V.
THE PRINCIPAL RIVER SYSTEMS OF EUROPE
AND THE UNITED STATES.

The actual and direct lengths of all the principal rivers in Europe, with the areas of their basins and the principal towns on which they are situated, are shown in the following tabular statement. The European river basins are inclined to the Arctic Ocean, to the Atlantic and North Sea, to the Baltic, to the North Sea, to the Mediterranean, to the Black Sea, or to the Caspian.

The remarkable differences between the total length of the basins and their direct length will be noted. The Danube, for example, is, in actual length, nearly double its direct length; and so also with the Don, the Salembria, the Charente, the Rhone, the Po, and others; while the Volga is more than twice its direct length, and the Ural more than three times as much.

The Volga, with a total length of 2400 miles is the longest river in Europe, but its direct length of 1080 miles is but little superior to that of the Danube with a length of 980 miles. Twenty-one basins in all incline to the Atlantic, five to the Arctic Ocean, thirteen to the Baltic, eight to the North Sea, thirteen to the Mediterranean, three to the Caspian, and five to the Black Sea. The enormous length of the basins inclining to the two latter seas, makes their aggregate mileage and area drained larger than those of any other.

RIVER BASINS OF EUROPE.
 
River or Estuary. Length
in
 English 
Miles.		  Direct Length 
of Basin in
English
Miles.		 Area of
  Basin in  
Square
Miles.		   Capital of States
   and Provinces
    in each Basin.

Basins inclined to the Arctic Ocean.
Petchora 900 520 114,400    
Mezen 400 300 30,100  
Dwina 700 500 134,400    Archangel.
Onega 300 250 21,000  
Alten Fiord 150   80 ..  Altengard.

Basins inclined to the Baltic.
L. Mälar 170 130 ..  Stockholm.
Dal 250 200    
Angerman 150 120 ..  Hernösand.
Umea 250 220    
Neva, and Gulf 625 500 99,700  St. Petersburg and
  of Finland    Helsingfors.
Düna 400 300 34,700  Riga.
Niemen 400 270 35,700  Erodno and Wilna.
Pregel 120 120   6,800  Königsberg.
Vistula 530 360 72,300  Warsaw, Lemberg.
Oder 445 360 45,200  Stettin, Breslau.
Stör   95   55 ..  Schwerin.
Trave   50   40 ..  Lübeck.
Schleifiord   25   20 ..  Schleswig.

Basins inclined to the North Sea.
Lymfiord 100   90       500  Aalborg.
Elbe 550 420 55,000  Hamburg, Gotha, Weimar.
Weser 230 250 17,700  Bremen, Brunswick.
Ems 160 130 ..  Münster.
Rhine 600 400 75,000  Bern, Cologne, Amsterdam.
Scheldt 210 120 ..  Antwerp, Brussels.
Meuse 580 230 ..  Liége, Namur.
Hunse   50   40 ..  Gröningen.
Vecht   90   60 ..  Zwoll.

Basins inclined to the Atlantic.
Trondhjem Fiord 100   60 ..  Trondhjem.
Torrisdals 120 100 ..  Christiansand.
Christiania Fiord   60   55 ..  Christiania.
Gotha 400 300 17,000  Goteborg.
Loire 530 350 44,500  Tours, Orleans.
Seine 414 250 28,500  Paris, Rouen.
Garonne 300 230 31,000  Bordeaux, Toulouse.
Somme 115   90 ..  Amiens.
Charente 200 110 ..  Rochelle.
Vilaine 125   80 ..  Rennes.
Douro 450 340 34,200  Oporto.
Tagus 540 450 33,000  Lisbon, Madrid.
Guadalquiver 300 270 19,500  Seville, Granada.
Minho 220 150 14,700  
Sado 100   70 ..  Evora.
Also the basins of the Adour, the Nervion, the Ria d’Este, the Ulla,
the Nalon, the Guadiana, and the Mondego.

Basins inclined to the Mediterranean.
Rhone 645 340 37,900  Lyons, Grenoble.
Segura 180 120 ..  Murcia.
Po 450 280 34,600  Turin, Milan.
Tiber 185 130 ..  Rome.
Arno   90   75 ..  Florence.
Vardar 170 125 ..  Salonika.
Salembria 110   65 ..  Larissa.
Ebro 340 280 32,900  Zaragoza.
Also the basins of the Guadalaviar, Dobregat, Narenta,
Bojano, and Maritza.

Basins inclined to the Black Sea.
Danube 1,795 980 306,000  Vienna, Buda, Gräz,
  and Munich.
Don 995 500 176,500  Stavropol, Kharkos.
Dneister 500 400   27,300  Kamilnetz.
Dnieper and Bug .. 640 195,500  Kiev, Ekaterinoslav.
Kuban 380 280 ..  Ekaterinodar.

Basins inclined to the Caspian.
Volga 2,400   1,080   527,000  Astrakhan, Nijni-Novgorod.
Ural 1,800   550   85,000  Orenburg.
Kur 520 400   80,800  Tiflis, Erivan.
RIVER BASINS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
 
River or Estuary. Length
in
 English 
Miles.		 Area in
 Geographical 
Square
Miles.		   Principal Towns
   on the Rivers.

Basins inclined to the Atlantic.
St. Lawrence 1,400   297,600  Ottawa.
Delaware 290     8,700  Trenton.
Chesapeake 450   12,000  Washington.
Hudson 210     7,000  Albany.
Connecticut 280     8,000  Hartford.

Basins inclined to the American Mediterranean.
Mississippi 1,820   982,400  New Orleans, Nashville.
Rio Grande del Norte  1,050   180,000  Santa Fé.
Colorado 900 ..  Denver, Cheyene.
Santandar 245   10,000  San Luis, Potosi.
San Juan 275     8,000  Leon.
Tobosco 245   12,000  Ciudad Real.

Basins inclined to the Pacific.
Rio Colorado 750 170,000  Tucson.
Columbia 800 194,000  Salem.
Frazer 480   90,000  New Westminster.
Sacramento 350   20,000  Sacramento.
Culiacan 280     7,000  Culiacan.
Youcon 1,150   100,000  

Basins inclined to the Arctic Ocean.
Mackenzie 1,200   441,000  
Nelson and 1,000   360,000  Fort York.
   Saskatchewan
Churchill 1,300     73,600  
Back, or G. Fish 420    
 
SOUTH AMERICAN RIVERS.
 
Basin. Length
in
  English  
Miles.		 Area in
 Geographical 
Square
Miles.		   Chief Towns.
Magdalena 700   72,000  Bogota.
Amazon 2,100     1,512,000      Santa Cruz.
Paraná 1,600     886,400  Monte Video and Buenos Ayres.
San Francisco   900 187,200  Duro-Preto.
Tocantins 1,260     294,480  Pará.
Essequibo 400   61,650  George Town.
Orinoco 1,000     252,000  Angostura.
NAMES AND AREA OF LAKES IN
THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
 
Name Area in
Square
Miles.		   Height above
   Sea-level.
    feet.
Ontario   6,300 231
Erie   9,600 565
Huron 21,000 578
Michigan 22,400 578
Superior 32,000 627
Winnipeg   9,000 628
Winnipegoos   2,300 650
Great Bear Lake 14,000 230
Great Slave Lake 12,000 ..
Athabasca   3,400 ..
Great Salt Lake   1,800 4,210    
Total area   133,800        
 
COMPARATIVE AREA OF SEAS.
    Square Miles.  
Total  area of   Caspian Sea 178,000  
” ” Black Sea 172,500  
” ” Mediterranean 976,000  
” ” German Ocean 244,000  
” ” Baltic 135,000  
” ” White Sea   40,000