The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-01-10 00:00:00

THE CANAL OF LANGUEDOC.

iitainty of she Coal of Languedoc, considered in relation to
. An, Invention, Acirs,liwAtion, he. by ANDRPOSSY,
latneral of ArtiHely. First Officer of the Legtou of Honour,
Member of the Order of EPP, he•
(Cootinucd from our Paper of Monday last.)
But this was not sufficient to determine the cul-
minating point between,the basun of the ocean, and
the Mediterranean, it was necessary to bring there a
sulfscient quantity of water for the projeded naviga-
tion ; in this the author of the projea has succeeded
by uniting, in an immense reservoir, known under
the name of the &non of Saint Fereol, a part of the
wailers furnished by the Abtau, the Bernassonne,
the Lampi, &c. streams which all take their source
let the mountain Noire. A parr of the valley of
Laatiot, encompassed by a bank of eight hundred
feet in length, and thirty in height, forms the
baton of Saint Ferrol. A canal, almost level, call-
ed Rigolle de la Montague, the execution of which
has required consider able excavations, conduit there
the gr.ater waters. In coming out of this great
reservoir, the waters follow the ancient bed of the
I .audnt, till their 'reunion nick a second canal, called
Rigolle dela Plaine, which is derived from the river
Sor, which runs from the south side of the mountain
Noire. By means of these two trenches, the waters
destined to supply the canal are condated to the

bason of Naurouse.
Besides the waters brought to this point, the canal,
in descending along the side of the Mediterranean,
still receives a certain addition furnished by the
rivers Fresquel, Orbiel, Ognon, Cesse, Orb, and
Heraut. At the side of the Garonne it is not sup-
plied by any river of consequence.
In order rightly to appreciate the merits of Francis
Andreossy, in the choice that he made of the passage
of Naurouse,as the point of division, and of the moun-
tain Noire, as proper to furnish water to this point,
we must recur to the timein which he lived. Theideas
of natural geography, which are not even at present
sufficiently spread abroad, were then much less so.
Wlvt success has rendered evident to the eyes of all
since the execution of the Canal of Languedoc,
was then, to the greatest number, problematic ; the
idea of bringing together copious rivers on a barren
mountain appeased a chimerical project ; in short.
F. Andreossy had not only to surmount the real chi-
sinslties of his enter prise, but he had still to vanquish
the prejudices, by the aid of which ignorance and
private interest opposed him.
The Author of the project, wishing to establish a
treat navigation, understood, as we may perceive,
bow to draw the best possible part of all waters
which descend from the mountain Noire, and which
may be received without inconvenience into the Ca-
nal ; but as some of these rivers, on account of the
pert inclination of their beds, are subjeft to over-
flow, and then form torrents which would soon have
destroyed the works of the canal, if they had been
received into it, it was necessary to take as much
precaution to secure it from them, as he had care
to procure clear abundant waters at the point of di-
vision. Thus the canal crosses the torrent of Re-
pudre, and a great many others, over bridges and
acpiedults, and the Lihron, at the time of its in-
crease, crosses the canal on a kind of aqueduft, of a
particular construa ion.
When running waters are received into a navi-
gable canal, it is necessary that the quantity they
take in should be revalued according to the want
they have for it ; it is this which requires the esta-
blishment of reservoirs, aqueduas, and other works
of this nature, which are in some sort she regulators
of the entire system. General Andreossy has de-
scribeit all these works with much particularity in
the third chapter of his History of the Canal of Lan-
guedoc ; the plates.which form the second volume
of - relate particularly to this chapter.
-- plates, in which
of the bason of
observations on

during many years at
presenting the enu-
works on the Canal of

I of this history, relate particularly u
The author has joined to it many p
I are exhibited in order, the dimensions
' i Saint Ferrol, giving some important
l the quantity of water received during
the point of division ; in short, pre
narration of all the existing works o
, lisaguedoc.
,
( co be co:.t nuoni )
•