place
The Zhizha
Zhizha
also: Жижа, речонка Жижа
A small tributary river, a mere puddle wadeable in summer, transformed each spring by the meltwater flood into a swollen, winding torrent strong enough to carry timber rafts on the six-hundred-verst river route to the city (against a fifty-verst overland distance); its constant turns force the raftsmen into continuous poling labor.
Reading notes
- On the River §10 little river Zhizha
Invented tributary river name (from zhizha, watery slush/swill), chosen to suggest both the river's summer thinness and its violent spring transformation; a small, winding stream turned into a raft-bearing torrent only by the meltwater.