File:The earth and its inhabitants (1882) (14750049706).jpg

Identifier: earthitsinhabita04recl (find matches)
Title: The earth and its inhabitants ..
Year: 1882 (1880s)
Authors: Reclus, Elisée, 1830-1905 Ravenstein, Ernest George, 1834-1913 Keane, Augustus Henry, 1833-1912
Subjects: Geography
Publisher: New York : D. Appleton and Company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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rge themselves into the estuary of the Severn :— Drainage Basin.Sq. Miles.Severn . . . 4,350Avon of Bristol . 891 Wye . . . 1,609Usk. ... 540 Smaller rivers. . 729 Total 8,119 Length. Average. Miles. Cubic Feet. 158 5,300 per sec. 62 1,100 135 2,100 65 880 186 1,000 „ 606 10,380 „ THE BASIN OF THE SEVERN AND THE BRISTOL CHANNEL. 99 feet. The Severn estuary presents the aspect of a river only at low waterwhen in some places it is no more than from 700 to 900 feet wide. Sand-banks and ledges of rock then make their appearance above the water, andvessels which fail to take advantage of the rising tide to reach their port of desti-nation are obliged to cast anchor in some favourable spot, until the next tideenables them to proceed on their voyage. At low water the Lower Severn isscarcely na^ngable, and even the mouths of the Wye and Avon are sometimesinaccessible. As to the fishing-smacks, they allow the retiring tide to leave them Fig. 54.—Bristol Channel.From an Admiralty Chart.
Text Appearing After Image:
high and dry upon a sand-bank. From afar the fishermen see the shining crest ofthe approaching tidal wave ; soon the river is arrested in its flow and turned backupon itself; the sand-bank grows less and less ; the waves approach the sides ofthe vessel; they burrow in the sand in which its keel is embedded, and graduallyuplift it. The steersman once more grasps the helm, and he finds himself afloat,where but a few minutes before there extended a mere waste of sand. In the upperand narrower part of the estuar), where the interval between low and high waterIS very short, the advancing tide-wave rushes suddenly up, and forms a dangerousbore. At spring tides this bore is felt as high up as Gloucester, and owing to its 100 THE BEITISH ISLES. suddenness is dangerous to small craft. Shouts of Flood 0 ! flood 0 ! heraldits approach, and warn boatmen to prepare to meet its shock. The tide-waves,especially when a high wind blows up channel, frequently endanger the safetyof the coast lands, and

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