The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-04 00:00:00

PECULIARITIES OF BOSTON.

The chief peculiarity of Boston is the singular
blanding of land and water around it. There were
great capabilities for making it a Rotterdam' or
even a Venice, but the preference for land has
decided against any striking similiarity to them,
and the waters have long begun to be driven bacic
from the city and out of it by embankments and
filling up of the estuaries, to gain space for more
solid foundations. Still, whichever way you go,
there are bridges, causeways, ferried, viaducts, and
water on every hand. Few peninsulaS project
from the continent, in the recess-444 ;:ipaeions bay,
and, converging, almost lay thei?lteetie together.
Boston Proper is the centre of a group of four
towns, divided by three narrow channels, through
which four rivers fall into the harbour. The three
suburbs of Charlestown, South Boston, and East
Boston,' thus divided from
the great Parent srent city,
are struggling to he joined with it, and in every
direction across the, unfortunately, shallow waters
of these lake-like estuaries and creeks, the threads
and linesofcommunication are thrown out ; 12
railwayviaductscross them from various pointo to
stretching
the mainland, away north, south, and
lines
west ; some of these intersect in mid-water.
Seen from an elevation like that of the obelisk on
puffing
Bunker's-hill, the engine and its train ap-
pear to be gliding over the surface on a line of
road just wide enough to take the wheels and no
more. There are besides causeways
for horse car-
riages, horse railroads' and steam ferries: But the
day is not distant when some of the inner waters
will be completely dammed out andtifi,elleeoduluinpg,
Portions of them appear conscious
of
change, and preparing for it —being semi-
aqueous, and green with sedges a- shallow,ndrus Such
spaces, so near a large population,
he
are ttwoT
valu-
able to be long left to the ducks. dotted lines
of the surveyor are already upon them, and even
Muchwhich that is
on parts of the outer bay itself, over
bold curve of a railroad has swept.
now water will in a few years be the sites of streets.
All
wharves and several laree tr
the city
ground long
built
x pufit3n°sai o n haysis evenbee n
mtlour gained.
Such Such a power of
at New Yak, which may also be considered
,as three cities, though Jersey, on the main-
land, is another State. But the arms of the
metropolis from 'Taney and
Rea that divide the
from Brooklyn, on Long Island, cannot be bridged,
and any closer junction than can he made by steam
ferryboats is forbidden, which is a grievous disad-
vantage. The entrance to the bay or harbour of
Boston is studded with islands and islets, some 50
in number, which are a good natural defence.
They are said to be eradually wasting on the north
and east, where they ere exposed to the heavy
surge of the Atlantic, which continually washes
Naway the soil, reducing them at last to naked rocks.
:hole:gazing erounde of former days have thus
aisappeared. With her western prairies America
can afford the loss. In the centre and heart of the
city is the Common—too humbly named, for it is
really a park—with walks and avenues of elms,
ornamental water, and a fountain ; all well kept
and cared for. It has always Leen public property,
and encroachment on it has been jealously resisted.
It has also escaped the merciless levelling which
sweep the surface of most American cities so un-
sparingly, It is actually undulating a piece of the
native forest, a little trimraecl, filamed' in with
dcrelling3 of the wealthier kind., which
it no doubt
helps to retain there. It is but 50 acres in extent
but, where it is, well worth 50,000 in Kansas. It
contains also one of the original and historical
monuments of the city, one of the true antiquities
of America, which are rather to be found in nature
than art. It is the "old elm ;" it 3 precise age is
not known but it was a largeeree before the colony
was settled. It has begun to show signs of decay,
but by plugging the hollow. of its trunk, and bracing I
to limbs up with ire n supports, total ruin has been