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| - The Mouths of the Entwash covered over one and a half thousand square miles. As measured along the shortest route the green-winged crow could fly, the river divided onehundred and twenty miles upstream of the Anduin. The southem channel weaved and wound its way for almost two hundred miles through bog, marsh, fen and breckland, continually splitting and rejouting itself. To the east, the Onodló divided Calenardhon and northem Anórien from the Emnets, the furthest pasturelands of Gondor‘s empire. (Later this land was called Rohan.) A well-travelled trade route, the river connected the granaries, herders and wool merchants of Calenardhon with the Anduin, Gondor‘s main artery. The Entwash rose in the Forest of Fangorn and spilled out across the lush plains east of the Misty Mountains, below At
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| abstract
| - The Mouths of the Entwash covered over one and a half thousand square miles. As measured along the shortest route the green-winged crow could fly, the river divided onehundred and twenty miles upstream of the Anduin. The southem channel weaved and wound its way for almost two hundred miles through bog, marsh, fen and breckland, continually splitting and rejouting itself. To the east, the Onodló divided Calenardhon and northem Anórien from the Emnets, the furthest pasturelands of Gondor‘s empire. (Later this land was called Rohan.) A well-travelled trade route, the river connected the granaries, herders and wool merchants of Calenardhon with the Anduin, Gondor‘s main artery. The Entwash rose in the Forest of Fangorn and spilled out across the lush plains east of the Misty Mountains, below Athrad Onodló (S. “Entwade"), the river broadened and slew and could no longer be bridged or forded. Its final juncture with the Anduin was a confused delta of myriad streams. Once, in its youth, the river followed a single course; but as the land sunk with the tremors of upheaval at the end of the First Age, it became slower and siltier, building great levees in its lower stretches.Its swollen spring waters cutted through a tilted, limestone block, but not before it carved new paths and inundated the land. Over the centuries it continued to open new channels, sometimes reusing old ones, braiding itself, leaving behind stagnant waters, islets, causeways, reed banks, mud flats, quicksands, bogs, and hidden pools. Yet the Kings valued this line of communication with the northwestern plains. One channel through the maze of waterways remained dredged and safe (or at least relatively so) for the agrarian tradesmen of Calenardhon. Like the Limlight and the Anduin itself, the Onodlo was patrolled by the Gondorian River Patrol‘s small boats and there were numerous garrisons stationed about to protect the traveller from bandits - as well as to collect the King's tolls and dues. "Ain't no need to get lost in the marsh; not even in t'Sloagh. Find yissen a pool of clear water and cut a switch of alder, nobbur more ‘n a handslertgth, stroke it three times then peel its black bark halfway down, in two strips. mind. When you set him in the water. ‘is bare end'll point north, sure as hosses is hasses." Although there were precious few dwellers within the Ethir itself, a number of small settlements surrounded it. The largest of these was Imdorad (S. “Between Two Provinces“), the Mering Steps. This town was small but busy, situated on a bridge across the Mering Stream (S. “Glanhir"), and dominated by the large stone garrison-house. This was the seat and office of the Customs Master of the lower Onodló, a senior official appointed by the governors of Anórien and Calenardhon who was responsible for collecting taxes and pursuing the smugglers who plagued the region. Smuggling, the “Black Trade," had become something of a local tradition. The Customs Master and his garrison, together with the River Patrol, did a fairly good job of keeping order in the civilized lands,despite the widely spread population. Like all lands, these were hit badly by the Plague and few communities survived unscathed.In some cases the loss of life destroyed villages, hamlets and steadings, and handfuls of struggling survivors abandoned their former livelihoods to beg a share of others.So, in the lands north of the Entwash, it was quite possible to walk all day and not see a soul. Law enforcement had lapsed in the aftermath of the depopulating Plague. and many who were denied the ability to work the land tumed to banditry. Outlaws flourished, but in the years since, most either gave up the hard life, or got captured and punished. Only a few doughty bands survived, raiding merchants and farms, stealing sheep and rustling cattle or horses, and conducting a little "black" trade themselves.
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