Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad": Volume 12, Slice 6Various
Science
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad": Volume 12, Slice 6
Various
Encyclopedias and dictionaries
A bar of mud and sand prevents the entrance of vessels
drawing more than 19 ft. The river is from its mouth, which is nearly
2 m. wide, navigable for 70 m. to all vessels which can enter. The
Berbice river rises in about 3 deg. 40' N., and in 3 deg. 53' N. is
within 9 m. of the Essequibo. At its mouth it is about 2-1/2 m. wide,
and is navigable for vessels drawing not more than 12 ft. for about
105 m. and for vessels drawing not more than 7 ft. for fully 175 m.
Thence upwards it is broken by great cataracts. The Canje creek joins
the Berbice river close to the sea. The Corentyn river rises in 1 deg.
48' 30" N., about 140 m. E. of the Essequibo, and flowing northwards
enters the Atlantic by an estuary some 14 m. wide. The divide between
its head-waters and those of streams belonging to the Amazon system is
only some 400 ft. in elevation. It is navigable for about 150 m., some
of the reaches being of great width and beauty. The upper reaches are
broken by a series of great cataracts, some of which, until the
discovery of Kaieteur, were believed to be the grandest in British
Guiana. Among other rivers are the Pomeroon, Moruca and Barima, while
several large streams or creeks fall directly into the Atlantic, the
largest being the Abary, Mahaicony and Mahaica, between Berbice and
Demerara, and the Boerasirie between Demerara and Essequibo. The
colour of the water of the rivers and creeks is in general a dark
brown, caused by the infusion of vegetable matter, but where the
streams run for a long distance through savannahs they are of a milky
colour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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