Живот на Мисисипију

POGLAVLJE 1.

Chapter 1.

Rijeka i njezina povijest

The River and Its History

MISSISSIPPI je rijeka o kojoj zaista vrijedi čitati.

THE Mississippi is well worth reading about.

To nije obična rijeka,

It is not a commonplace river,

nego je, naprotiv, u svakom pogledu izvanredna.

but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable.

Smatramo li Missouri njegovim glavnim krakom,

Considering the Missouri its main branch,

on je najdulja rijeka na svijetu —

it is the longest river in the world —

četiri tisuće i tristo milja.

four thousand three hundred miles.

Čini se da se bez straha može reći kako je ujedno i najvijugavija rijeka na svijetu,

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

jer na jednom dijelu svojega toka potroši tisuću i tristo milja da bi prešao isti prostor koji bi vrana preletjela u šesto sedamdeset i pet.

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.

On izlijeva triput više vode od

It discharges three times as much water as the St.

rijeke Svetoga Lovre,

Lawrence,

dvadeset i pet puta više od Rajne

twenty-five times as much as the Rhine,

i tristo trideset i osam puta više od Temze.

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

Nijedna druga rijeka nema tako golemo porječje:

No other river has so vast a drainage-basin:

vodu skuplja iz dvadeset i osam saveznih država i teritorija;

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

iz Delawarea

from Delaware,

na atlantskoj obali

on the Atlantic seaboard,

i iz cijeloga kraja između njega i Idaha na pacifičkoj padini —

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

s prostora od četrdeset i pet stupnjeva geografske dužine.

a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude.

Mississippi prima i nosi u Zaljev vodu pedeset i četiriju pritoka plovnih za parobrode

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

te nekoliko stotina onih kojima mogu ploviti skele i teglenice.

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

Površina njegova porječja jednaka je zbroju površina Engleske,

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

Walesa,

Wales,

Škotske,

Scotland,

Irske,

Ireland,

Francuske,

France,

Španjolske,

Spain,

Portugala,

Portugal,

Njemačke,

Germany,

Austrije,

Austria,

Italije

Italy,

i Turske;

and Turkey;

a gotovo je cijelo to široko područje plodno;

and almost all this wide region is fertile;

sama dolina Mississippija,

the Mississippi valley,

u užem smislu,

proper,

iznimno je plodna.

is exceptionally so.