The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

322 EUSSIA IN EUROPE.fallin g from a height of 18 or 20 feel to its lower course between steep sandstoneand limestone cliffs. Below the falls and the town of Narva the Narova becomesa sluggish stream, which has often changed its bed within the present geologicalera.Prevented from direct access to the sea by a double line of dunes over GO feetbigh on the east side of the Bay of Narva, it continued its northern course alongthe valley now followed by the river Luga. A gap opened at some unknownFig. 171.Lake Peipus.Scale 1 : 1,500,000.the Rossona through an incp '' ^^° ^,period through the dunes enablesit to reach the coast onthe west side of the bay ; butabove its present mouth thereare many winding channelswhich, though now dried up,are sufficient proof of its formershifting character. Besides,the Luga and Narva basins arestill connected by the Rossona,a branch of the Luga, whichtrends suddenly westwards,joining the Narva just aboveits mouth. Although smallerthan the Narva, the Rossona ismuch more irregular in itsdischarges, rising sometimesfrom 12 to 20 feet in the floods,bringing down large quantitiesof sand, undermining the buildingson its banks, and evensweeping away the coffins of agraveyard near its course.Hence, in order to keep a uniformdepth of 10 feet on thebar at the mouth of the Narova,it may be necessary to divertdependent channel to the coast.After the Rossona floods thisbar has often scarcely more than 5 or G feet of water, although higher up theNarva is no less than 44 feet deep. The efforts made since 17G4 to increase thescour of the Rossona have hitherto failed, so that the Bay of Narva still remainsone of the most dangerous roadsteads on the coast, and over twenty vessels havehere been wrecked in a single storm.The Urnen, another lake east of the Peipus, with an area of about 400 squaremiles, is really nothing more than a permanent flooding of the land, caused by alarge number of streams all converging at one point, and with an insufficient