the other great divisions of the globe ; but, winding through the regions where the effects of human industry and civilization have, in all ages, been conspicuously developed, their importance is not to be es timated entirely by the length of their courses, or the abun dance of their waters. The principal rivers of Europe are, the Volga, the Danube, the Dneiper, and the Don, on the east ; the Rhone, and the Ebro, on the south ; the Vistula, the Oder, the Elbe, the Rhine, the Loire, the Tagus, and the Douro, on the west : and the Dvina and Pachora, on the north. NVe shall notice, in this general sketch, only the most remarkable of these rivers.
The Volga, by far the most majestic of European streams, is distinguished from all the great rivers of both continents, by discharging itself, not into the ocean, but into an extensive inland sea. The river takes its rise from several lakes in the mountains of Valday, between the an cient and the modern capitals of the Russian empire. From these lakes it proceeds in an easterly direction, in clining a little southward till it reaches the Kama, a large tributary stream proceeding from the L:ralian mountains, when it advances more towards the south, and after a wind ing course of about 1700 miles, falls into the Caspian Sea, at Astracan. The fall of the Volga from Ostachkow to Astracan, has been recently determined by Dr. Pansner, to be 957.97 French feet. Edin. Phil. Journ. vol. iii. 408. This extensive stream, running through a flat alluvial country, which in some places has undoubtedly a lower level than the surface of the ocean, has no cataracts, and so few shoals, that it is navigable as far as Twer, being about 1000 miles from its mouth. It is affirmed, though we know not upon what authority, that the waters of the Volga have been sensibly diminished since the commence ment of the eighteenth century. Pinkerton's Geog. i. 321. The Don, and Dneiper, kindred rivers to the Volga, re ceive the waters of the various streams which flow from the fertile and extensive plains lying to the north of the Black Sea. The former has a course of 800 miles, the latter of about 1000 miles.
The Alps, the highest land on the western side of the old continent, give birth to three of the most distinguish ed rivers in Europe, the Danube, the Rhine, and the Rhone. The first of these rivers flows towards the east, collecting in its progress the various streams which de scend from the Carpathian ridge, on the one hand, and the mountains of Illyria and Rumelia, on the other. Af
ter watering Suabia, Bavaria, Austria Proper, Hungary, and part of Turkey, it enters the Black Sca, by several mouths. Its course is computed to be about 1300 miles. The Rhine proceeds in an opposite direction, and after flowing through some of the most fertile provinces of Eu rope, discharges itself by several channels into the Ger man Sea. Its course is only about 600 miles. The Loire, the Tagus, and the Douro, drain the western parts of Eu rope; as the Dvina and Pechora carry off its waters in the north.
We shall conclude the history of the aqueous parts of the globe with a brief description of lakes. These col lections of water may be classed under two general heads, according as they are connected with, or entirely disjoin ed from, the ocean. Lakes of the former kind may be re garded as the expansions of rivers, in situations where their beds originally possessed a great depth ; and those of the latter kind, as small inland seas cut off from all com munication with the ocean, on account of their want of water to flow over the elevated land by which they are surrounded.
Lakes of the first kind are of very common occurrence, and indeed few rivers are without them. The rivers of North America, however, furnish the most remarkable examples of these enlargements of their beds, many of them flowing through lakes which, in magnitude, resem ble seas, and yet retain all the purity and freshness of mountain streams. Lake Superior, the largest collection of fresh water in the world, is about 125 leagues long, and 50 broad, with a depth, in many places, of 300 fathoms ; and Lake Huron, which is connected with it, is nearly of equal dimensions. Besides these collections of fresh wa ter, North America contains several other lakes of the same kind, which, though of inferior magnitude, are yet of great extent. Among these we may mention Lake Michigan, Lake Eric, Lake Ontario, Lake Champlain, the lake of Assiniboils, the Slave Lake, &c. In the old con tinent, lakes of fresh water are less numerous than in America ; but not a few are to be found of considerable extent. Among the most remarkable of these we may notice Lake Ladoga, and Lake Onega, in Russia, and the lakes of Geneva and Constance in Switzerland. Several extensive fresh water lakes are also found in China, and various parts of the north of Asia.