eyed, as scarcely to
admit of the possibility of so large a river falling into the sea
in any other position. Assuming, therefore, that the source of
this river is in the direction thus generally supposed, it will
be seen that it will surpass all the rivers in the world in
variety of climate; since reckoning merely from the spot where
Mr. Oxley discovered it to its conjectural embouchure, there will
be a difference of latitude of twenty degrees. Even omitting,
then, to take into computation the probable length of its course
from the place where it first becomes navigable, to the point
where that gentleman fell in with it, (and it was there running
from the south, and must have already been navigable for a
considerable distance, if we may judge from its size,) the world
does not afford any parallel of a river traversing so great a
diversity of climate. The majority indeed of the rivers, which
may be termed "rivers of the first magnitude," run from west to
east, or from east to west, and consequently vary their climate
only in proportion to their distance from the sea, to the
elevation of their beds, and to the extent of country traversed
by such of their branches as run at right angles with them. Of
this sort are the St. Lawrence, in North America, the Oronoko and
Amazon, in South America; the Niger, Senegal and Gambia, in
Africa; the Danube and Elbe, in Europe; and the Hoang Ho, and
Kiang Keou in Asia. It must indeed be admitted, that every
quarter of the globe furnishes some striking exceptions to this
rule, such as the Mississippi and River Plate in America; the
Nile, in Africa; the Rhine, the Dniester, the Don, and the Volga,
in Europe; and the Indus and Ganges, in Asia; all of which
certainly run from north to south, or south to north, and
consequently command a great variety of climate.

In this respect, however, none of them will be worthy of
comparison with this newly discovered river, if the point of its
confluence with the ocean should happily be where it is
conjectured. And yet we find that all the countries through which
the above-named rivers pass, either have been, or promise to be,
the seats of much more wealthy and powerful nations than the
countries through which those rivers pass whose course is east or
west. The cause of this superiority of one over the other, is to
be traced to the greater diversity of productions, which will
necessarily be raised on the banks and in the vicinity of those
rivers w