Livet på Mississippi

SURA YA 1.

Chapter 1.

Mto na Historia Yake

The River and Its History

MTO Mississippi unastahili kabisa kusomwa habari zake.

THE Mississippi is well worth reading about.

Si mto wa kawaida,

It is not a commonplace river,

bali, kinyume chake, ni wa ajabu kwa kila hali.

but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable.

Tukiuhesabu Missouri kuwa tawi lake kuu,

Considering the Missouri its main branch,

ndio mto mrefu kuliko yote duniani —

it is the longest river in the world —

maili elfu nne na mia tatu.

four thousand three hundred miles.

Inaonekana ni salama kusema kwamba pia ndio mto wenye mapindo mengi kuliko yote duniani,

It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world,

kwa kuwa katika sehemu moja ya safari yake hutumia maili elfu moja na mia tatu kupita eneo lilelile ambalo kunguru angeliruka kwa maili mia sita sabini na tano.

since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy-five.

Humwaga maji mara tatu zaidi ya mto St.

It discharges three times as much water as the St.

Lawrence,

Lawrence,

mara ishirini na tano zaidi ya Rhine,

twenty-five times as much as the Rhine,

na mara mia tatu thelathini na nane zaidi ya Thames.

and three hundred and thirty-eight times as much as the Thames.

Hakuna mto mwingine wenye bonde la mkondo mpana kiasi hicho:

No other river has so vast a drainage-basin:

hupata maji yake kutoka Majimbo na Maeneo ishirini na manane;

it draws its water supply from twenty-eight States and Territories;

kuanzia Delaware,

from Delaware,

kwenye pwani ya Atlantiki,

on the Atlantic seaboard,

na kutoka nchi yote iliyo kati ya hapo na Idaho kwenye mteremko wa Pasifiki —

and from all the country between that and Idaho on the Pacific slope —

upana wa nyuzi arobaini na tano za longitudo.

a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude.

Mississippi hupokea na kupeleka hadi Ghuba ya Meksiko maji ya mito midogo hamsini na minne inayopitika kwa meli za mvuke,

The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from fifty-four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats,

na ya mamia kadhaa inayopitika kwa mashua bapa na majahazi.

and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels.

Eneo la bonde lake ni kubwa kama maeneo ya Uingereza,

The area of its drainage-basin is as great as the combined areas of England,

Wales,

Wales,

Scotland,

Scotland,

Ireland,

Ireland,

Ufaransa,

France,

Hispania,

Spain,

Ureno,

Portugal,

Ujerumani,

Germany,

Austria,

Austria,

Italia,

Italy,

na Uturuki yakijumlishwa;

and Turkey;

na karibu eneo hili lote pana lina rutuba;

and almost all this wide region is fertile;

bonde la Mississippi lenyewe,

the Mississippi valley,

kwa maana halisi,

proper,

lina rutuba ya kipekee.

is exceptionally so.