Đời sống trên sông Mississippi

KAPITOLA 1.

Chapter 1.

Rieka a jej dejiny

The River and Its History

MISSISSIPPI si naozaj zaslúži, aby sme o nej čítali.

THE Mississippi is well worth reading about.

Nie je to obyčajná rieka,

It is not a commonplace river,

naopak, je v každom ohľade pozoruhodná.

but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable.

Ak za jej hlavné rameno považujeme Missouri,

Considering the Missouri its main branch,

je to najdlhšia rieka na svete —

it is the longest river in the world —

štyritisíctristo míľ.

four thousand three hundred miles.

Zdá sa, že môžeme pokojne povedať, že je to aj najkľukatejšia rieka na svete,

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

keďže na jednom úseku svojej cesty spotrebuje tisíctristo míľ, aby prekonala tú istú vzdialenosť, ktorú by vrana preletela za šesťstosedemdesiatpäť.

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.

Odvádza trikrát viac vody ako rieka Svätého

It discharges three times as much water as the St.

Vavrinca,

Lawrence,

dvadsaťpäťkrát viac ako Rýn

twenty-five times as much as the Rhine,

a tristotridsaťosemkrát viac ako Temža.

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

Nijaká iná rieka nemá také rozsiahle povodie:

No other river has so vast a drainage-basin:

čerpá vodu z dvadsiatich ôsmich štátov a teritórií;

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

z Delawaru,

from Delaware,

na atlantickom pobreží,

on the Atlantic seaboard,

a z celej krajiny medzi ním a Idahom na tichomorskom svahu —

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

z rozpätia štyridsiatich piatich stupňov zemepisnej dĺžky.

a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude.

Mississippi prijíma a odnáša do zálivu vodu z päťdesiatich štyroch prítokov splavných pre parníky

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

a z niekoľkých stoviek splavných pre ploskodné člny a člny s kýlom.

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

Rozloha jej povodia sa rovná súhrnnej rozlohe Anglicka,

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

Walesu,

Wales,

Škótska,

Scotland,

Írska,

Ireland,

Francúzska,

France,

Španielska,

Spain,

Portugalska,

Portugal,

Nemecka,

Germany,

Rakúska,

Austria,

Talianska

Italy,

a Turecka;

and Turkey;

a takmer celá táto šíra oblasť je úrodná;

and almost all this wide region is fertile;

samotné údolie Mississippi

the Mississippi valley,

v užšom zmysle

proper,

je úrodné výnimočne.

is exceptionally so.