And
then the dawn came and, over the buildings of Port Kar, beyond
them, and beyond the shallow, muddy Tamber, where the Vosk
empties, we saw, I for the first time, gleaming Thassa, the
sea.
---Raiders of Gor
, 9:124
THASSA -- The word
simply means 'the sea.' Gleaming Thassa is how Goreans refer to
the only charted Sea of Gor, bordering the entire West edge of what
is to date the only known continent of the Counter Earth.
THE STREAM OF TORVALD
-- A broad warm current many pasangs wide by which the northern
area known as Torvaldsland receives water. The warmer quality of
this current gives a respite to soil temperatures which makes it
possible to grow a number of crops on this otherwise harsh cold
land.
The
stream of Torvald is a current, as a broad river in the
sea, pasangs wide, whose temperature is greater than that
of the surrounding water. Without it, much of Torvaldsland,
bleak as it is, would only be a frozen waste. Torvaldsland
is a cruel, harsh, rocky land. It contains many cliffs,
inlets and mountains. Its arable soil is thin, and found
in patches. The size of the average farm is very small.
Good soil is rare and highly prized. Communication between
farms is often by sea, in small boats. Without the stream
of Torvald it would probably be impossible to raise cereal
crops in sufficient quantity to feed even its relatively
sparse population.... The stream of Torvald is regarded
by the men of Torvaldsland as a gift of Thor, bestowed upon
Torvald, the legendary founder and hero of the land, in
exchange for a ring of gold.
---Marauders of Gor
, 4:55-56
THE LAURIUS
-- A broad, winding river which flows into Thassa, located further
north than the Vosk and seems to belt the northern forest.
TAMBER GULF--
Where the Vosk River empties into Thassa.
The
most important reason for not finding a guide, of course,
even among the eastern rence growers, is that the delta
is claimed by Port Kar, which lies within it, some hundred
pasangs from its northwestern edge, bordering on the shallow
Tamber gulf, beyond which is gleaming Thassa, the Sea.
---Raiders of Gor, 1:6
THE VOSK --
a large river, 40 pasangs wide, which flows westward across
the mapped areas of Gor, from the northern area of the Voltai
toward the Tamber Gulf and into Thassa.
The
Vosk is a mighty river which flows westward, emptying into
a vast rence delta, finding its way eventually to Thassa,
the sea....
---Slave Girl of Gor
, 10:248
VOSK
LEAGUE --
an alliance of 19 towns (Fina, Forest Port, Hammerfest,
Iskander, Jasmine, Jort's Ferry, Point Alfred, Port Cos,
Ragnar's Hamlet, Sais, Siba, Sulport, Tafa, Tancred's Landing,
Tetrapoli, Turmus, Ven, Victoria and White Water) formed
to keep the Vosk River clear of pirates and promote trade.
THASSA CARTIUS --
A river which flows into the Vosk River. The Thassa Cartius is located
far south of Ar and feeds from the Ven Highlands through six cataracts.
...I
had heard it sung some two years ago by the bargemen on
the Cartius, a tributary of the Vosk, far to the south and
west of Ar.
---Assassin of Gor
, 15:207
The
actual source of the tributary to the Vosk, now called the
Thassa Cartius, as you know, was found five years later
by the explorer, Ramus of Tabor, who, with a small expedition,
over a period of nine months, fought and bartered his way
through the river tribes, beyond the six cataracts, to the
Ven highlands. The Thassa Cartius, with its own tributaries,
drains the highlands and the descending plains.
---Explorers of Gor
, 1:16
THE OLNI -- A large
tributary of the Vosk River located at its northeast. The Olni River,
then, flows southwesterly into the Vosk.
SALERIAN
CONFEDERATION --
alliance of 4 cities: Ti, Port Olni, Lara, and Vonda, which formed
to rid the Olni River of pirates and protect inland shipping.
The
expression 'Saleria', doubtless owing its origin to the
meadow of Salerius, is used broadly, incidentally, to refer
to the fertile basin territories both north and south of
the Olni, the lands over which the confederation professes
to maintain a hegemony. The meadow of Salerius, thus, lies
on the northern bank of the Olni, between Port Olni and
Vonda; the area called Saleria, on the other hand, is, in
effect, the lands controlled by the confederation. Ti, Port
Olni and Vonda lie on the northern bank of the Olni; Lara
lies between the Olni and the Vosk, at their confluence.
It is regarded as being of great strategic importance. It
could, if it wished, prevent Olni shipping from reaching
the markets of the Vosk towns, and, similarly, if it wished,
prevent shipping from these same towns from reaching the
Olni markets. Overland shipping in this area, as is generally
the case on Gor, is time consuming and costly; also, it
is often dangerous. It is interesting to note that the control
of piracy on the Olni was largely a function of the incorporation
of Lara in the confederation. This made it difficult for
the pirate fleets, following their raids, to descend the
Olni and escape into the Vosk....
---Fighting Slave of Gor
, 13:171-172
THE VERL
-- Tributary of Vosk
River which flows northwesterly into it.
...Tabuk's
Ford receives its name from the fact that field Tabuk were
once accustomed, in their annual migrations, to ford the
Verl tributary of the Vosk in its vicinity. The Verl flows
northwestward into the Vosk. We had crossed the Vosk, on
barges, two weeks ago....
---Slave Girl of Gor, 6:135
THE ISSUS
-- Tributary of the Vosk River which flows northwest into
it. It is located southwest of Corcyrus, between Corcyrus
and Argentum.
...Two
aqueducts now brought fresh water to Torcadino from more
than a hundred pasangs away, one from the Issus, a northwestwardly
flowing tributary of the Vosk, and the other from the springs
in the Hills of Eteocles, southwest of Corcyrus....
---Mercenaries of Gor
, 9:101
LAKE IAS --
Located somewhere between Corcyrus and Argentum.
THE KAIILA
-- A river which flows
through the Barrens southwesterly and splits into a north
and south branch along which most tribal territories are
located.
...First, understand that there exists the Kaiila River,
flowing generally in a southwestward direction. At a given
point, high in the territory of the Kaiila tribe, it branches
into two rivers, which are normally spoken of as the Northern
Kaiila and the Southern Kaiila....
---Blood
Brothers of Gor, 2:24
In
moments we, with the others, were splashing across a narrow,
shallow stream. I could see pebbles in the bottom of this
stream. The Southern, or Lower, Kaiila, like the other larger
rivers in the Barrens, however, bearing witness to the accumulation
of silts, would be brown and muddy.
---Blood Brothers of Gor
, 3:35
THE SNAKE --
A south flowing tributary of the Northern Kaiila River.
...The
Snake, flowing in an almost southern direction, is a tributary
to the Northern Kaiila....
---Blood Brothers of Gor, 2:24
THE SUBEQUATORIAL
CARTIUS -- At one time called Cartius proper, this river
is an important subequatorial waterway which flows west
by northwest, entering the rain forests and emptying into
Lake Ushindi.
"Tell
me what you know of the Cartius," he said.
"It is an important subequatorial waterway," I
said. "It flows west by northwest, entering the rain
forests and emptying into Lake Ushindi, which lake is drained
by the Kamba and the Nyoka rivers....
---Explorers of Gor, 1:16
LAKE USHINDI -- The
first and furthest west of the great sub-equatorial lakes, its name
is the Schendi word for victory. Lake Ushindi is filled by the waters
of the Cartius proper and drains into Thassa via rivers Kamba and
Nyoka. The south shores of Ushindi are home to the 6 villages which
were merged to form the beginnings of the Ubarate of Bila Huruma.
Villages also line the north shore of Ushindi, while the west is
said to be home to swamps and marshes. The east shore of Ushindi
is the site of the entry to the Canal of Bila Huruma, the man who
made a passage through the jungle marshes, built to unite lakes
Ushindi and Ngao.
"Calculations
performed by the black geographer, Ramani, of the island
of Anango, suggested that given the elevations involved
the two rivers could not be the same. His pupil, Shaba,
was the first civilized man to circumnavigate Lake Ushindi.
He discovered that the Cartius, as was known, enters Lake
Ushindi, but that only two rivers flow out of Ushindi, the
Kamba and Nyoka....
---Explorers of Gor, 1:16
THE KAMBA -- The word
Kamba meaning 'rope', it is likely that this river flows in a line
rather than the more serpentine fashion. The Kamba is one of the
two rivers which drain Lake Ushindi into Thassa. It is located further
north than the Nyoka.
THE NYOKA -- The word
Nyoka means 'serpent', in Schendi dialect. This may be a descriptive
name for which this river was named. The Nyoka river, south of the
Kamba river, flows westward out of Lake Ushindi into Schendi Harbor,
200 pasangs upriver from Schendi point.
I
now regarded again the brownish stains in the water. Still
we could not see land. Yet I knew that land must be nigh.
Already, though we were still perhaps thirty or forty pasangs
at sea, one could see clearly in the water the traces of
inland sediments. These would have been washed out to sea
from the Kamba and Nyoka rivers. These stains extend for
pasangs into Thassa. Closer to shore one could mark clearly
the traces of the Kamba to the north and the Nyoka to the
south, but, given our present position, we were in the fans
of these washes. The Kamba, as I may have mentioned, empties
directly into Thassa; the Nyoka, on the other hand, empties
into Schendi harbor, which is the harbor of the port of
Schendi, its waters only then moving thence to Thassa.
---Explorers of Gor, 6:99
CANAL OF BILA
HURUMA --
Man-made canal which connects Lakes Ushindi and Ngao.
...The
intent of the engineers of Bila Huruma was to set in place
two parallel walls, low walls, some five or six feet high,
placed about two hundred yards apart. The area between these
walls, the marsh waters diverted on either side, was then
to be drained and readied for the digging of the main channel.
In this work draft tharlarion and great scoops, brought
from the north, as well as gigantic work crews, would be
used. In the event that the central channel, when completed,
would not prove sufficient to handle the overflow of Ngao,
as seemed likely, conducting it geometrically to Ushindi,
side channels were contemplated. The eventual intent of
Bila Huruma was not only to open the rain forests of the
deep interior, and whatever might lie within the system
of the Ua and her tributaries, to commercial exploitation
and military expansion, but to drain the marshes between
the two mighty lakes, Ushindi and Ngao, that that land,
then reclaimed, thousands of square pasangs, might eventually
be made available for agriculture. It was the intent of
Bila Huruma not only to consolidate a ubarate but found
a civilization.
---Explorers of Gor, 16:220-221
LAKE NGAO -- Second
of the great equatorial lakes, Lake Ngao, named for its oval shield-like
shape (the word Ngao is native Schendi dialect for shield), is said
to be as large as Lake Ushindi. It is fed by a single river, the
Ua, at its eastern edge, and drains into swamps and marshes which
border its western shores and fill the 400 pasangs that separate
it from Lake Ushindi.
Then
the marsh reeds parted and I saw, before us, sparkling in
the sun, broad and shining, the waters of Lake Ngao.
"How beautiful it is," breathed the blond-haired
barbarian, in English.
It had taken us fifteen days to reach the sill.
We had lived by spear fishing, and drinking the fresh water
of the marsh.
The sun shone on the wide, placid waters.
---Explorers of Gor, 25:277
THE UA --
The flower river (Ua is the Schendi dialect word for flower) said
to be as large as the mighty Vosk itself which flows from Lake Shaba
into Lake Ngao. The Ua falls and cataracts (at least 2 mentioned,
the first of which are the falls of Bila Huruma, 100 pasangs from
the entry to Lake Ngao) are said to be of enormous proportion.
"And
it was there that he discovered that Lake Ngao was fed,
incredibly enough, by only one major river, as its eastern
extremity, a river vast enough to challenge even the Vosk
in its breadth and might, a river which he called the Ua."
"Yes," said Samos.
"It is impassable," I said, "because of various
falls and cataracts."
"The extent of these obstacles, and the availability
of portages, the possibility of roads, the possibility of
side canals, are not known," said Samos.
"Shaba himself, with his men and boats, pursued the
river for only a hundred pasangs," I said, "when
they were turned back by some falls and cataracts."
"The falls and cataracts of Bila Huruma, as he named
them," said Samos.
---Explorers of Gor, 1:19
LAKE SHABA --
The third and largest of the equatorial lakes, furthest
to the east, which is fed by numerous streams and rivers
and drains westward into the Ua.
"It
is so vast," said Ayari.
"It is larger than Ushindi or Ngao," said Turgus.
We guided our canoe over the shining, placid waters of a
broad lake.
"It is, I am confident," I said, "the source
of the Ua."
"Into it must flow a thousand streams," said Kisu.
Two weeks ago we had come to another high falls, even higher
than that from which we had, long ago, caught sight of the
following forces of Bila Huruma, pasangs behind in the distance.
We must be thousands of feet Gorean, given the length of
the river, the numerous plunging cataracts, and the plateaus
and levels we had ascended, above sea level, above the entrance
points, west of Ngao and Ushindi, of the brown Kamba and
Nyoka into the green waters of Thassa. From the falls at
the edge of this unnamed lake we had been able to see far
behind us. The river had been clear.
---Explorers of Gor, 50:417
THE UPPER AND
LOWER FAYEEN --
North and west of Tor, tributaries of the Cartius which
flow through the Tahari desert.
...West
of Tor, on the Lower Fayeen, a sluggish, meandering tributary,
like the Upper Fayeen, to the Cartius, lay the river port
of Kasra, known for its export of salt....
---Tribesmen of Gor
, 1:32-33