New geographies . l about them is so level that it does not seem to form a part of any slope. Itis, in fact, a vast plain. Yet, when therain falls there, it flows on and on inbrooks and rivers, till it reaches thegreat river, thus proving that the plainis a part of the Mississippi Valley. The slopes of this valley are not allsmooth and even. There are smallervalleys of many different sizes withinthis great valley, and some of them arehundreds of miles long. The more important valleys havenames, just as people have; how one valleyfor instance, there is the is separatedMississippi Valley, the Hu
New geographies . l about them is so level that it does not seem to form a part of any slope. Itis, in fact, a vast plain. Yet, when therain falls there, it flows on and on inbrooks and rivers, till it reaches thegreat river, thus proving that the plainis a part of the Mississippi Valley. The slopes of this valley are not allsmooth and even. There are smallervalleys of many different sizes withinthis great valley, and some of them arehundreds of miles long. The more important valleys havenames, just as people have; how one valleyfor instance, there is the is separatedMississippi Valley, the Hud- *-^i ^otherson Valley, and the Connecticut you name others ? It is impor-tant that there be some way of fixingthe boundaries of such a valley, so thatone can know where it begins and ends,and how much land is included within this is easily done. When the rain falls upon the roof ofa house (Fig. 22), the water is dividedalong the highest part, some flowingdown one side, some down the Fig. 23. — A map to show the divides between the divides. Water falling upon the highest landbetween two valleys is divided in asimilar manner. Because the waterparts, or divides, at the highest place 22 EOME GEOGRAPHY between two valleys, this place is calleda divide, or water parting, or sometimesa watershed. The dotted lines in thepictm-e (Fig. 23) show some how irregular the lines are. A divide sometimes stands out assharply as on the roof of a house. Inother places it is difficult to find, becausethe land is so nearly level. Can youpoint out such a place in Figure 23 ? Since the divides are the boundariesof the valleys, it is easy to determinehow far it is across any valley. Howwould you do it ? When it rains slightly, the water soakiinto the soil and disappears; but wherthere is a heavy rain, not all of the wate]can sink into the ground. Some beginsto flow away. One little stream, perhaps less than an inch wide, begins atone point
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectgeography, bookyear19
