Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1898-08-12
LONDON'S DOCKS.
they Cover 1900 Acres and Have
Twenty Miles OF QUAY.

The London docks cover an area OF
about 1000 acres, with upward Of
twenty miles of quay for discharging
ships and more than 100000 square
feet for storage purposes. All this is
under the guardian care of the Lon
don and India docks joint committee,
which, in its present amalgamated
form, has existed since 1888. This
dock company, however. it should lie
understood, does not itself trade; 1t
exists to facilitate the negotiations of
those who do. by keeping the quays,
docks and warehouses in proper con-
dition, for which advantages merchants
and shippers are charged certain rent
ais. The London docks were opened
in 1905 and the st. Katherine docks IN
1925. To begin with the wool ware
house, it is estimated that about f20,-
100000 worth of wool arrives annually
in London alone. But the shorn locks
of sheep, till converted into fashiona-
bic cloth, battle the description of the
uninitiated. and We pass on to survey
the drugs" term which here in
mitted to the British pharmacopeia."
To traverse the drug" floor alone
means walk of a quarter of a mile.
So many and various are the things
stored in this warehouse that a mu-
scum of specimens has been fitted up
for the convenience of merchants and
visitors. Opium, agrimony, hachis;
kola nuts and cocoa leaves are shown;
also cOchineal beetles flor dyeing), the
tiny beetles having been scraped OF
the leaves of trees into bags and
dipped into boiling water; coffee, straw
plaits from Japan. charcoaled bones
for sugar refining. ebony. malacca and
snakeswood sticks; sticklac, a resinous
substance formed on trees by insects
and used not only in dyeing, but to
fasten silk on high hats. Besides
these you will be sure to be shown
three grewsome objects, a long snake,
a scorpion and centipede, each pre-
served in alcohol as specimens of the
sort of unregistered passengers occa-
sionally found among the goods on ar
rival at the port of London. Also you
see a mummified cat and rat found
among the bottles of quicksilver. Cats,
by the way, are great feature of these
warehouses. for their daily cost for
meat and drink forms distinct item
in the company's books.
The wine and spirit vaults contrib
ute another extraordinary series Of pic
lures of the docks, and, indeed, of I'M
foreground London. You can walk about
in them literally for miles: to be eX-
act, the actual length of gangway is
twenty-eight and a quarter miles.
Though situated far down the line in
the deserted region of the Victoria
docks, passing word must be given
TO the thirty chambers, probably the
largest in the world, where frozen meat
from America and New Zealant IS
stored till redistributed to all parts OF
Great Britain. Frozen chickens and
ducks with heads and beaks swathed in
coarse muslin are also received here
from Russia. These chambers are built
with double wooden walls, the inter-
vening one or two feet being filled in
with charcoal, which is non-con-
ductor of heat. They are in total dark
ness, except when the electric light is
turned on when it is seen that the
walls and roof are thickly covered with
ice crystals, while piled up on all sides
are various carcasses with muslin COW
erings to keep them clean. The out
side air may be bitterly cold when ono
enters, but on passing out again from
the ice chambers the change gives the
impression that currents O.. warm air
are tapping ones cheeks.