Show River e eI I if r rV r V t r 1 L Ruin of Aggstein on the Danube Prepared by the National G Geographic So Society Society So So- clety Washington D. D C C. C Always Important In European life the Danube has become even more so since the World war has added to the countries for which Its waters furnish a highway And once more Its importance Importance tance Is enhanced b by the probability that the Dardanelles and the rus will become permanently From the Black forest to the Black Blacksea sea over a course 1800 miles In length the Da Danube has long been achaIn achain a n chain upon which romance and history have bave vied with each other to hang Interesting traditions and occurrences Geography too has done Its share and anel although the Volga exceeds Its rival riyal In length and although the Rhine has had better press agents ag the Danube Danube Dan Dan- ube Is large enough and beautiful enough to rank In Interest with the great rivers of the world There was a 11 time when the Danube was symbolized b by an old rn old fashioned honed waltz But since the World war began began began be be- gan nothing but a hesitation typifies the place the river has held In the economic economic economic eco eco- life of ot the countries through which It runs It has been less the and more the barrier than thanIn thanIn In tn prewar days das Not yet et does It serve serveto to bind the various nations through which It passes Into a friendly and md cooperating cooperating cooperating co co- co- co operating group It has been officially open to ships of all nil nations since the forming of ot the Danube commission In 1856 and the various states stales Interested long operated co-operated to Improve the navigation atlon facilities especially In Inthe Inthe n the lower reaches of the river but political conditions have done much to weaken the economic link which once bound Linz and Vienna to the great grain shipping center of Bralla to which ocean-going ocean vessels can steam and to the Black sea ports themselves Charming villages beautiful meadow meadows mead mead- ow picturesque lulls hilts crowned with ruined castles princely palaces ecclesiastical ecclesiastical eccle eccle- piles plies and two of the worlds world's most fascinating capitals are strung along the lengthy length and winding river Thriving Industries raise their smokestacks smokestacks smoke smoke- stacks beside the stream whose legendary legend legend- ary color Is blue but whose true tint varies from a n dirty green to a muddy mudd yellow ellow More tragic than the encroachment encroachment en en- of factory smoke has been In late Inte years the sad sight of countless countless count count- less chimneys s 's from Crom which the life life- breath o of Industry seemed to have expired expired ex ex- ex forever Through Wonderful Region Near Its source at the river rh-er passes between the castle ensUe which gave ga-e Its Us name to the late ruling family In Germany and a n war monument monument ment to the men who eH el in the Prussian Franco war Farther Far Fur Further Farther ther down It passes through the once- once proud capital of Aust Hungary wh where re the fine government buildings stand tand to the despairing Inhabitants as asa asa asa a mocking reminder of better trays days and beside the Prater once a n deer deerpark deerpark deerpark park and later a n pleasure garden noted for Its Viennese gayety gaet Still farther along Its course Just after entering Czechoslovakia at its Junction with the March there Is a towering cliff with a monument erected to celebrate one thousand years ears of ot Hungarian nationality This Is Czechoslovakia territory now and there two years ears ago the Stars and Stripes were draped on the occasion of the tho visit of a n large group o of Czech Czech- Americans to the newly freed land lund of ot their fathers Bratislava now Czechoslovakia's river port was once the city In whose dl dignified cathedral the Hungarian kings Icings were crowned The boat station there revealed a short time ago the chan changes es which history has wrought Over the center of or the landing the present name was given gIers but to the tIle left one could see most of the letters of ot the German name and to tn the right there was the Hungarian name Vienna brooding In Its lovely ely parks which lack the care that was once lavished on them and contemplating with cynicism the motto SI Vis Pa Pa- Pacem cem cern Para Parn Bellum whose golden goMen letters letters let let- tel'S decorate the walls of ot the minIstry ministry min min- of war Is a n sad sight But Budapest seems to have hue been less troubled by the passage of war Food Is the main reason Hungary reduced as os It Is still contains some of the best land In Europe Vienna Its Industry stopped can do little to earn the food tood It needs During the summer of 1020 all traffic between the two capitals was stopped by mutual boycotts and although steamers piled plied the Danube from Linz to Budapest no through passengers or freight were received To 10 the casual observer Budapest is the tile same proud city as of old The fine parliament building and the imposing imposing im im- im posing palace on the hel heights across the river where Admiral Horthy now rules seem as attractive as before the war The upper river Is still crowded crowd crowd- ed with bathers and with witha canoes and rowboats In which charming women and stalwart men do their best to attain attain at at- tain a spacious coat of ot tan Along Franz Josef qua the promenade adds a n lively touch of color to the drab scenes to which the beautiful blue Danube has become accustomed At Belgrade and Below From Irom once the last Hungarian Hungarian Hunga Hunga- rian port on the Danube a short trip between low banks brings one to Belgrade Bel Bel- Belgrade grade the capital of ot the new kingdom of ot the Serbs Croats and Slovenes where the steamer rounds the base of the ancient fortress which dates back to the time of the Celts the Romans and the Franks and comes to Its dock docka a little way up the Save which here enters the Danube from the south About bout four hours' hours sail below Belgrade Belgrade Bel Bel- grade the wide plains give way to hilly country where the Transylvanian Trans Alps curve down toward the Jumble of mountains which extends to Montenegro Montenegro Montenegro Monte Monte- negro and Gre Greece ce It Is In this that the main obstructions of the river occur But the most famous obstructions obstructions and the finest scenery come at atthe atthe atthe the Kazan defile and the Iron Gates Gate's Gate where the river has collected a gruesome grue gruesome grue some toll At the railway traveler from Rumania ferries terries across a broad and sluggish stream to continue hi hIp hir Journey to Sofia and Constantinople and here the banks of the Danube are tined lined with huge barges Below Sills Sills- tria the river curves to the north and passes through Rumanian territory throughout the rest of Its length At Cerna Voda It Is crossed by one of the longest railway bridges In the world the last last of the many bridges which cross the stream some of which are arenow arenow arenow now destroyed This Is one of the most remarkable examples of Its kind of engineering and was built at a cost of ot It has hns 68 spans one of which over the main stream Is n a cantilever more than GOO COO feet long The bridge e has a height of ot feet teet above low water and the piers go down to bed rock feet below below be be- below low the water surface making them nearly one-half one as high as the Washington Wash Wash- Washington ington monument Bralla aralia and the Delta Brailo 1 miles Hiles from the three main mouths of the Danube Is a port for the grain and produce of ot a rich agricultural region In prewar da days s 's sIts Its wharves teemed with life and Its huge grain elevators bulged with the rich products of and Do which has seen great development develop ment since the Russians gave It to Rumania Instead of the more valuable and fertile tracts of From Galatz Galata to the sea the Danube was long under the control 1 of an International commission whose duty It was to tame the river and the many nationalities to whom the river Is hl highway hwa or barrier barrier bar bur rier according to the tides of human humon passion and national life liCe Sixty miles from the sea begins the delta of the Danube The KHIa Killa the most northern of the branches Into which the river divides carries more than two thirds of ot the volume of It Its water to the sea sen but Is not deer deep enough for the more more Important traffic which moves monos by the more direct branch through the middle of the delta elta to Sauna Sulina II Here re u II natural channel of seven seen to eleven feet has been heen Increased Increased In In- creased to twenty and long dikes Stretch out to sea and carry earry off the silt slit Although It discharges es less than 7 per cent of the Danube's waters the Sulina Culina channel carries a shipping t multiplied tenfold between 1801 and 1002 It was steadily ing with a n promise of ot future prosperity when the World war Interfered |