Danube

the second river of Europe. It rises in the Black Forest, flows through southern Germany, across the fertile plains of Austria-Hungary, through the famous Iron Gate of the Danube, and on to the Black Sea. Its course is 1,750 miles as the crow flies, or 2,000 miles of delightful windings by forest, vineyard, and field, at the foot of castled crags, by old Ulm, past the canals of imperial Vienna, beneath the bridges of Budapest, and under the white walls of high Belgrade, until lost in the vast lowlands at its mouth. It passes five capital cities. In its course it receives 500 affluents. In volume it is the chief river of Europe. It carries 67,000,000 feet of earth to the Black Sea annually. It has advanced its delta ten miles since the day of Roman occupation. Immense sums of money have been expended in removing rock from the channel and in deepening the mouth. Navigation is open by treaty to the ships of all nations. Large steamers ply on the lower course. Flat-bottomed, shallow-draft boats ascend as far as Ulm. Sixty tributaries are navigable. Though not so celebrated in story and in song as the Rhine, the "Blue Danube" is one of the picturesque rivers of the world, especially in that part of its course above Belgrade known as the Iron Gate, where mountains press in on either hand. The Danube was for many decades the boundary of the Roman Empire. It has seen its full share of the noted events of European history. See Rhine; Rhone