00000546 |
Previous | 546 of 595 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL COMMUNICATION. 495
CHAPTER XXV.
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL WAYS OF COMMUNICATION. — SEA-SHORES, DESERTS, AND SAVANNAS. RIVERS, CANALS, AND RAILWAYS. BRIDGES AND
VIADUCTS.—THE CUTTING THROUGH ISTHMUSES. THE SUEZ CANAL. THE
ISTHMUSES OF CENTRAL AMERICA.
All the progress realized in the reclamation ofthe soil would have been
impossible if nations had not been placed in mutual connection by means
of frequent modes of communication; commodities are thus interchanged
between various climates, ideas become a patrimony common to all, and
the creative intelligence of workers has been enabled to develop and increase.
The earliest roads used by men for the purposes of travel and of conveying their produce were the natural routes afforded by the shores of
the ocean, the deserts of sand and hard clay or rock, devoid of all vegetation, %v by the level surface or gentle undulations of prairies and savannas. Thanks to these ready-made ways of communication, nations separated by water, forests, and mountains have been enabled to make one another's acquaintance; but for all this, the mutual relations which they established remained very difficult to keep up. The sea-shores were intersected with quagmires and mouths of rivers, both dangerous to cross;
the deserts and savannas are the abode of famine, and the traveler who
* . . .
ventures into them unprovided with food is certain to perish. After the
lapse of thousands of years and thousands of ages, these natural routes
still continue as dangerous as they were when they were ventured upon
for the first time: nothing but his skill and industry has enabled man to
create for himself safer and more commodious roadg.
The invention of rafts and boats suggested other modes of communication between peoples; they could now avail themselves of the winding
courses of rivers—those " moving roads." This was an immense progress
made in favor of intercourse between nations, for every river, with its
tributaries, tended to connect together all the countries comprised in its
basin; this amount of progress was, however, in its turn surpassed. In
the civilized countries of Europe, where man is gradually molding Nature to his will, these uncertain water-courses, with their long windings,
their dangerous rapids, their sudden floods, and their prolonged droughts,
were no longer adapted either for merchants or travelers, both classes
having become more and more particular in regard to speed and regularity. The inland navigation diminished, except on the mouths of rivers,
which were also estuaries of the sea, and had been converted by the skill
of the engineer into regular canals, having a considerable normal depth.
This was the case as regards the Clyde, the bed of which a century ago
| Title | The ocean, atmosphere, and life |
| Creator | Reclus, Elisée |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1873 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000546 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL COMMUNICATION. 495 CHAPTER XXV. NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL WAYS OF COMMUNICATION. — SEA-SHORES, DESERTS, AND SAVANNAS. RIVERS, CANALS, AND RAILWAYS. BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS.—THE CUTTING THROUGH ISTHMUSES. THE SUEZ CANAL. THE ISTHMUSES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. All the progress realized in the reclamation ofthe soil would have been impossible if nations had not been placed in mutual connection by means of frequent modes of communication; commodities are thus interchanged between various climates, ideas become a patrimony common to all, and the creative intelligence of workers has been enabled to develop and increase. The earliest roads used by men for the purposes of travel and of conveying their produce were the natural routes afforded by the shores of the ocean, the deserts of sand and hard clay or rock, devoid of all vegetation, %v by the level surface or gentle undulations of prairies and savannas. Thanks to these ready-made ways of communication, nations separated by water, forests, and mountains have been enabled to make one another's acquaintance; but for all this, the mutual relations which they established remained very difficult to keep up. The sea-shores were intersected with quagmires and mouths of rivers, both dangerous to cross; the deserts and savannas are the abode of famine, and the traveler who * . . . ventures into them unprovided with food is certain to perish. After the lapse of thousands of years and thousands of ages, these natural routes still continue as dangerous as they were when they were ventured upon for the first time: nothing but his skill and industry has enabled man to create for himself safer and more commodious roadg. The invention of rafts and boats suggested other modes of communication between peoples; they could now avail themselves of the winding courses of rivers—those " moving roads." This was an immense progress made in favor of intercourse between nations, for every river, with its tributaries, tended to connect together all the countries comprised in its basin; this amount of progress was, however, in its turn surpassed. In the civilized countries of Europe, where man is gradually molding Nature to his will, these uncertain water-courses, with their long windings, their dangerous rapids, their sudden floods, and their prolonged droughts, were no longer adapted either for merchants or travelers, both classes having become more and more particular in regard to speed and regularity. The inland navigation diminished, except on the mouths of rivers, which were also estuaries of the sea, and had been converted by the skill of the engineer into regular canals, having a considerable normal depth. This was the case as regards the Clyde, the bed of which a century ago |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| B |
|
| C |
|
| G |
|
| H |
|
| M |
|
| T |
|
| U |
|
| Y |
|
|
|
