NAVIGATION, INLAND.

INLAND WATERS, suitable for navigation, form a medium of conveyance, upon which can be transported, at a very small expense, and with a smooth or easy motion, all sorts of articles; but it is especially adapted for those which are very heavy, very bulky, or which could not well bear any rough carriage. In these respects, in- - land navigation has greatly the advantage of common roads, and is often preferable even to railways; and, besides, in many cases where a ship cannot be brought close up to a railway, goods can be loaded immediately from, or disload-ed into, a canal-boat coming alongside of the ship, thus avoiding a second loading and disloading. Frequently, too, canals combine the advantage of aqueducts and of drainage with navigation; but they can never compete with railways where great speed of travelling is required, or where water is scarce, or in the time of frost; for the value of inland navigation in any particular country, or the fitness of that country for it, must depend very much on the supply of water, and the duration of the season which is exempt from frost. In the following brief treatise, we shall confine ourselves chiefly to artificial navigation,^[1. In hereafter specifying the dimensions of a canal, we shall always have in view those which were given it artificially; for whenever the sides of a canal consist of ordinary earth, the marginal or protuberant comers gradually crumble away, taking a rounded form, whilst the hollow comers at the bottom are as gradually filled up, thus leaving the contour of the section of the canal for the most part curvilinear, and the water, of course, deepest in the middle. . ] and touch very slightly upon rivers and lakes; because descriptions of the most of these will be found in other parts of the work, either under their own names or those of the countries to which they belong; and the same thing may be said of various canals.

It is not known when, by whom, or in what country, artificial water communications were first constructed; though it is extremely probable that canals which had originally been made as aqueducts for drainage and for irrigation, came at length to be applied to the purposes of navigation. It is well known that works of this kind, connected with the Nile, the only river of Egypt, had existed in that country at a period so remote, that history has left us nearly as ignorant of the precise era of their origin, as it has of that of the pyramids. Nay, history does not so much as inform us with certainty when, or by whom, the great canal was first constructed, which anciently connected the Nile with the Red Sea. The early inhabitants of Babylonia or Chaldaea guarded against the detrimental inundations of the Tigris and Euphrates, by numerous artificial rivers and canals, which served to distribute the waters for the benefit of the country in general; and these at length were applied to form an easy navigation between its different parts. At a very remote period of antiquity, too, canals and pits were dug in Boeotia for drawing off the water of the Lake Copais, in order to prevent its overflowing the whole country; and these came to be afterwards used for navigation. The “fossiones Philistuue i ' ’ which were large canals, first made to drain the marshes bordering on the Po, are ascribed to the Canaanites, and especially to the Caphtorim, who at a remote period are supposed to have emigrated from the country of the Philistines.

EGYPT.

It is not our intention to enter into a particular description of even the existing canals of Egypt; but, on account of the recent attempts to abridge the route to India by 1 passing through Egypt, we shall briefly advert to the ancient history of its great canal, and to the proposals for restoring it, or constructing another across the isthmus of Suez, especially as the other route to India by the Euphrates has been abandoned. Some learned moderns, perplexed by the vague and contradictory statements of the ancients respecting a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, have questioned its having ever existed, except partially as an aqueduct for irrigation. The survey made by order of Bonaparte in 1799 has, however, not only tended to remove these doubts, but also to ascertain the line which it [7:16:2]followed. Of ninety miles of inland water communication of which it consisted, it appears that sixty-five were cut by human labour; and, of this portion, about one half yet exists in many parts so entire that its dimensions can be measured with tolerable accuracy, and little more than cleaning would be required to render it again fit for navigation. According to the French engineers, this canal extended upon one level from Bubastis to Arsinöe; or rather, it must have had a very slight declivity, so as to carry the waters of the Nile to the Red Sea.

The direct distance from the nearest point of the Mediterranean, which is a little south-east of Tynch, to the northern extremity of the Arabian Gulf, which is a little to the north-east of Suez, is about seventy-five miles; and it is almost precisely the same from the latter to the site of the ancient Bubastis, on the now deserted Pelusiae branch of the Nile. The length of a canal from sea to sea, following what the French engineers considered as the most suitable ground, would be ninety-three miles, and that of the ancient canal from the Red Sea to the Nile was about ninety-two.

“Since, according to the levels taken by the French, the inundation of the Nile, when not restrained by artificial barriers, must have reached to within two or three miles of the Red Sea, it has been supposed that the practicability of forming a canal must have suggested itself at an early period. The sandy isthmus north of Suez, which is but a yard above high-water level at present, has, no doubt, during the lapse of 3000 years, been raised a little by deposits of soil and sand. It is therefore supposed, that in those remote ages when the canal was first thought of, a shallow trench or furrow two or three miles long would have united the waters of the Nile and the Red Sea, affording the ancients a pretty correct idea of the relative levels of the Delta and the Gulf.^[2. Such is nearly Mr Maclaren’s view of the matter (Edin. Phil. Jour. vol. xiii. p. 274); but, since the levels of several coasts, relatively to those of the contiguous seas, are known to have varied sensibly in the course of a few centuries, it is evident that, independently either of depositions or corrosions, the relative levels of the Delta, Mediterranean, and Red Sea may now be very different from what they were 3000 years ago. Hence such a mode of judging how far the notions of the ancients on this point were correct,, entirely fails. ] Aristotle, Pliny, and Strabo, ascribe the plan of forming the canal to Sesostris. The two former say it was abandoned because the waters of the Red Sea were higher than the Delta. Strabo treats this opinion as unfounded. Herodotus, in his book Euterpe., says the project was begun about 616 before Christ, by Necos, the son of Psammeticus, but who desisted at the command of the oracle, after having lost 120,000 men, and that it was completed by Darius Hystaspes; that the canal was supplied with water from the Nile, which it joined a little above Bubastis; and that it terminated in the Arabian Gulf near the city Patumos. Diodorus says it was begun by Necos, and continued by Darius, who afterwards abandoned it from the fear of Egypt being inundated by the Red Sea, but that it was completed by Ptolemy Philadelphus; that it extended from the Gulf to the Bay of Pelusium; and that it had sluices or gates, which were opened to allow ships to pass and quickly shut again (lib. i. sect. 1). According to Strabo, certain lakes above Pelusium in the desert were connected with the Red Sea by one canal, and with the Delta by another; and these lakes, which had originally been bitter, became sweetened by the introduction of the water of the Nile. This canal was completed by Ptolemy, who constructed a gate which afforded an easy passage between the sea and the canal, and which some fancy to have been what we now call a lock (lib. xvii.). According to Pliny, the canal reached only from the Nile to the Bitter Lakes, and was about thirty-four miles long. These statements may be reconciled by supposing, that though from the Delta to the Gulf the canal had been repeatedly opened, the communication with the Red Sea being difficult, and only available for ships during a very limited part of the year, this southern portion of the canal had been often closed and abandoned. The other portion being serviceable for a longer season, might be kept more generally open. About the year 644, the canal was re-established and greatly improved by the Caliph Omar, who carried the western end south to Cairo, by a branch called the “Canal of the Prince of the Faithful,” but afterwards the “Canal of Cairo.” The water being thus taken from a point of the Nile six feet higher than the former one, the navigation could, of course, be kept open during a much longer part of the year. In this way the Nile and Red Sea were connected for more than 120 years; but since then the communication has been shut during more than 1000 years.

The line or track of the ancient canal, in its more improved state, is generally represented on maps as having a pretty close resemblance to a semicircle, both extremities being nearly in the thirtieth parallel of latitude, and the middle about half a degree more to the north. Such a line almost coincides with that surveyed by the French engineers between Suez and Cairo, and which they have described in their great work on Egypt. But, from the flatness of the country, they thought it would likewise be quite practicable to construct a ship canal, which would join the two seas, independently altogether of the Nile, by leading off a branch from near the middle of the line which we have just mentioned, to meet the Mediterranean at Tynch, a place nearly in the meridian of Suez. This second canal being only^bf the same length as the other, and free from the tedious navigation of the Nile, would be a much shorter route; and, if fed and kept clear by a constant current from the Red Sea, it would be navigable at all seasons, and quite independent of the extremely variable depth of water in the Nile. According to the French engineers, the current having a fall of twenty-six feet, would have energy enough not only to clear the canal of drift sand, &c. but also to hollow out and maintain a channel in the shallow and muddy bottom of the bay at Tynch, so as to afford a sufficient depth of water into the port. Some English engineers, again, who have more recently visited Egypt, think a preferable and still shorter canal might be constructed from Suez to the great lakeMenzaleh, which communicates with the Mediterranean to the west of Tynch. But there is every reason to believe that the proposed railway across the isthmus would be greatly preferable to any canal which would not admit ships.

There would be no tunnels, nor rock cuttings, nor stupendous aqueduct bridges required in forming a ship canal across the isthmus. The only difficulty would probably be to obtain a sufficient depth of water at the ports in the two seas. Were this attained, we might assert with Mr Maclaren, “that there is not a spot in the world where a water communication of equal extent could be made with the same facility, and where human skill could produce so great a change with so small an effort.” The navigation would suffer no interruption from frost in that climate; though there is reason to think that the difference of level in the two seas must vary somewhat with the direction and force of the wind, increasing with a south wind, and diminishing with a north; but this is not likely to be to such an extent as to prove at all detrimental to the scheme.

The Nile, which is remarkable for having no tributaries for 1300 miles up from its mouth, continues navigable for large vessels 600 miles above Cairo, up to the cataracts, [7:16:3]so long as it is sufficiently swollen by any remains of the inundation; but its waters become so low in May and June as only to be then navigable for small boats. A great part of the Delta is intersected in all directions with canals or aqueducts conveying water from the Nile for the use of the inhabitants, and for irrigating their fields; and some of these are likewise used for navigation. The present enterprising ruler of Egypt has turned his attention to the construction of canals; but, like his predecessors of old, he has been much blamed for being a very hard task-master, especially to the poor women and children, whom he compels to assist the men in digging canals, with no other tools than their fingers, and to continue at such work sometimes till numbers of them expire upon the spot. The “house of bondage” was nothing to this. The pasha has, however, been very unfortunate in the canal which he made in this manner, with the loss of 23,000 lives in ten months, from Alexandria to Fouah, a distance of about forty miles, as it has by no means come up to his expectations.^[3. St John’s Travels in the Valley of the Nile. ] It is said that he is about to construct a very gigantic bridge of stone across the Nile, at the point where it is cleft into two principal branches, about five leagues below Cairo; and that this bridge is to be furnished with gates for regulating and retaining the waters for the necessary supply of the aqueducts and canals. Already he has made a bridge of this sort over the ancient Canal of Jussuf, which runs along the west side of the Nile, considerably above or to the south of the proposed new bridge.

CHINA.

No'country abounds more in canals and navigable rivers than China; but the greater part of that vast empire is so little known to foreigners, that the state of its inland navigation is in a great measure conjectural. The Chinese date the formation of some of their canals prior even to the Christian era; but, however that may be, they have, as far as is known, made almost no improvement on their mode of construction since Europeans became acquainted with them. Their canals, after all, are rather rivers flowing through considerably altered channels, than what are strictly artificial communications by still water. The Imperial or Grand Canal, forming a communication between Canton and the neighbourhood of Pekin, is, according to some, 2000 miles long, whilst others make it only 825. The whole line is no doubt of great length, but it is uncertain how much of it is mere river navigation. It is said to have occupied 30,000 men for forty-three years, and to have been completed in a. d. 980. Innumerable branches run from it in every direction. Since almost no part of it is level or still water, it has been inferred that the Chinese are ignorant of levelling; but this we should regard as a most groundless surmise, because the mere dealing so much with the management of waters as they have done for many ages could not fail to have taught these people, however stupid, something of the principles of levelling. It seems rather to have been the want of locks which naturally led them purposely to give that form to their canals; and it should not be forgotten that stagnant canals would be exceedingly unwholesome in a warm climate.

INDIA.

The inland navigation of the vast territory of India is of the most extensive sort, particularly that of the great rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Brahmaputra, with their numerous branches, creeks, and canals. Taking the limit -of the Ganges and Jumna to the west and south, and the Brahmaputra and Megna to the east, the country intersected by navigable rivers, &c. may be computed as covering an area exceeding 180,000 square miles.

There is an uninterrupted navigation of 1000 miles up the Indus from the sea to Lahore, which is situated on the Ravee or Hydraotes, one of the most meandering of the five Punjab rivers or branches composing the Chenab. But, owing to the numerous shallows and sand-banks in some parts of the Indus, this extensive navigation can only be said to be open to the flat-bottomed boats of the country, which draw but four feet of water. There are, however, few rivers on which steam could be used with better effect than on the Indus, which is said to discharge four or five times as much water as the Ganges. It has no rocks nor rapids, and, unless when swollen, the current does not exceed two and a half miles an hour. The swell commences about the end of April, increases till July, and. disappears altogether in September. Captain Burnes, who treats largely on this subject, supposes that the Indus is also navigable all the way up to Attock.^[4. Captain Burnes’ Travels to Bokhara; and his Memoir on the Indus, in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. ]

There are many canals connected with the Indus, but they are principally for the purpose of irrigation, and the greater part of them are mostly natural creeks, having no water except during the swollen state of the river. Such canals intersect the delta, and are likewise pretty numerous between the latitudes of 26° 20' and 28°, particularly on the west side of the river; but the most ancient artificial canals connected with this river seem to belong to the Punjab district.

By means of the Ganges and its subsidiary streams, all sorts of articles can be conveyed between the sea and the north-west portions of Hindustan, over a distance of more than 1000 miles; and the time may not be distant when the navigations of the Indus and Ganges will be connected by a canal. The commercial capital Calcutta, upon the Hooghly branch of the Ganges, is therefore favourably situated for internal navigation. It is about 100 miles from the sea, and 130 from the Sandheads; but it has a very intricate and tedious navigation through the banks of sand and mud, which occasionally shift their beds in the Hooghly River, as well as in the other branches of the Ganges. The Nuddeah Rivers, which connect the Ganges with the Hooghly, are likewise, for eight months in the year, so extremely shallow, that the water communication between Calcutta and the upper country is during that time maintained by the Sunderbund passages, at a great expense of time and labour. To obviate this inconvenience, it has been proposed to construct a canal, which, branching off from the Ganges at Rajamahl, shall join the Hooghly at Mirzapore near Kυlna; for, owing to the difference of level at the extremities, amounting to sixty feet, and the height of the Ganges itself varying thirty feet at different seasons, an open cut, without locks, would not suffice. The intended line, besides, being 300 miles shorter than the present route, would traverse a country rich in iron-ore and limestone, and would pass near extensive collieries.

Since the renewal of the East India Company’s charter, the following works have been executed: Canal between the Ganges and Bugruttee Rivers; repair of an ancient aqueduct in the Deyra Doon, and restoration of the Delhi Canal; canal to unite the Hooghly with the Ganges, through the Salt-water Lake; canal to unite the Damrah and Chur-ramunce; re-opening of Feroze Shah’s Canal in Delhi completed; restoration of Zabita Khan’s Canal in the Upper Dooab; the course of Ali Murdher’s Canal drawn into Delhi; a new cut for the Votary Nullah; and canal at Chumnapore. A canal of seventy miles is now being executed, [7:16:4]if not already finished, in the king of Oude’s dominions, between the Ganges and its tributary the Goomty. There are several canals in Agra, but they are chiefly used for irrigation; some of them are of considerable antiquity.

South Malabar, and nearly all Travancore, are naturally provided near their coasts with a noble system of inland navigation, called the Backwater, which extends from Chowghaut in Malabar on the north, to Trivanderam, the capital of Travancore, within fifty miles of Cape Comorin, on the south, a distance of 170 or 180 miles. A continuation of it is in progress of being naturally formed, and is in fact navigable ninety miles farther for small boats during the rains, from Clowghaut to Cotah, sixteen miles south of Tellicherry; and all that this portion requires is, that the bed be deepened during the dry weather. The rivers descending to the sea at intervals of every eight or ten miles, would flow into and fill the deepened bed during the rains. The Backwater runs nearly parallel to the seashore, sometimes at the distance of a few hundred yards, at other times of three or four miles. Its breadth varies from 200 yards to twelve or fourteen miles; its depth from many fathoms to a few feet. Into this Backwater, as into a grand trunk, all the numerous rivers, flowing like so many veins from the Western Ghauts, are discharged and retained. The Backwater empties itself into the sea only by six mouths; of all which the only one navigable for ships is the mouth on the south bank of which is situated Cochin. There is a bar at this mouth, but on it there are seventeen or eighteen feet of water at spring tides.

CEYLON.

In the maritime provinces of Ceylon, particularly in Batticaloa, the internal communication is maintained by canals connecting extensive salt lakes, which have stupendous embankments, said to have been constructed by the Cingalese three centuries before the Christian era. Small vessels from India may land their cargoes at Calpentyn, in the Gulf of Manaar, and have them conveyed by canal to Columbo. In the southern parts, where the rains are copious, canals are not less useful in draining the low lands than in the conveyance of produce; whilst in the northern districts, owing to the frequent droughts, they are in the greatest request for irrigation. There are rivers in Ceylon which might be rendered navigable to a considerable extent. Mr Brook, in tracing the course of the Maha Villagunga River in 1825, came on the ruined tracks of several very extensive canals, one of which had been from five to fifteen feet deep, and from forty to 100 feet wide, and which, according to the natives, had been cut by people forty feet in height.

. EUROPE.

Both Greeks and Romans failed in their repeated attempts to cut a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth. The Romans indeed were more successful in some of the branches which they cut for drainage from the Rhine; though these and others of the sort are now likely soon to be all cut off, or closed next the Rhine by locks. But the honour of properly introducing artificial navigation into Europe seems to be due to Italy and Holland, in both of which countries it has long been practised to a considerable extent, though their canals were made principally for the purposes of irrigation and of drainage. It is now computed that about the twenty-sixth part of Holland is taken up by canals, one of which is of uncommon dimensions.

They have been gradually introduced into the different countries of Europe, and to such an extent that, by means of canals and rivers, an internal water communication now connects various parts of the great seas which surround that quarter of the globe.

The Caspian is connected with the Baltic through the Wolga, the great lake Ladoga, and intervening canals; and the Baltic is also connected with the Black Sea through other rivers and artificial waters.

The Ladoga Canal, formed along the southern shore of that lake, for the sake of a better navigation, extends from Schlusselburg to New Ladegaat, at the mouth of the Vol-kof, a distance of sixty-seven miles and a half, on one level, with a guard-lock at each end. This canal is seventy feet wide; and the depth of water, according to the season of the year, varies from seven to ten feet. To such an extent has inland navigation been carried in Russia, by connecting rivers and lakes by canals, that, with the exception of one interruption or portage of sixty miles, goods may be conveyed by water 4472 miles, from Petersburg to the frontiers of China; and also from the same capital to Astracan, a distance of 1434 miles.

The Bega Navigation, in Hungary, extends about seventy-three miles, from Fascet through the Bannat by Temeswar to Becskerek, whence vessels pass by the Bega into the Theiss, a little above its junction with the Danube. The Canal of Francis, again, extends from the Danube by Zambor to the Theiss, which it joins near Föld-var, being sixty-two miles in length. The summit rises only twenty-seven feet.

On the west, the German Sea communicates with the Baltic likewise by the Canal of Kiel through Holstein, and by the Gotha Navigation through Sweden. The famous Canal of Languedoc, in the south of France, forms a communication between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic; and the equally famous and more capacious Caledonian Canal, in the north of Scotland, forms a similar communication between the German and the Irish Seas. Most of the great rivers and many lakes in other parts of Europe are also connected by canals, thereby greatly facilitating the intercourse between different nations, as well as between different parts of the same state. In the north of Germany, the Elbe,^[5. According to Berghaus, the waters of the Elbe will not be navigable twenty-four years hence, if they continue to diminish at the same rate as they have done for the last fifty years; but attempts are being made to deepen it by dredging. Many other inland waters are said to be on the decrease, particularly the Caspian. ] the Oder, the Vistula, and the Niemen, are so connected by canals as to form a water communication over an extent of about 500 miles, viz. from the frontiers of Russia to the city of Hamburg, and running nearly parallel to the shores of the Baltic, at a distance of 100 miles. This is often called the Prussian Navigation.

The 'Canal of Kiel joins the river Eyder with the bay of Kiel, on the north-eastern coast of Holstein; thus forming a navigable communication between the German Sea and the Baltic, and enabling vessels to pass from the one to the other, withóut performing the long and difficult voyage round Jutland, and through the Cattegat ana the Sound. The Eyder is navigable for vessels not drawing more than nine feet water, from Tonningen, near its mouth, to Rendsburg, where it is joined by this canal, which communicates with the Baltic at Holtenau, about three miles north of Kiel. The length of the canal is about twenty miles and a half, exclusive of about six miles and a half of what is principally river navigation, but attended with considerable difficulty, from shifting sand-banks. The canal is about ninety-five feet wide at top, fifty-one and a half at bottom, and nine and a half deep. Its summit rises twenty-four feet and a third above the sea, by six locks.

The Gotha Navigation in like manner connects the Cattegat at Gottenburg with the Baltic at Soderkoeping. It [7:16:5]consists partly of canals and partly of the river Gotha and the lakes Wener, Wetter, &c. The late Sir Thomas Telford visited and was consulted in several parts of this work, which is said to be a masterly performance. The navigations, however, in the northern and interior parts of Europe are sadly interrupted by frost during a great part of the year, and therefore merit less notice.

Holland.

The canals of Holland are innumerable; but, on account of the smallness of that country, and our narrow limits, we shall only notice the great ship canal of Amsterdam and Niewdiep, which is one of the most magnificent and capacious in the world. It was constructed to afford a safe and easy passage for large vessels between Amsterdam and the German Sea; for although the roadstead in front of this city has forty feet of water, yet, on the pampus or bar, where the river Ye enters the Zuyder Zee, there are only ten feet; and therefore any considerable ship must only be partially loaded when passing this bar. The Zuyder Zee being everywhere full of shallows, all ordinary means of improving the access to Amsterdam necessarily failed; and this seems to have suggested the idea of constructing a great ship canal from this city to Niewdiep, near the Helder, the most northern point of the province of Holland. The direct distance is forty-one miles, but along the track of the canal it is about fifty and a half. The width at the water’s surface is a hundred and twenty-four feet and a half, at the bottom fifty-six, with a depth of twenty feet nine inches. Like most of the Dutch canals, its level is that of the highest tides, and it receives its supply of water from the sea, but which at neap tides has to be raised by a steam-engine. The design of the high level is no doubt to exclude mud. This canal is crossed by about eighteen drawbridges. It has tide-locks only, and these are, of course, at the extremities; but between them there are, besides, two sluices with flood-gates. The locks and sluices are double, that is, there are two in the breadth of the canal. There is a towing path on each side, and the water is broad enough for two frigates to pass. This canal was begun in 1819, and finished in 1825. From the Ye at Amsterdam, where the canal begins, between artificial embankments, it proceeds' north to Pur-merend, then west to Alkmaar Lake, again north by Alkmaar to within two miles of the sea near Petten, from which it runs nearly parallel to the coast till it joins the sea at the fine harbour of Niewdiep. The Helder is the only place on the shores of Holland which has deep water, and this is owing to its being opposite the Isle of Texel, which, by contracting the water to about the breadth of a mile, occasions a current sufficient to scour and deepen the channel. Had it not been for the shallow water, a canal of half the length might have connected Amsterdam with the German Sea.

France.

By means of its fine rivers, France was naturally possessed of a considerable inland navigation; but it has, besides, many excellent canals, and in various places this extensive country is well adapted for a great many more. We can, however, only give a brief description of its principal canals, some of which are of very recent construction, or not quite finished.

Languedoc Canal, connecting the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean, commences in the port of Cette in the bay of Lyons, from which it proceeds in a westerly direction through the lake of Thau, passing by Agde, Beziers, and, through a tunnel of 181 yards at Malpas, thence by Sommail to Carcassonne. From this the course is northwest by Castelnaudary to Naurouse, which is on the summit-level; and to this it has ascended in all 621½ feet, by seventy· four locks. The remainder of the track continues north-west to its termination in the river Garonne at Toulouse, with a total descent of 207 feet by twenty-six locks. The entire length is 241,146 metres, or about 148 miles; breadth at top sixty-one feet, at bottom thirty-four, with a depth of six feet and a half. The total length of feeders is about forty-nine miles.

This great canal was begun in April 1661, and finished in June 1681. The rest of its history is given at great length in most works on inland navigation. But although usually ascribed to the genius and skill of Paul Riquetti, intendant of the province of Languedoc, it is very questionable how far he was qualified for such a vast and difficult enterprise, in which he had had no previous experience. Nay, from a comparison of the different statements, it appears that, in place of engineer, Riquetti had been rather the contractor for the whole works, and had advanced one fourth of the outlay, for which his descendants still draw a considerable revenue from the canal. According to General Andreossy,^[6. Histoire du Canal dm Midi, 8vo, Paris, 1800. ] the works were planned and conducted by a relative of his, François Andreossy, an Italian engineer, who had had experience in the construction of canals in his own country, and who was employed by Riquetti to conduct this great work.

The Canal of Narbonne is a branch running south from the Canal of Languedoc to Narbonne, where, uniting with the Robine, the line is continued to the sea considerably to the south-west of Cette.

The Canal of Arles and Bouc was undertaken in order to avoid the shifting sands which render the navigation of the mouths of the Rhone difficult and dangerous. Besides, it affords an outlet to the superfluous water of the district, by which means lands formerly useless may be rendered valuable. This canal extends twenty-seven miles and a half along the east bank of the Rhone, from Arles on that river to the port of Bouc in the Mediterranean. It is furnished with four locks. Being intended for sea-going vessels, it is sixty-eight feet wide at the top, forty-four at bottom, and fully six feet deep. The sides are raised three feet above the highest floods of the Rhone.

The Canal of Beaucaire is very similar to that of Arles and Bouc, was made for a similar purpose, and is nearly of the same length, with four locks. It commences at Beaucaire, on the west bank of the Rhone, and extends in a southwest direction by Aigues Mortes to the sea; but from Aigues Mortes it also communicates with Montpellier and the port of Cette by means of the Canal de Grave and the Canal of the Lakes.

The Canal of Craponne commences near Arles, and runs eastwards for about thirty-five miles to the Durance. It is principally used for drainage. Several others, which branch southward from it, are chiefly employed for the same purpose, and for irrigation.

The Canal of Givors commences at that place, on the Rhone, ten miles below Lyons, and proceeds eight miles to the Gier. It was originally intended to have been continued to the Loire at St Etienne.

The Canal of the Centre commences in the Saone at Chalons, and terminates in the Loire at Digoin, from which the navigation is continued by the Canal of the Loire. It is about seventy-one miles long, rising 400 feet from the Saone by fifty locks, and falling 240 feet to the Loire by thirty locks.

The Canal of the Loire begins at Digoin, in the Canal of the Centre, from which it crosses the Loire by an aqueduct[7:16:6] of five miles, and running along the south-west side of that river, it also crosses the river Allier by an aqueduct, but still continuing on the same side of the Loire, till, a little above Briare, it re-crosses that river through its bed, and there terminates in the Canal of Briare. Its whole length is 134 miles, with forty-five locks for a rise and.fall of 317 feet. It was begun in 1822, and was nearly finished at the end of 1836.

The Canal of Briare, connecting the Seine with the Loire, was the earliest important project of the sort in France, and the first in that country which had locks carrying it over a height. It was begun in 1605, and finished in 1642; but the works had been suspended from 1610 to 1639. The length is thirty-four miles and a quarter, but the breadth varies from twenty-five to thirty-two feet. It begins in the Loire near Briare, ascends by Ouzonne along the side of the Trezée River, by Rogny, where there are seven locks; then passes by Chatillon and Montargis, and near Cepay joins the river Loing, a tributary of the Seine.

The Canal of Loing is a prolongation, for about thirty-three miles, of the Canal of Briare, from Montargis to the Seine, near the city of Moret. It descends 137 feet by twenty-one locks.

The Canal of Orleans connects the Canal of Loing near Montargis with the Loire near Orleans. The length is about forty-five miles, with twenty-eight locks for a rise of 137½ feet from the Loing, and a fall of ninety-eight to the Loire.

The Canal of Nivernais begins in the Yonne at Auxerre, and ends at Decize, near the junction of the Aron with the Loire. It is 103 miles long, with 117 locks for a rise and fall of 746 feet. It is only partially in use, but is expected to be finished in 1838.

The Canal of Berry, or of the Cher, consists of three branches united at one point near Khimbé. Their total length is 186 miles, with 110 locks for a rise and fall of 757 feet. The works are unfinished, and the navigation only partially in use.

The Canal of Layon consists of the river Layon made navigable for thirty-five miles up from its mouth at Chalonne on the Loire. It has twenty-eight locks, and is principally used for the carriage of coals.

The canal from Nantes to Brest was intended principally for conveying materials and stores during war to the largest and most important arsenal of France. It is composed of three canals passing successively from the basins of the Loire, of La Vilaine, and of Blavet, to the river Alne, which joins the harbour of Brest. Its total length is 218 miles, with 238 locks for a rise and fall of 1711 feet; but there are about seventy miles not yet finished.

The Canal of Blavet, which is only a branch, towards the sea, of the Nantes and Brest Canal, begins at Pontivyand ends at Hennebon. Its length is thirty-four and a half miles, with twenty-seven locks for a rise and fall of 162 feet. From Hennebon the Blavet is navigable to the sea.

The Canal of Ille and Rance is designed to open a navigable communication between the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, across the peninsula of Bretagne; and also to connect, through the Canal of Nantes and Brest, the ports of Nantes, Brest, and St Malos. It is fifty miles long, with twenty locks for an ascent of 129 feet on the side of the Vilaine, and twenty-eight locks for 193 feet on the side of the Rance. This canal was begun in 1804 and opened in 1832, but the reservoirs are scarcely yet completed.

, In the course of the river Isle, between Perigueux and Libourne, which is eighty-four miles and a half, the difference of level is 237 feet. It was therefore naturally unfit for navigation. To remedy this, it has lately been furnished with thirty-nine locks, and various other improve ments have been made on the channel to render it navigable.

The Canal of the Rhone and Rhine connects the basins of these two rivers, commencing on the Saone near St Jean de Losne, and ending near Strasburg. It is sometimes called the Canal of Alsace. The entire length is 203 miles, including the branch of sixteen miles and one third from Mulhausen to Huningue, near Basle. The principal line has 160 locks, and the branch four: there are also thirteen sluices. There is a rise of 550 feet on the side of the Saone, and a fall again of 658 on that of the Rhine. This canal was planned about the middle of last century; the part between the Dole and the Saone was begun in 1784 and finished in 1790; but the whole line was only opened in 1834.

The Canal of Burgundy, uniting the basins of the Seine and of the Rhone, and thus forming part of perhaps the shortest navigable line from Havre de Grace to Marseilles, has one end at La Roche-sur-Yonne, and the other at St Jean de Losne, on the Saone. Its entire length is 141 miles, with 191 locks; it rises 612 feet from the Saone, and falls again 923 feet towards the Yonne. It has a tunnel of two miles. It was begun in 1775, and, after various interruptions, opened in 1832. There has been a deficiency of water in the dry season, but possibly this maybe remedied.

The Canal of Ardennes, connecting the valleys of the Aisne and the Meuse, begins at Doncherry, on the Meuse, and joins the Aisne at Semuy, whence it is continued on the one side to Neufchâtel, and on the other to Vouziers. It has forty-nine locks to overcome a difference of level of fifty-two and a half feet next the Meuse, and 355∣ towards the Aisne. The total length is sixty-one miles.

The Canal of the Oureq is only the river of that name rendered navigable for twenty miles, principally to supply Paris with water, and to turn mills.

The canal from the Seine to the Seine, viz. from near St Denis to the basin of the arsenal, near the Pont du Jardin du Roi, is about eight miles long, and was made to avoid the bridges of Paris, and a loop or bend of the river amounting to about seventeen miles. It consists of three parts: 1st, The Canal of St Denis, which is four miles and a quarter long, with twelve locks; 2d, about one mile of the Canal de l’Oureq; and, 3d, the Canal of St Martin, which, including the basin of the arsenal, is about two miles and three quarters.

The Canal of St Maur is a cut of three quarters of a mile, to avoid a bend of eight miles in the Marne, about two miles and a half above its junction with the Seine. It has often been proposed to cut off other bends in these rivers. Several of the long narrow loops in the Seine, near Rouen, might be easily cut off with great advantage; but the river is in general so ill suited for navigation on other accounts, that a separate canal, as has long been proposed, would be greatly preferable.

The river Oise forms the channel through which the canals of the north, as well as the Scheldt, the Somme, the Meuse, and the Aisne, communicate with Paris. The importance of keeping it in a proper state for trading vessels is therefore sufficiently obvious. A lateral canal of seventeen miles was opened in 1828. It connects two points on the river twenty-eight miles distant along the course, and avoids a difficult and dangerous navigation to that extent. The towing and pilotage of a large boat, which now cost only four or five francs, along the canal, formerly cost 200 along the part of the river for which the canal is substituted. The traffic has of course increased remarkably.

The Canal of the Somme, which is part of a navigable line connecting Paris with the sea, is ninety-one and a half miles long from its commencement, near St Limon, to its termination at the mouth of the Somme. It has twenty-three locks, with a rise and fall of 178 feet.
[7:16:7]

The Canal of St Quintin commences at that place on the river Somme, and proceeds by Omini, Le Trouquoi, Bel-linglise, Riqueval, and Maquincourt, to Cambray on the Scheldt, a total distance of thirty-two miles and two thirds. From the commencement to the lock of Trouquoi, at the end of the summit, is about four miles, rising thirty-three feet and a half by five locks. The summit-level extends about thirteen miles and a quarter. In this there are two tunnels; one of 1191 yards at Trouquoi, and another of the very great length of three miles and three-fifths at Riqueval∙ Their width is twenty-six feet and a quarter. The remaining fifteen miles and two fifths to Cambray descend 123½ feet by seventeen locks. From this the navigation may either be continued along the Scheldt, or by the Canal of Lille or that of St Omer, the river Deule, &c. to the sea at Calais, Gravelines, Dunkirk, Fumes, Ostend, &c.

Spain.

Spain, from its abounding in great valleys separated by rugged mountains, is not the most suitable country for inland navigation. But its principal rivers, the Ebro, Guadalquivir, Guadiana, Tagus, Douro, and Minho, are to a considerable extent navigable, have their sources in the middle of the kingdom, and fall into the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean. These, and various other rivers of less note in Spain, might easily be connected by navigable canals, so as to form a ready communication between many of the interior districts of that extensive country, and between these again and the sea. In this, as in many other respects, the prosperity of Spain has been greatly impeded by superstition, priestcraft, changes of dynastics, and the frequent wars in which it has been involved, so that it has accomplished very little indeed in inland navigation. An early project of the sort was, however, effected by the Saracens, who formed a canal from the city of Grenada to the navigable river Guadalquivir, which falls into the Bay of Cadiz. But the Romans, it is said, had long before this formed an aqueduct to convey fresh water to Cadiz, from springs more than thirty miles distant.

In 1776 a canal was projected, and partly executed, to form a communication between Carthagena and the river Gualantin, at a distance of more than 100 miles. In 1784, a survey was made of a canal, which, beginning near the Escurial, should proceed to join the Tagus, thence to the Guadiana, and terminate in the Guadalquivir, above Andujar. It was partly executed. It is chiefly in the north of Spain that canals have been constructed. A line projected in Old Castille, from Segovia to Olea, near Reynosa, is ninety-nine miles long, exclusive of the principal branch to the cities of Castille and Leon. Another canal has been projected in the province of Campos, to the west of Pisuerga, to pass by Medina de Rio Seco, and at Grisotu to unite with the Canal of Castille. The Emperor Charles V. of Germany proposed a canal to be carried along the valley of the Ebro, and onward to the Bay of Biscay. It was intended to receive the waters of the Ebro at Tudela, in Navarre, and thence descend towards Saragossa and Quinto.

Great Britain.

Long after artificial canals had been introduced on the Continent, England contented herself with merely endeavouring to improve the navigation of her rivers. The principles on which the earliest acts of parliament were framed for this purpose, consisted in deepening, straightening, and embanking the rivers, where necessary; and, by means of sluices and weirs, penning up or lowering the surface of the water, for the purpose of producing “flashes,” and overcoming the obstructions to navigation. Long experience, however, showed that navigations of this sort were liable to perpetual deterioration, from the alterations produced in the regimen of the rivers by such artificial works, which frequently augmented instead of remedying the evil, whilst they obstructed the general drainage of the country. The circuitous navigation, and the trackage against the stream, were at all times laborious and dilatory. These difficulties suggested the propriety of deserting the natural bed of the river, and led to the formation of separate cuts, with the pound-locks, and the various contrivances which were subsequently invented to supersede their use. Until the invention of the lock, therefore, very little could be done in the way of inland navigation, except in the fens, when connected with drainage. Accordingly, the most ancient attempts of this kind are to be found in the Carr and Foss Dikes by the Romans; the former skirting the uplands and fens, from the river Nene at Peterborough, to the river Witham, near Lincoln, by a canal of forty miles; and the latter connecting the Witham at Lincoln with the Trent above Gainsborough, by a level cut of eleven miles.

In England, the artificial system of navigation has been carried on for more than half a century, on a scale no less extensive than the drainage. The passing of an act in 1755 for constructing the first artificial canal in England, which was that of Sankey Brook, the completion of that work in 1760, and the formation of the Duke of Bridgewater’s Canal in 1761, opened the eyes of the nation to the vast advantages that were likely to be derived from artificial navigation, and led to the system of direct and indirect communication, which has united all the great rivers and ports of the kingdom. In Scotland, the progress of inland navigation, although less rapid, has been proportionally successful. As early as the reign of Charles II., the idea of joining the Forth and Clyde is said to have originated with his brother, James Duke of York; and, if true, forms a singular exception to the rest of his history. The subject was again resumed in 1722; in 1760 a survey was made by Messrs Mackell and Watt; and in 1766 that great work was commenced by Mr Smeaton, and completed in 1790. Between the above periods, also, Mr Watt made many reports on the improvement of the Clyde, and on the proposed Monkland, Crinan, and Caledonian Canals; and, in 1802, Mr Telford was employed to make surveys of the whole coast and interior of Scotland, with a view to improving its harbours and rivers, and which ultimately led to the execution of the Caledonian Canal by that able engineer.

The following is a concise account of the principal inland navigations of Britain, arranged alphabetically. '

Aberdare Canal, about six and a half miles long, is a branch of the Cardiff or Glamorgan Canal, from near the aqueduct of the latter over the river Taff. It terminates at Ynys Cynon, three quarters of a mile from Aberdare. From this canal proceed railways to the iron-works of God-leys, Abernaut, Aberdare, &c. and also to a steep descent to the Neath Canal, up which waggons are drawn by a steam-engine. It has been proposed to unite the Aberdare Canal with that of the Neath.

Aberdeen Canal extends about nineteen miles from the tideway in the port of that town up the valley of the river Don to Inverury. It rises 169 feet by seventeen locks, of which fifteen are near the city. The width of this canal is twenty-three feet, and the average depth three feet nine inches.

The Adur River, in Sussex, has been rendered navigable southward from Binesbridge, in West Grinsted, to the sea at Southwick, below Shoreham Harbour, a distance of fourteen miles.

Aire and Calder Navigation. The river Aire, in Yorkshire, is navigable for sloops of sixty tons for forty miles, from its mouth in the Ouse at Armin, up to Leeds, where the Leeds and Liverpool Canal begins. The river Calder falls into the Aire about ten miles below Leeds, and is navigable about ten miles to Wakefield, where the Calder [7:16:8]and Hebble Navigation commences. From the Aire and Calder not less than three canals and their branches have ,been carried across the central ridge of England to Manchester and Liverpool, forming an important water communication between that port and Hull, and between these and the intervening manufacturing districts.

Alford Canal is to extend from the town of Alford, in Lincolnshire, to the sea at Anderby, a distance of six and a half miles, with a depth of eight feet.

The Ancholm and Caistor Navigations join the Humber above Hull. The old meandering course of the river Ancholm is changed into a nearly straight canal twenty-six miles long, and running nearly from south to north. The Caistor Canal, which meets it from the east, is about four miles long. They serve the double purpose of draining a marshy track, and affording a communication to the towns of Caistor and Market-Raisin.

Andover Canal begins in the tideway at Redbridge, in Southampton Water, and proceeding northward up the east side of the Anton River, ends at Barlows Mill, near Andover. It is about twenty-two miles and a half long, and descends 177 feet towards the sea. From near its middle the abandoned Salisbury Canal branches off to the west, whilst from its south end the Southampton Canal passes eastward to the Itchin River.

Arun River Navigation begins at Newbridge, near Wis-borough Green, and proceeds thirteen miles, partly by the course of the river, and partly by cuts to Arundel Haven. From this the river Arun itself has been rendered navigable all the way to Arundel Port, making a total length of twenty-six miles and a quarter.

Arundel Canal, see Rother River.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal passes by a very winding course northward for forty miles, to the town of that name, from the Coventry Canal at Marston Bridge, near Newnea-ton. The first thirty miles and a half, together with parts of the Oxford and Coventry Canals, form one level of seventy-three miles; but on the next two miles there is a rise of 140 feet to the summit-level, which then continues four miles north of the great tunnel, and in the next quarter of a mile the fall is eighty-four feet. One branch of about two miles goes off to Swadlingcote Colliery; another almost a mile falling twenty-eight feet to Stainton Limeworks; a third 200 yards to Hinckley Wharf. Besides, there is a railway of about six miles to Ticknall Limeworks, and another of five miles to Measham Collieries. Near Ashby-de-la-Zouch is a tunnel of 700 yards, and near Snareston another of 200 yards. At Boothorpe a steam-engine raises water, which passes in a feeder to the summit-level. This canal passes one aqueduct bridge at Shakerton, and another at Snareston.

Ashton and Oldham, or Ashton-under-Lyne, Canal, branches off from the Rochdale Canal at Manchester. It passes Fairfield, and terminates in the Huddersfield Canal at Duckenfield Bridge. The length is eleven miles, and the rise 152 feet. A branch of a quarter of a mile connects it with Peake Forest Canal, another of one mile goes up to the town of Ashton, a third of nearly four miles to New Mill and to Park Collieries, and a fourth of six miles to Stockport.

Avon River, Hampshire, was once made navigable from the sea at Christchurch north to Salisbury, a distance of 36 miles. The works were, however, very insufficient, and were allowed to go to ruin, and the river is now only navigable two miles in the tideway.

Avon River, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, is navigable from Stratford-upon-Avon, near the junction of the Stratford Canal, to the Severn at Tewkesbury, a distance of forty-three miles and three eighths, in a south-westerly direction. This navigation is of great use to the towns of Pershore, Evesham, and Stratford.

Avon River, Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, is navigable from Bath, near the commencement of the Kennet and Avon Canal, and passes by Bristol to the Severn at King’s Road, a distance of twenty-six miles and a half in a north-west direction. Its course formerly lay through the heart of the city of Bristol; buta new channel for the river has been cut on the south side of that city, two miles in length, whilst the ancient course has been converted into an excellent floating dock and harbour, which on the north receives the small river Frome, navigable only for half a mile through the city. At Morgan’s Pill, six miles below Bristol, is the junction of the proposed Bridgewater and Taunton Canal.

Axe River, Somersetshire, is navigable from its mouth in Uphill Bay, Bristol Channel, eastward to Lower Weare, near Axbridge, a distance of nine miles. Near Loxton it is crossed by the proposed line of the Bridgewater and Taunton Canal.

Barnsley Canal begins in the river Calder, a little below Wakefield Bridge, and proceeds south and west over a track of fifteen miles and a half to its termination at Barnby Basin. In the first three miles it rises 120 feet by twenty-one locks, partly fed by a steam-engine. A great quantity of coal and paving-stone is conveyed by this canal. It connects the manufacturing towns in the west riding of Yorkshire.

Basingstoke Canal commences at Westley, in the Wey River, about two miles from the Thames, and proceeds westerly thirty-seven miles in Surrey and Hants, to the town of Basingstoke. It rises 195 feet in the first fifteen miles, by twenty-nine locks; the remainder is level.

Baybridge Canal, in the county of Surrey, proceeds from ßinesbridge along the course of the river Arun to Baybridge, which is about three miles and three eighths. It rises fourteen feet, by two locks.

Birmingham and Fazeley Canal begins at the east end of the Old Birmingham Canal, near Farmer’s Bridge, in Birmingham, and passes through a part of the town, thence by Newhall, Middleton Hall, and Drayton manor-house, to the Coventry Canal at Fazeley, near Tamworth, a distance of fifteen miles, with a fall of 248 feet. The remaining five miles and a half to Whittington Brook are level.

Birmingham (Old) Canal, twenty-two miles and a half long, proceeds from Farmer’s Bridge, passes Smethwick and Oldbury. It then passes to the east of Tipton and Wolverhampton t∙o the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, near Autherley, where it descends 132 feet by twenty-one locks. The supply of water is chiefly drawn from old coalmines by steam power. This canal communicates with the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Birmingham, with the Dudley Canal near Tipton Green, and with the Wyrley and Essington Canal near Wolverhampton. By means of its canals, Birmingham communicates with the most important towns in England and Wales.

The Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal commences in the summit-level of the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal near Tettenhall, about a mile from Autherley, the place where the Birmingham Canal communicates with the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal. Its course is northwesterly to its termination in the United Navigation of the Ellesmere and Chester Canal near Dorford Hall. The total length is thirty-nine miles, with a fall of 175 feet by twenty-seven locks.

The Blyth River, Suffolk, is navigable from Halesworth Bridge to the haven of Southwold, about nine miles, descending by four locks.

The Bourn Eau River is navigable from the river Glen in Deeping Fen, for three and a half miles, in a north-west direction, to the town of Bourn.

The Bradford Canal extends from the Leeds and Liverpool[7:16:9] Canal, near the village of Shipley, to the town of Bradford, a distance of three miles, rising eighty-six feet by ten .locks, which are each sixty-six feet long and fifteen wide.

The Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal proceeds from the Monmouthshire Canal, about a mile south of Pontypool, and, crossing the river Avon by an aqueduct, continues for fourteen miles and a half on a level line to the west of Uske, whence it goes on to Brecon, eighteen miles and a half, with a rise of sixty-eight feet, the entire length being thirty-three miles. Various railways proceed from this canal to the different iron and coal works in that rich mineral district.

The Bridgewater Canal, which has already been noticed, may be called the root and model of canal navigation in England, being the first which crossed hill and valley in that country. The general direction of its principal line, which extends from Manchester to Runcorn-Gap, in the tide-way of the Mersey, amounting to about twenty-seven miles, is nearly south-west, in the counties of Chester and Lancaster, and, except the last 600 yards, in which there is a fall of eighty-two feet and a half by ten locks, the whole of this branch, together with twenty-eight miles of the other branches, and eighteen of the Grand Trunk Canal, into which it joins, in all seventy-three miles, are on one level. The determination of preferring one level led to the construction of such tunnels, aqueducts, and embankments, as were truly formidable in that infant state of canal operations. Nothing, however, could shake the fortitude and perseverance of the Duke of Bridgewater, or baffle the ingenuity of his talented engineer, James Brindley. The original design of the part of this canal first projected was for conveying coals from the duke’s mines at Worsley to Manchester, a distance of about seven miles; but when the canal had reached the road from Warrington to that town, it was resolved to vary the line by crossing the river Irwell at Banton Bridge, and proceed to Manchester up the south side of that river, with a branch to Longford Bridge. From this latter place it was next proposed to carry the canal past Altringham, to the river Mersey, at Hempstones in Cheshire; but this line was partly changed, and the canal finally carried by Preston Brook to Runcorn. In 1795 an extension was made from Worsley Mill to the town of Leigh in Lancashire, with a branch to Chat Moss. The branches of this canal in the collieries under ground are together said to exceed eighteen miles in length.

It is said, that notwithstanding the great and increasing traffic upon the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, there has been no falling off in the canal business between these towns, but a considerable increase.

The Bridgewater and Taunton Canal has been projected to commence at Morgan’s Pill in the river Avon, six miles below Bristol, and to pass south-westerly by Bridgewater to Taunton, a distance of forty-two miles and a half.

The Britton Canal commences in the river Neath, directly opposite the end of the Neath Canal, and runs south-west to Swansea Harbour in the river Tawe, a distance of four miles and a quarter.

The Bude and Launceston Canal commences in Bude Haven, within the port ofPadstow,from which it runs southeasterly for five miles and three fourths to the Red Post, and thence easterly by a very crooked course of fifteen and five eighths farther to its termination at Thornbury. From the Red Post a branch of nineteen miles passes south by a very winding course along the west bank of the river Tamar to near Launceston. From Veala a branch of three miles and seven eighths passes to Virworthy; and another of one mile and a half from Burmsdon to Moreton Mill. Several inclined planes are used on this canal and its branches.

Bure River, Norfolk, is navigable from the town of Ayls-

ham by a very crooked south-easterly course to its mouth in the Yare, near the sea at Yarmouth, a distance of forty miles by the river; at Horning Marsh it receives the Ant River, a navigable branch of eight miles, proceeding from the termination of the North Walsham and Dilham Canal at Wayford Bridge; and at Thurn it receives the Thurn River branch of seven miles from Hickling Broad.

Burn River, see Larke.

Bury River is a wide estuary entering from the west, between the southern parts of Carmarthenshire and Glamorganshire, and is navigable for about twelve miles inwards to the mouth of the River Loughor, which again continues the navigation two miles farther up the country northwards, and is joined by various railways.

The Bute Ship Canal commences in Cardiff Harbour, near the mouth of the river Taff, in Glamorganshire, running north to Cardiff Moors, and thence, parallel with the Glamorganshire Canal, to near Whitmoor Lane, on the south side of the town of Cardiff, where it terminates. The part from the commencement to Cardiff Moors is called the Entrance Ship Canal, and is almost two miles long, and 33 feet deep. The upper part, called the Basin, is about 1500 yards long, and twenty feet deep, with two short cuts to the Glamorganshire Canal.

Caister, see Ancholm.

Calder and Hebble Navigation commences at Fall Ing, near Wakefield, in the Aire and Calder Navigation, and proceeds, partly by the river, and partly by side cuts and locks and weirs, twenty-two miles, to Sowerby Bridge Wharf, near Halifax, where it enters the Rochdale Canal, having descended 192½ feet by twenty-eight locks.

The Caledonian Canal. A valley remarkable for its uniformity, straightness, and depth,and extending from sea to sea, between two parallel ranges of steep mountains, divides the Highlands of Scotland into two nearly equal parts. The general direction of this chasm is from north-east to southwest, making an angle of about 35 degrees with the meridian; and, besides being entered at each extremity by an arm of the sea, viz. by the Moray Frith on the north, and Loch Linnhe on the south, the rest of its bottom is for the most part occupied by a concatenation of rivers and lakes. The remarkably elongated form and contiguity of these lakes had long ago suggested the facility of forming an inland communication between the Atlantic Ocean and the German Sea. For, to accomplish this important object,it seemed sufficient to connect these lakes and the friths by several short canals, amounting together to twenty-three miles, and thereby obtain a navigable line to an extent of more than 100 miles; and this was farther recommended by the summitlevel only rising ninety-four feet and a half above the sea. So far back as the year 1773, this line had been surveyed by the celebrated James Watt, who reported favourably of it, and proposed that the lakes should be connected by a canal of a very moderate size. Nothing farther, however, was done till early in the present century, when the subject was taken up by government, and new surveys were made by Messrs Jessop and Telford, who recommended a canal of such dimensions as should admit frigates of thirty-two guns, and the greater part of merchant ships, particularly that class which trade between the Baltic and the ports of Ireland and the west coast of Britain, as by this means a tedious and often dangerous navigation by the Orkneys would be avoided. The work was next set about at the public expense, and under the direction of Mr Telford, who gave to the undertaking the name of the Caledonian Canal. The dimensions then proposed by him, and which have been in a great measure adhered to, were a width of fifty feet at bottom, 120 at top, and a depth of twenty feet; the locks to be from 170 to 180 feet long, forty wide, with a depth of twenty feet of water besides the lift or rise. These measures have been followed [7:16:10]in the case of the locks, but as yet the canal has only been excavated to the depth of fifteen feet in the summit-level, though the width has been slightly increased to 122 feet at top, but with a break in the slope such that there is on each side a horizontal shelf six feet broad at the depth of two feet under the surface of the water. The design of this break in the slope of the sides is to keep large vessels from approaching too close to the brink of the canal, and destroying the upper edge of the banks, either by contact or by the eddy produced between the vessel and the sides of the canal. It serves, besides, to prevent any loose earth which may crumble in at the margin from going down to the bottom, and retains it there till it be convenient to clean it out.

It was not deemed advisable that the rivers which flow through or from the lakes in the valley should form any part of this line of navigation; but on entering from the north we find the Caledonian Canal commencing with a sea-lock at Clachnacarry, in a sheltered bay of Loch Beauly, which is the more inland part of the Moray Frith. The sea-lock here is about two miles north-west of Inverness, and three quarters of a mile west of the well-frequented ferry of Kessock, which is near the mouth of the river Ness. In order to have sufficient depth of water at ordinary neap-tides, it was necessary, on account of the flatness of the shore, to place this lock about 400 yards within sea-water mark, an operation which was attended with no small difficulty, on account of the softness of the bottom. This lock is 170 feet long, forty wide, with a lift of eight feet and a half; and proceeding from it, the canal is formed by embankments till it passes the sea-mark, where another lock of the same size, with a lift of six feet, is built on firm ground. Next, on the south of this, is the Muir-ton basin, 967 yards long and 162 broad, with a wharf for the trade in that quarter, being about a mile from Inverness. At the southern extremity of this basin is a swivel or swing bridge for the public road between Beauly and Inverness; and then four locks, which, however, from their being connected, have only five double gates in the whole. These raise the canal thirty-two feet, which puts it on the ordinary summer level of Loch Ness. Each lock is 180 feet between the gates, and forty wide. From this the canal proceeds by gentle windings till it meets and runs along the north-west bank of the river Ness to the small lake Doughfour, which is about 2100 yards long, and from five to nine fathoms deep, and is six miles and a half from Clachnacarry. It communicates with Loch Ness by the pass of Bona Ferry. The intended line of canal being on the west side of the river Ness, which in three different places approached close to the steep sides of the hills on the west, it was necessary to alter the course of that river, so as to obtain room for the canal without cutting into the hills. At the entrance to Loch Doughfour is a regulating or guard-lock, without any lift, to prevent any overflow from the lake. It is 170 feet long, and forty wide. It was necessary to deepen this small loch in several places by dredging, and to raise it six feet to the level of Loch Ness by a wear and embankment. The next part of this navigation, and by far the most extensive lake in it, is Loch Ness, a fine sheet of water, about twenty-three miles and three quarters long, and from one to 1 ’ 5 mile broad. Its depth is so great that it never freezes, being from five to 129 fathoms, and along the middle it averages 100. It affords good anchorage at each end, and also in a few bays, although the sides of this lake are generally straight. It was proposed to introduce buoys for more convenient mooring. There are nowhere in it either rocks or banks detached from the shore.

Loch Ness receives the river Oich in its western shore, not far from its southern extremity, and a little south of this the canal leaves the lake, whilst almost quite at the southern end stand the fort and village of Fort Augustus. From this the canal ascends forty feet by five locks, and at Callachie, about two miles and a half farther on, it rises eight feet by another lock. Three miles more bring it to Loch Oich, where a regulating lock raises it thirty inches, so as to be even with that lake, which is on the summitlevel.

To obtain a proper line for the canal upon the southeast side of the river Oich, the channel of that river has been somewhat altered. Loch Oich, which forms the summit-level of this navigation, is about three miles and three quarters long, and, on an average, a quarter of a mile broad. In one place in the middle, and at both ends, it had to be deepened by dredging. The water which falls into this lake, particularly from the river Garry, affords at all times an ample supply for the canal. Between Loch Oich and the next lake in the line, Loch Lochy, there is no natural communication. The interval is about a mile and three quarters, and rises twenty feet above Loch Oich, which, with the depth of the canal, required a cutting of thirty-five feet. Loch Lochy, which was twenty-one feet nine inches lower than Loch Oich, has been raised about twelve feet by an embankment to avoid rockcutting, and the canal descends to it nine feet nine inches by two locks, one of which is also a regulating or guard lock. Loch Lochy is ten miles long, and averages one in breadth. In some places it is seventy-six fathoms in depth. About half a mile of the course of the river Lochy had tor be shifted into a new bed to make room for the canal, which now, in its last stage, proceeds from the lake for eight miles along the north-west bank of that river over a rugged surface to the shore of Loch Eil, which is the more inland part of the frith called Loch Linnhe. A little south of Loch Lochy there is a regulating lock; and about a mile from Loch Eil there are eight connected locks, called Neptune’s Stairs, by which the canal descends sixty-four feet. At Corpach shore it falls fifteen feet by two locks, and, after expanding into a basin 250 yards long and 100 broad, it finally descends seven feet nine inches by the sea-lock into Loch Eil, near Fort William.

The entire length of this navigation is sixty miles and a half, and that of the artificial part, including Loch Doughfour, is twenty-three miles and eight chains. There are in all twenty-eight locks. This canal has as yet been a most unprofitable speculation, for all it has hitherto yielded does not pay the mere expense of maintaining it. Foreigners affect to smile at the classic title of “Neptune’s Stairs,” which is not altogether free from vanity; but although many locks have certainly a greater lift, as, for instance, five locks rising together eighty-eight feet on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, yet it is very unusual for gates to be so wide, and to descend twenty feet into the water, besides the eight feet of lift. The gates indeed descend five feet too low, and so do the locks, but this was done intentionally, in the expectation that the canal might yet be made five feet deeper. Amongst the wonders lately announced in Kentucky, we find locks thirty-eight feet wide, with a lift of sixteen feet. Such, however, will often spend just double the water in lowering a boat through the same height which locks with eight feet of lift would do, especially if none of the water can be withdrawn from the locks into side-ponds.

Cam, or Grant River, is navigable fourteen miles, from Cambridge to its mouth in the Great Ouse at Harrimere, above Ely. It is embanked above the fens in all its lower parts, and has sluices for making flashes of water, to enable boats to pass the shallows. There is a cut of three miles from it to Rehe, and another of three miles and a half to Burwell.

Camel River is navigable from Guinea Port, near Wade Bridge, to the sea at Stepper Point, three miles east from [7:16:11]Padstow, in the Bristol Channel, a distance of eight miles and a half by the low-water channel.

The Canterbury Navigation, or river Stour, from the city of Canterbury to the Downs at Sandwich Haven, having been very imperfect and incommodious, an act was obtained in 1825 for making various improvements on it; particularly a canal or harbour eight feet deep, from the Small Downs, commencing between the Batteries No. 1 and 2, to the river Stour at Sandwich, which is to be two and a half miles in length from the end of the proposed jetty of 1000 feet next the Downs; thence the navigation is continued in its old course sixteen miles to Fordwich, where there is a lock of six feet lift. From this to the tail of Abbots Mill, Canterbury, the length is two miles and a quarter, including three short cuts amounting together to one and a quarter mile. There is another lock of six feet lift half a mile from Canterbury. The total length is twenty miles and seven eighths.

Cardiff Canal, see Glamorganshire.

Carlisle Canal proceeds north-west from the west side of that city, and twice crossing the line of the Picts’ Wall, continues by Kirk-Andrews to Wormanby, taking a westerly direction along the south side of the Picts’ wall, by Burgh; thence crossing the marshes, and passing by Drumburgh Castle and Glasson, it enters the Solway Frith at Fisher’s Cross near Bowness. It is eleven miles and a quarter long, descending seventy feet by nine locks.

Carron River, Stirlingshire, is navigable from its mouth, in the estuary of the Forth, up to the village of Carron Shore, and thus far vessels drawing seven or eight feet water may ascend at neap tides; but still larger vessels come up for a shorter way to Grangemouth, where this river connects by means of a tide-lock with the Forth and Clyde Canal, and is indeed the only entrance to it from the Forth. But from the Carron Iron Works, which are situated farther up on this river, there is a cut southward to that same canal at the village of Bainsford.

Cart River, Renfrewshire, sometimes called the White Cart, is navigable for about five miles, from the town of Paisley northwards to the Clyde near Inchinnan; but this navigation is now in a great measure superseded by the Glasgow and Paisley Canal.

The Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation extends eastwards from the basin at Chelmsford to the tideway at Collier’s Reach, a distance of thirteen miles and five eighths, partly by the course of the river Chelmer, and partly by cuts, viz. first, to Burleigh Mill, ten miles and seven eighths, with a fall of fifty-nine and a half feet; thence to Hey-bridge, one mile and an eighth, falling seven feet; and thence by a canal of one mile and five eighths to the basin at Collier’s Reach, with a fall to low-water mark of twelve feet and two thirds. From this, the length of the estuary of Blackwater to the sea opposite Sales Point is about eleven miles.

Chester Canal, see Ellesmere.

The Chesterfield Canal commences in the tideway of the Trent at Stockwith, in Nottinghamshire, near the mouth of the Idle. The general direction of its crooked course is south-west to Chesterfield, a distance of forty-six miles, having a rise of 335 feet, and fall of eighty-five feet, with sixty-five locks. Between Harthill and the village of Wales there is a tunnel of 2850 yards on the summit-level.

Clyde River becomes navigable at Glasgow, and, proceeding thence westward by Govan andRenfrew, itreceives the river Cart a little below that town. From this it gradually expands into a fine estuary, which, at Port-Glasgow, becomes fully two miles wide. Along the course of the river, the distance from Gorbals Bridge in Glasgow, to the mouth of the Cart, is about seven miles; thence to Bowling Bay, where it is joined by the Forth and Clyde Canal, four and a half; thence to Dumbarton harbour, three; and thence to Port Glasgow, five. But the total length of the navigable part of this river to where it falls into the Frith of Clyde opposite Roseneath, is about twenty-five miles. Under the act 6 Geo. IV. this navigation was to be made thirteen feet deep at neap tides. The trade upon it is very extensive.

Colne River is navigable from the Hythe, near Colchester, to the sea. From the Hythe to Wivenhoe the distance is three miles and a half, and thence the river expands into an estuary extending four miles and a half farther to the sea opposite the isle of Mersea.

Conway River, Denbighshire, is navigable in the tideway from Llanrwst to its mouth at Conway harbour, a distance of thirteen miles and a half.

Coombe Hill Canal extends from this village in Gloucestershire to Fletcher’s Leap on the Severn, a distance of three miles and a half, falling fifteen feet.

The Coventry Canal commences at the Trent and Mersey, or Grand Trunk Canal, on Fradley Heath, whence it goes southerly to Huddlesford, being there joined by the Wyrley and Essington Canal. It next proceeds to Fazeley, near Tamworth, where the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal locks down into it. It then crosses the Tame by Amling-ton, approaching the Little Anker River, running parallel to it; then by Polesworth and Hartshill it proceeds to its termination at Coventry. The whole track just mentioned amounts to thirty-seven miles and three fourths, but of this the second five miles and a half from the north end now belong to the Birmingham Canal. From Fazeley to Atherstone, about ten miles, there is a rise of ninety-six feet, by thirteen locks.

Cree River is navigable about eight miles in the tideway from Carty, near Newton-Stewart, to Creetown, in Wigton Bay.

The Crinan Canal, in Argyleshire, runs nearly south-east from Crinan, in the Sound of Jura, to Ardreshaig in the frith of Loch Fine, and is about nine miles and a half long by from twelve to fifteen feet deep, with fifteen locks. From the west it rises fifty-nine feet to the summit-level, and then falls fifty-eight feet to the east. This short ship canal tends greatly to simplify and abridge the navigation in this quarter, as it cuts off about sixty miles from the long isthmus or tongue of land called Can tire, which vessels must otherwise double or go round.

The Cromford Canal, eighteen miles in length, proceeds from the head of the Nottingham Canal by Hynor Harly, Tadmoor, and Critch, to Cromford, near Matlock. In the first four miles it rises eighty feet, and the rest is level. It has several tunnels; one at Ripley is 2966 yards long.

Crouch River is navigable in the tideway from Hull bridge, in Essex, to its mouth in the sea at Foulness, a distance of sixteen miles.

The Croydon Canal commences in the Grand Surrey Canal, near Deptford, and extends nine miles and a half southward to Croydon. It rises about 150 feet, by twenty-six locks.

Darent River is navigable about four miles in the tideway from Dartfort to Longreach in the Thames.

Dart River is navigable about twelve miles and a half in the tideway from about a mile above Totness down to Start Bay in the English Channel.

The Dearne and Dove Canal commences in a side cut of the Don or Dunn River, between Swinton and Mexbourgh, and terminates in the aqueduct carrying the Barnsley Canal over the river Dearne. It is about nine miles and a quarter long, and rises altogether 127 feet, by eighteen locks.

Deben River, Suffolk, is navigable about nine miles and a half in the tideway from Wilford Bridge, about a mile above Woodbridge, down to the sea about four miles north of Harwich. At high water it has the appearance of a considerable estuary, and at Woodbridge and Ramsholt[7:16:12] there are docks for ship-building and commodious wharfs.

Dee River, Cheshire, is navigable in the tideway for large vessels from Hand Bridge, at the city of Chester, by a new channel of eight miles, to where it enters the estuary of the Dee; and thence by the low-water channel to the opening into the Irish Sea off Great Helbre Island, which is a farther distance of fifteen miles and a half. At Chester this river connects with the Chester Canal.

The Derby Canal commences in the Trent, near Swark-stone, and about three furlongs to the north enters the Grand Trunk Canal, having risen twenty-six feet. From this to Derby, five miles and a quarter, it rises twelve feet, and, crossing the Derwent, proceeds three miles and a quarter by Little Chester and Breadsall, rising seventeen feet, to its termination at Little Eaton. From the east bank of the Derwent a brajich extends eight miles and a half to the Erewash Canal, falling twenty-nine feet.

Derwent River, in Derbyshire, is navigable from the town of Derby, with a very tortuous course, till it falls into the Trent at Wilden Ferry, below Shardlow, where the Grand Trunk or Trent and Mersey Canal connects with that river. This navigation extends about thirteen miles.

Derwent River, in Yorkshire, is navigable from Yedingham Bridge to Barmby, in the tideway of the Ouse, about seven miles below Selby, a distance of forty-nine miles and a half, viz. from Yedingham Bridge to New Malton eleven miles and a half, thence to Howsham Hall nine and a half, thence to Stamford Bridge six and a quarter, and thence to the Ouse twenty-two.

The Donnington Wood Canal commences in the Shropshire Canal, near its junction with the Shrewsbury Canal, and runs north-east, for seven miles, to Pave Lane Wharf, near Newport.

Douglas Navigation, see Leeds and Liverpool.

The Driffield Navigation, eleven miles in length, commences at Aike Beck Mouth, in the river Hull, and ends at Great Driffield. The first five miles is in the Hull, and the remainder by a canal. The Hull and Leven Canal, of three miles, is a branch of this.

Droitwich Canal extends five miles and three quarters from Chapel Bridge, in that town, to Hawford, on the Severn, descending fifty-nine feet and a half, by eight locks. It is fed from salt springs.

The Dudley Canal proceeds from the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, near Selly Oak in Worcestershire, and passes a little east of Hales Owen, and north of Dudley, to the Old Birmingham Canal, near Tipton. From near Dudley it proceeds to the Black Delph and Stourbridge Canals. For the first ten miles and a half it is level to the Black Delph, thence two miles to Stourbridge it falls eighty-five feet by nine locks, and in three quarters of a mile to the Dudley tunnel it rises thirty-one feet by five locks. Through the 2926 yards of the tunnel it is level; thence, in one furlong, to Old Birmingham Canal, it falls thirteen feet by two locks. The main line is thirteen miles long. There are two more tunnels, one at Lapal of 3776 yards, and another at Grotsy Hill, 623 yards.

The Dun River Navigation, consisting of parts of the river Dun or Don, and short pieces of canal alternately, commences in the Ouse at Goole Bridge, and extends south-west about thirty-nine miles to Tinsley, near Sheffield, where it is joined by the Sheffield Canal. The total rise is ninety-two feet and a quarter, by sixteen locks.

Eden River has been made navigable ten miles and a half in the tideway from Carlisle Bridge, by Kirk-Andrews and Rockcliff, to Burgh Marsh Point, where it empties itself into the Solway Frith. It has been in some measure superseded by the Carlisle Canal.

The Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal has its western extremity at lock No. 16 of the Forth and Clyde Canal, from the south-eastern bank of which it rises' 110 feet, by eleven connected locks, to a height which enables it to be continued for thirty-one miles wholly on one level to its termination at Edinburgh. These locks are a little west of Falkirk, which the canal passes on the south, proceeding eastward through Prospect Hill tunnel of 696 yards in the solid rock, then over the Avon by a stupendous aqueduct bridge eighty feet above the water of that river. This is about two miles west of Linlithgow, which the canal passes close on the south, and continuing east six miles farther, turns south past the villages of Winchburgh and Broxburn, and then east again to the aqueduct bridge by which it crosses the river Almond; thence by Ratho to another aqueduct bridge at Slateford over the Water of Leith; and finally, to Port Hopetoun Basin at Edinburgh. This canal is forty feet wide at top, twenty at bottom, and five deep. The late Mr Telford recommended to continue the line of this canal from Falkirk to lock No. 20, at the eastern extremity of the Forth and Clyde summit, and to reserve the more depressed junction at No. 16 for the Grangemouth trade only. By this mode about nine fewer locks would need to be passed in the journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow; and both canals would require less water, especially as the Union Canal would then throw a large quantity of water into the summit of the Forth and Clyde Canal, which the latter now receives at too low a level to be of any use.

The Ellesmere and Chester Canal begins at Ellesmere Port in the tideway of the Mersey, about ten miles southeast of the port of Liverpool, proceeding south by Stoke, Wervin, and between Moston and Mollington Hall to Chester, where a short branch locks down into the river Dee. From this it passes east by the north wall of the city, then more southerly by Christleton and Beeston Castle, to Wardle Green, from which a branch goes to join a branch of the Grand Trunk at Middlewich. The main line proceeds a mile and a half from Wardle Green to near Hurleston, whence another branch proceeds to near Darford Hall near Nantwich, and connects with the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal. From Hurleston the main line proceeds southward by Burland to Woodcot, and thence westward to near Whitechurch, where the canal enters Shropshire. Next, passing close by a detached part of Flintshire, it reaches the Cottage; and then continuing westerly by the south side of Ellesmere, to which there is a short branch, it turns more southerly to Francton Common, where the Llanymynech branch proceeds from it to the Montgomeryshire Canal. The direction of the main line is again westerly by Halston Hall, crossing the river Ceiriog by a fine aqueduct, then through Chirk Tunnel to the river Dee, which it passes by means of the famous cast-iron aqueduct bridge at Pont-y-Cysylte. (See the article Aqueduct.)

The entire length of the main line from the Mersey to the Montgomeryshire Canal is sixty-one miles, viz. to Chester, eight miles and a quarter, with a rise of forty-six feet; to Hurleston Locks, fifteen miles and three quarters, with a rise of 131 feet; to Francton Common, twenty-five miles, with a rise of 115 feet; and to the Mongomeryshire Canal, eleven miles and a half, with a fall of fifty-two Feet. The branch to meet the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal is two miles, and level. The branch from the Cottage to Edstaston Wharf is three miles; the branch to the town of Ellesmere is one furlong; the branch to the Ruabon Brook Railway is fully eleven miles; and that from Wardle Green to the Grand Trunk is nearly ten miles, with a fall of forty-four feet. This navigation, considering its extent, is remarkable for having been principally undertaken for agricultural purposes, the supply of towns and manufactories being a secondary consideration, though these have been greatly benefited by it. For many other particulars, see Priestley’s Account of Canals.
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The English and Bristol Channels Ship Canal was projected principally with the view of shortening and rendering more certain and expeditious the passage of vessels trading from the Bristol Channel, the ports of Ireland, and the western ports of Britain, to the English Channel. Its length is to be forty-four miles and five eighths from its southern extremity, at Beer Roads, Seaton Bay, in the English Channel, to the northern, in Bridgewater Bay, in the Bristol Channel, which is shorter by fully 220 miles than going round the Land’s End. The width is to be ninety-feet, with a depth of fifteen.

The Erewash Canal proceeds from the Cromford Canal, near Langley Bridge, to the Trent, near Sawley Ferry, being eleven miles and three quarters long, with a fall of 109 feet. The Nut-Brook Canal proceeds from the middle of this, and farther down it receives a branch of the Derby Canal, and near Sawley the Trent Canal.

« The Exe River and Exeter Canal. The estuary of the Exe is navigable for eight miles, from Exeter up to the town of Topsham, and a little above this a canal proceeds from the river, running fully three miles up its west side. It is said that the first lock constructed in England was on this navigation, in 1675. But in 1829 an act was passed for making the canal enter the estuary at the Turf, two miles lower down, which will increase its length to five miles, with a depth of fifteen feet.

Forth River begins to be navigable at Stirling Bridge; but the tide reaches a little farther, to Craigforth Mill. From this downward the windings of the river are singularly intricate; its course to Alloa measuring more than three times the direct distance, which is only seven miles. On this account, although vessels of from sixty to seventy tons have water enough to Stirling, it is visited by few excepting steamers. About three miles above Alloa the Forth receives the river Devon, which is itself navigable for a short way, and very susceptible of great improvement. From this the Forth gradually expands into an estuary two miles wide opposite the mouth of the Carron, which is at the distance of thirty miles from Stirling by water. This estuary, called the Frith of Forth, continues eastward about forty-six miles farther to the Isle of May, where it may be reckoned to enter the German Sea.

The Forth and Clyde Canal commences in Grangemouth harbour, in the small river Carron, about two miles by the low-water channel, above its mouth in the estuary of the Forth. The general direction of this canal is that of west by south. It at first runs a considerable way on one level along the south side of the Carron, with which it again communicates by a cut from it at Bainsford, to that river at the Carron Iron-Works. The main line then passes to the north-west of Falkirk, and thence to Bonny Bridge, proceeding by the south side of Kilsyth, and along the south bank of the river Kelvin, and over the Logie Water by a stone aqueduct at Kirkintilloch. It then reaches Hamilton Hill about two miles from the north-west quarter of the city of Glasgow, to which there is a branch of two miles and three quarters, communicating with a branch from the Monkland Canal at Port-Dundas basin. The main line now proceeds westerly, crossing the Kelvin by a noble aqueduct, and then runs along the side of the Clyde, till it at length locks down to that fine river at Bowling Bay. The main line is thirty-five miles long, fifty-six feet wide at top, twenty-seven at bottom, and ten feet deep. In ten miles and three quarters from Grangemouth to the summit, it rises 156 feet by twenty locks. The summit-level continues about sixteen miles, and from it to the Clyde there is a descent of 156 feet by nineteen locks. Each lock is seventy-four feet long by twenty wide. At lock No. 16 from Grangemouth, this canal connects with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal.

Few canals have proved so lucrative as the Forth and Clyde. Instead of having its eastern extremity in the Carron, it was originally intended to have had it considerably farther east, or lower down the Forth, in the deeper water at Borrowstownness. This would certainly have been an immense improvement, but probably not so easily executed as some imagine; for the work was really once considerably begun, and after all abandoned, chiefly, we presume, from the difficulty of passing over the river Avon, without raising the canal a good deal for several miles along the low carse lands. The remains of a bungled aqueduct bridge for this purpose were lately to be seen on the banks of that river.

The Foss Navigation, in the north riding of Yorkshire, follows the course of the river Foss from Stillington Mill, partly in that river and partly by canal, for about twelve miles and a half, to the Ouse, at York, descending forty-seven feet and two thirds.

Foss-dike Navigation commences in the Trent, at Torksey, continuing south-east on one level for eleven miles, through a flat country, to Brayford Mere, near Lincoln High Bridge, where it is joined by the river Witham; and about five miles west of Lincoln it receives the river Till. At Torksey is a double lock, with gates pointed both ways. This canal is supposed to have been first executed by the Romans.

Gippen or Gipping River has been made navigable from near Stowmarket for sixteen miles in a south-easterly direction, to where it falls into the tideway of the Orwell, on the south side of the town of Ipswich, near Stoke Bridge. From this the estuary of the Orwell extends about twelve miles to the sea at Landguard Fort.

Glamorganshire or Cardiff Canal commences about one mile and a half below Cardiff, on the east side of the river Taff, near its entrance intoPenarth harbour. It runs northwest, parallel with the Taff, by the city of Landaff, crossing the Taff by an aqueduct bridge, and it is then joined by the Aberdare Canal. Still keeping up the vale, it reaches its termination at Merthyr Tydvil; the total length being about twenty-five miles, with a rise of 611 feet.

The Glasgow, Paisley, and Ardrossan Canal, though originally intended to connect these places, and to be thirty-two miles and three quarters long, has as yet only been executed for twelve miles. It begins at Port Eglinton, near Glasgow, proceeding westerly by the north bank of the White Cart River, along which it continues till near Paisley, where it crosses that river, and then passes on the south of that town to its termination at Johnstone. It is twenty-eight feet wide at top, fourteen at bottom, four and a half deep, and all on one level. The excavation of the rest of the canal seems to be quite laid aside; but the line is to be continued to Ardrossan by a railway now in the course of being constructed.

Glastonbury Navigation begins at the confluence of the rivers Brue and Parrett, in the Bristol Channel, running along the course of the Brue to Highbridge, and is to be continued by a canal, partly in that river, to the west side of the town of Glastonbury, in all fourteen miles and a quarter.

Glenkenns Canal, on the Solway, though described in various books for the last thirty-five years, has never yet been executed.

The Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal begins in the Severn, at Sharpness Point, about three miles north of the town of Berkeley, proceeding by Slimbridge and Saul, and, crossing the Stroud Canal on the same level, it passes Wheatenhurst, Hardwick Court, and Hempstead House, and reaches the city of Gloucester, where it terminates in a spacious basin, out of which there is a lock into the Severn. The distance between Sharpness and Gloucester by the Severn is twenty-eight miles, whilst by the canal it is only sixteen and a half, and avoids a difficult and often [7:16:14]dangerous navigation. The width of this canal is seventy feet, depth eighteen, and it is level throughout.

The Grand Junction Canal proceeds from the Thames at Brentford, across the Brent rivulet, to the valley of the Colne, which it continues to follow past Uxbridge, Rickmansworth, Walford, King’s Langley, Two-Waters, Berkhampstead, to the summit-level at Cowroast; being thirty-five miles and three eighths, with a rise of 395 feet, and through an almost continued series of mill pools. The summit-level extends only three miles and three fourths to Tring, and is chiefly in deep cutting. From Tring the canal continues by Marswath, near to Leighton Buzzard and Fenny Stratford, to the Ouse at Wolverston, near Stony Stratford, a distance of twenty-five miles and a quarter, with a descent of 192 feet. Here it crosses the Ouse on a small aqueduct, and an embankment half a mile long. Then running along the western side of, and having crossed the Five Rivers, the canal arrives at Stoke-Bruern, being a distance of six miles and a half, with a rise of 112 feet. It next goes through Blisworth tunnel, of 3080 yards, proceeding by Western Beck to the southern extremity of Whitton parish, being thirteen miles and a half, on one level. In three quarters of a mile from this to Whitton Mill it rises sixty feet, and then continues level for four miles and a quarter, to the farther extremity of Braunston tunnel, of 2045 yards. It is seven eighths of a mile, with a fall of thirty-seven feet, from this tunnel to the junction with the Oxford Canal. The total length of the main line of the Grand Junction between the limits now mentioned is ninety miles and a quarter. Its average width is forty-three feet, and depth from four and a half to five feet. The locks are eighty-two feet long by fourteen and a half wide. The Paddington branch, of thirteen miles and a half, is of the same dimensions. It connects with the main line about midway between Uxbridge and Brentford, and again with the Regent’s Canal at Paddington. From Tring a level branch of six miles and three quarters reaches near Wendover; and, a little north of Tring, a branch of six miles goes to Alyesbury, falling ninety-five feet. From the embankment over the Ouse, a branch of nine miles and a half proceeds to the town of Buckingham; and another of nine miles from Gayton, by Old Stratford, to the Nen, near Northampton. By means of the Grand Junction a communication has been opened between London and the great manufacturing districts in the interior of the kingdom.

The Grand Surrey Canal commences at Wilkinson’s Gun Wharf, on the south bank of the Thames, about a quarter of a mile east of the Thames Tunnel, and passing 1200 yards through the docks of this navigation, its course is southward, approaching at Bridge Place within 250 yards of the King’s Dock Yard at Deptford, near to where it is joined by the Croydon Canal. It then turns west by Peckham New Town to the north side of Adlington Square, where it terminates. It is four miles and two chains in length.

Grand Trunk, see Trent and Mersey.

The Grand Union Canal unites with the Leicester Union Canal near Foxton, about four miles from Market Harborough, to which there is a branch. Its course is southerly, passing through a tunnel of 1166 yards at Bosworth, between Lutterworth and Northampton, and thence by Elkington and Guildsborough to Crick, at which there is a tunnel of 1524 yards. Then leaving Watford on the east, it continues to its termination in the Grand Junction Canal at Long Buckby. The entire length is about forty-five miles, with an ascent of seventy-six feet by ten locks, and a fall of fifty-four feet by seven locks.

Grantham Canal commences at the town of that name in Lincolnshire, passing Harloxton, Woolsthorp Point, Stainwith Close, Cropwell Butler, to its termination in the river Trent, nearly opposite the mouth of the Nottingham Canal. The length is about thirty-three miles, with a fall of a hundred and forty-seven feet and a half. A branch of three miles and a half goes to the town of Bingham.

Gresley Canal forms a short connecting portion between or in the line of the Newcastle-under-Line Canal and the Newcastle-under-Line Junction Canal, the principal purposes of which are for conveying coals from the Apdale and Partridge Collieries on the west, and the Caldon line from the east.

The Hartlepool Ship Canal connects the Hartlepool harbour with the sea. It is 300 yards long, and nineteen feet deep, being cut through the solid rock.

Hereford and Gloucester Canal commences in the Severn opposite Gloucester, crosses Alney Isle and another branch of the Severn to Lassington, and terminates at Byster’s Gate in Hereford. In eighteen miles from the Severn to Ledbury it rises 195½ feet, and then continues on the summit-level eight and a half miles to Monkhide, from which it descends thirty feet in three miles to With-ington March, and thence to Hereford, six miles, it is level. The total length is thirty-five miles and a half, with three tunnels of 2192, 1320, and 440 yards respectively.

Hertford Union Canal is a cut of one mile in length, to connect the Hackney Cut of the River Lea Navigation at White-Post Bridge, near Temple Mills, with the Regent’s Canal at Old Ford Lock, Bethnal Green. It is also called the Lea Union and Sir George Duckett’s Canal.

The Horncastle Navigation commences in the Old Witham River, near Tattershall, Lincolnshire, and, partly occupying the bed of what was formerly the Tattershall Canal, proceeds to Horncastle by the course of the Bain River. It is about eleven miles long, and very little elevated above the sea.

Huddersfield Canal commences on the southern side of that town, running south-west by Slaithwaite, nearly parallel with a branch of the Colne, for seven miles and a half, which river it crosses three times by aqueducts; and, ascending 436 feet by forty-two locks, it attains, near Marsden, the highest summit-level in the island, being 656 feet above the sea, but only four miles long. This is principally occupied by the Standedge tunnel, of 5451 yards, which is upwards of three miles, being the largest in Britain, from which the canal emerges into the vale of Dig-gle in Saddleworth, to near Wrigley Mill. It then glides along the valley alternately on the north and south sides of the River Tame, past Dobcross, Scout, and Stayley Bridge, to its junction with the Manchester, Ashton, and Oldham Canal, near Duckinfield Bridge; having passed a farther distance of eight miles and a quarter, with a descent of 334½ feet by thirty-three locks. There is a tunnel at Scout of 240 yards, and another at Ashton of 198 yards. This canal forms part of the shortest water communication between the east and west coasts.

Hull River, see Driffield.

Itchin Navigation follows the course of the river Itchin from Blackbridge, near the city of Winchester, to the tideway at Northam, near the town of Southampton, a distance of fourteen miles.

Ivel River, which empties itself into the Ouse at Tempsford in Bedfordshire, has been made navigable for five miles and three fourths, up to Biggleswade; and it has long been proposed to extend it five miles and a quarter farther, up to Shefford.

Ivelchester and Langport Canal, in Somersetshire, is nearly seven miles long, running eastward from its commencement in the river Parrett, below the town of Langport, to Ivelchester or Ilchester.

Kennet and Avon Canal commences at the head of the navigable part of the river Kennet, at Newbury in Berk [7:16:15]shire, and passes up the valley of that river by Hungerford and Great Bedwin to Crofton, a distance of sixteen miles ,and a half, rising 210 feet by thirty-one locks. From this the summit-level continues two miles and a half, through a tunnel of 510 yards, to Brimslade. In one mile farther there is a descent of thirty-three feet by four locks to Wootton-Rivers, from which the canal continues fifteen miles along the vale of Pewsey, on one level, to Devizes; and in the next two miles and a half to Foxhanger it falls 239 feet by twenty-nine locks. Other four miles and a half, descending fifty-six feet by seven locks, bring it to Semington, where it is joined by the Wilts and Berks Canal. From this it passes five miles and a half to Bradford, and there descends ten feet by one lock into the vale of the Avon, along which it continues nine miles on one level to Sidney Gardens, Bath; and in about a mile farther it descends sixty-six feet and a half by seven locks into the Avon, near the Old Bridge. From this the Avon itself is navigable downwards by Bristol into the Severn. The entire length of the canal is fifty-seven miles; the breadth is forty-four feet at top, twenty-four at bottom; and the depth is from five to six feet. Few canals afford more specimens of deep cutting, aqueducts, and tunnels, than the Kennet and Avon. It completes a circuit of navigable canals, which, traversing the northern, midland, and southern counties of England, connect its four largest rivers, the Trent, the Mersey, the Severn, and the Thames. Thus, by uniting the rivers Kennet and Avon, the former of which runs into the Thames at Reading, and the latter into the Severn a few miles below Bristol, this canal becomes the central line of communication between the Irish and the German Seas.

Kennet River has been made navigable from where it falls into the Thames, about a mile and a half below Reading, up to its junction with the Kennet and Avon Canal at Newbury, in Berkshire, a distance of twenty miles. It ascends 126 feet, by twenty locks.

Kensington Canal, 3000 yards long, consists of Counters Creek, greatly enlarged and improved, its mouth being in the Thames, near Counters Bridge, on the road from London to Hammersmith.

Ketley Canal, see Shropshire.

Kingston Canal, see Leominster.

Lancaster Canal commences at Bark Hill, near Wigan, passing Chorley to Clayton Green, near the south bank of the river Ribble, a distance of thirteen miles and a half, which is level, From this across the valley of the Ribble to the top of its north bank the distance is four miles and a quarter, with a depression of 222 feet, which is passed by a railway and inclined plane on each side of the valley. From this railroad, past Garstang and Lancaster to Tewit-field, near Barwick, a distance of forty-two miles, the line of the canal is on one level, and is commonly called the Lancaster Level. In the next thirteen miles, to its termination at Kirkby-Kendal, it rises sixty-six feet. The general direction of this canal is north, and the entire length about seventy-three miles. It has a magnificent aqueduct over the river Lune, near Lancaster, being fifty-one feet above the river, and having five arches of seventy feet span each.

The Larke or Burn River, in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, is navigable for fourteen miles, from Long Common, a little below Milden Hall Mill, to Eastgate Bridge, in Bury St Edmunds, Being connected with the Ouse, near Littleport, it is a very useful navigation.

Lea River Navigation commences at the town of Hertford, proceeding easterly by Ware to its junction with the Stort River Navigation, near Hoddesden, from which it veers south to Waltham Abbey, and preserves the same direction to Oil Mill, where, again bending south-east by Wanstead and Aldersbrook, it arrives at Temole Mills. A little above this it is connected with the Regent’s Canal by a cut of one mile, called the Hertford or Lea Union Canal. From Temple Mills the Lea proceeds to its de-, scent into the Thames at Bow Creek. At Bromley there is a cut of one mile and a half, falling seventeen feet and a half into the Thames at Limehouse. The track of the Lea from the Hertford to the Thames is about twenty-six miles; and connected with it is the canal called the New River, which supplies London with water.

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal commences at Leeds Bridge, where it unites with the Aire and Calder Navigation, and terminates at North Lady’s Walk, Liverpool, a distance of 127½,miles. In the course of forty-one miles from Leeds to the summit-level, near Greenberfield, the total rise is 411 feet; from the summit near Colne, to the basin at Liverpool, there is a fall of 433 feet; and from the basin to low water in the Mersey the fall is fifty-six feet. It is to be observed, that of this line of navigation eleven miles belong to the Lancaster Canal; that is, from Cophurst, or Johnson’s Hillock, to Kirklees. The great tunnel of Foulridge is 1640 yards long, eighteen feet high, and seventeen wide. At Bingley, a connected series of five locks effect the enormous lift of eighty-eight feet and two thirds, which must often occasion a great waste of water, unless recourse be had to some additional artifice. This canal was forty-six years in hand, being begun in 1770, and finished in 1816.

The Leicester Navigation commences at the basin of the Loughborough Canal, and proceeds three miles to the separation of the Melton-Mowbray Navigation. (See Wreak and Eye Navigation.) From this the distance is eleven miles, with a rise of forty-five, to its termination in the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal.

The Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal, commencing at the junction with the Leicester Navigation, proceeds partly in the bed of the river Soar, and partly by an artificial course, to the Grand Union Canal at Gumley Hall, a distance of seventeen miles, rising 160 feet. From the last place a branch of four miles goes to Market Harborough. There is a tunnel half a mile long at Saddington.

The Leominster Canal commences at Kington, 505½ feet above the sea, where it meets the Kington Railway; thence observing an easterly direction, it passes to the aqueduct over the Lugg at Kingsland, and then bends south to near Leominster. From this town it runs north for a considerable distance past Berrington House, then turns east with many windings past Tenbury to the aqueduct over the Rea, and the tunnel at Sousant, which is 1250 yards long. From the latter, which is 264½ feet above the sea, the canal runs eastward to its termination at Stourport, where it unites with the Severn and the Stafford and Worcester Canal, having described a track of forty-six miles. From Kington to Staunton Park it is level for four miles, then falls 152 feet in two miles and a half to Milton, thirty-seven feet in three miles and a half to Kingsland aqueduct, and sixty-four feet in four miles and a half to Leominster. In the next mile and a half it rises eighteen feet, and in five miles and a half farther to Wiston it is level; thence to Letwich Brook it falls thirty-six feet in four miles and a half The next seven miles to Rea are level, then is a rise of thirty-five feet in one mile to Sousant tunnel, then nine level miles to Great Pensax tunnel of 3850 yards. But in the last three miles to the Stafford and Worcester Canal there is a fall of 207 feet; the total fall being 496 feet, and the rise forty-eight.

The Leven Canal is a cut of three miles from the village of Leven to the Driffield or Hull River Navigation.

Lewes, see Ouse River, Sussex.

The Liskeard and Looe Canal commences at Tarras Pill, and runs northward to Moorswater, in the parish of Liskeard, in Cornwall. It is five miles and seven eighths long, [7:16:16]rising 156 feet by twenty-five locks. It has a branch of one mile to Sand Place.

Louth Canal runs from that town northwards by Leatherhill Mead and North Cockering to Titney, in the mouth of the Humber, a distance of fourteen miles, falling fifty-six feet and a half.

The Loyne or Lune River is navigable about seven miles in the tideway from Lancaster Bridge to its mouth in Lancaster Bay.

Lynn River, see Narr.

Macclesfield Canal commences near the north end of the summit-level of the Peak Forest Canal, and passes through a very undulating part of Cheshire to the road from Buxton to Congleton, where it locks down to its lowest level; then crossing the Dane, it runs south-west to its termination in the summit-level of the Trent and Mersey Canal, a distance of twenty-nine miles and a half, with a total fall of 113∣ feet. This, when executed, will shorten the communication between London and Manchester about thirteen miles.

Manchester, see Ashton.

The Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal ascends sixty-eight feet and one third, by six locks, from the Irwell to the basin in Salford; thence for four miles running parallel to the Irwell it is level, but in the next three miles it rises 121 feet by twelve locks. The remaining four miles to Bolton are level, and so is a branch of four miles to Bury.

Market Weighton Canal commences at New River Head, near Market Weigh ton, and runs almost directly south for eleven miles to its termination, with a sea-lock at Foss-dike Clough, in the Humber. Near the upper end are three locks.

The Medway River begins to be navigable for barges at Penhurst Bridge, about six miles above Tunbridge, and about forty-five miles by the crooked course of the river, from its mouth in the Thames at Sheerness; but some deduction should be made for several bends being now cut off. The tide formerly reached up to Maidstone, but has been obstructed by locks and weirs. Below Rochester Bridge this river is in many places of great width, and so deep as to float the largest vessels at low water, thus affording a safe and extensive harbour for Chatham dock-yard. A little below Rochester Bridge it is joined by the Thames and Medway Canal, and near its mouth by the East Swale or tide passage round the south side of the Isle of Sheppey.

The Mersey and Irwell Navigation commences in the estuary of the Mersey at Runcorn Gap, and terminates at the bridge between Manchester and Salford. It consists in these rivers improved by locks, weirs, and extensive side-cuts, so as to be conveniently navigable over a distance which by the course of the rivers exceeds fifty miles. The various canals connected with the Mersey and Irwell render this an undertaking of great utility.

The Monkland Canal begins at Old Monkland Colliery, and runs nearly direct west for twelve miles to Port Dundas at Glasgow, where it communicates with a branch of the Forth and Clyde Canal, to which it acts as a feeder. In its course it receives the Monkland and Kirkintilloch, Garnkirk and Glasgow, and Airdrie Railways. At Sheepford it falls twenty-three feet by two locks, and at Blackhill ninety-six feet by twelve locks. It is thirty-four feet wide at top, twenty-four at bottom, and four and a half deep.

Monmouthshire Canal commences in the Usk River, a little below Newport, close to the termination of the Rumney and Sirhowey Railways. Passing northward, this canal extends by Pontypool to Pontnewynydd, a distance of fully seventeen miles and three quarters. Near the latter place it connects with the Abergavenny and Brecknock Canal. In the last twelve miles it rises 447 feet; and, opposite Malpas, a branch of eleven miles, rising 358 feet, goes to Crumlin Bridge. There are various extensive railway branches from this canal.

Montgomeryshire Canal commences at Portywain lime-, works, where it joins a branch of the Ellesmere Canal; and having passed the village of Llany-mynach, and crossed the Verniew River, it joins another branch of the Ellesmere Canal. Next running to Gwern-felu, where a branch to Guilsfield turns off, it proceeds to Welchpool; after this it runs parallel to the Severn, which it at length joins on the east side of Newton. It is about twenty-seven miles long, running in a south-west direction, with a lockage of 225 feet.

Narr or Lynn River is navigable from the Ouse at King’s Lynn to Castle Acre in Norfolk, a distance of about fifteen miles.

Neath Canal commences in the tideway of the Neath, at Giant's-grave-pill, in Briton’s Ferry, and running northwest, terminates in the Aberdare Railway branch at Abernaut, a distance of fourteen miles. It has various other railway branches to the neighbouring collieries, &c.

Nen or Nyne River is navigable from the sea below Wisbeach, through the Fens to Peterborough, and from that by the natural channel, improved by cuts and locks, to Northampton, which forms a course of about ninety-nine miles. Beginning in the Wash at Peter’s Point, and passing up nine miles to Wisbeach, the navigation may either be continued thence to Outwell by the course of the river, or by the still shorter track of the Wisbeach Canal, which also forms a communication between these places. But the navigation likewise proceeds from both places by two or three embanked courses through the Fens to Peterborough, a farther distance of forty miles; and thence by the original channel, greatly improved by cuts, weirs, and locks, for fifty miles more, up to the town of Northampton, to which a canal branch descends 112 feet from the Grand Junction Canal. Near Salter’s Load the Nen communicates with the Ouse by means of Well Creek; and a still shorter navigation has been formed from Wisbeach to Lynn, through the Wisbeach Canal. The above may give some idea of the principal lines of navigation belonging to this river; but since most of the rivers and navigable drains in the fens are embanked on both sides, and since they are almost still water too, this occasions such a number of navigable branches intersecting and crossing in all directions, that a description of them would greatly exceed our limits.

The Newcastle-under-Line Canal extends about three miles westward, from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Stoke-upon-Trent to Newcastle, in the Newcastle-under-Line Junction Canal, which again continues the line north-west for eight miles farther (including in its middle the five miles of Gresley’s CanaD to Partridge-Nest and Bignel-End Collieries.

The Newport Pagnell Canal is a branch of a mile and a quarter from that town to the Grand Junction Canal at Linford, with a rise of fifty feet by seven locks.

Nith or Nidd River Navigation commences in the Solway Frith, and extends nearly north for about nine miles in the tideway between the counties of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright, to Dumfries Bridge; but it stands much in need of improvement.

North Walsham and Dilham Canal commences at Wayford Bridge, in the parish of Dilham, Norfolk, in the river Ant, and runs north-west by North Walsham and Whitton Park, to its termination at Antingham, a distance of seven miles.

North Wilts Canal, see Wilts and Berks.

The Norwich and Lowestoff Navigation, commencing in the Wensum or Yare River at Norwich, follows partly the course of that river, and those of the Yare and Wensum, and proceeds partly through the Lake Lothing, and by [7:16:17]cuts to Lowestoff, a distance of thirty miles. It traverses so flat a country, that a tide-lock only is necessary, which admits vessels eighty-four feet long, twenty-one wide, and drawing ten feet of water.

Nottingham Canal commences in the Trent, from which it has a winding course for about fifteen miles, with a rise of 108 feet to the junction of the Erewash and Cromford Canals at Langley Bridge.

Nutbrook or Shipley Canal is a branch extending four miles and a half, from the Erewash Canal, near Trowen, to the Shipley Collieries.

The Oakham Canal extends from that town to Melton-Mowbray on the Leicester and Melton-Mowbray Navigation; a distance of fifteen miles, falling 126 feet.

Ouse River, Sussex, navigable naturally nine miles in the tideway up the Lewes, has, by artificial means, been rendered navigable for twenty-two miles farther, up to Hammer Bridge.

Ouse River, Yorkshire, is navigable for vessels of 150 or 160 tons from where it receives the Trent, up to the junction of the Aire and Calder Navigation at Armyn, a distance of fifteen miles, and for smaller masted vessels twenty-five miles farther to the city of York. This river, notwithstanding its limited trade above that city, has such an immense traffic in the lower part, by reason of the numerous rivers and canals communicating with the manufacturing and mining districts, that it undoubtedly ranks the second river in the kingdom in importance and utility; whilst, by its union with the Humber, merchandise is exported to and imported from all parts of the globe.

Ouse River Navigation (Bedford LeveD commences in the estuary of the Wash, below the town of Lynn, and proceeding thence by a cut of two miles and three quarters, called the Eau Brink, to Salter’s Load and Denver’s Sluice, it is thus far, which is about seventeen miles above Lynn, an open embanked navigation. From this upwards the natural river continues navigable still by an embanked crooked course through the Fens to Ely and Hermitage Sluice near Erith, and thence onward to Bedford, altogether about eighty-four miles from the sea. From Lynn the Narr or Lynn has been made navigable fifteen miles to Castle Acre in Norfolk; and from Salter’s Load the Well Creek extends to the Nen and Wisbeach Navigation. Near Denver’s Sluice the Ouse receives the river Stoke, also the Old and New Bedford Rivers, which are two parallel straight cuts of twenty-one miles, joining the Ouse again at Hermitage Sluice. From this last place a navigable cut of twelve miles conveys water from the Ouse to the Nen at Benwick. At Brandon Creek Bridge the Ouse receives the Little Ouse, which is navigable for twenty-two miles and a half south-east by Downham and Santon to Thetford; and at Prickwillow it receives the Larke, navigable to Bury St Edmund’s. Near Barkway the Soham Lode, navigable for four miles to Soham, falls into the Ouse. At Harrimere it receives the Grant or Cam, navigable to Cambridge, and at Tempsford the Ivel. Almost the whole of the rivers and large drains connected with the O’use are embanked and nearly level. Many others of them are navigable for short distances besides those we have noticed, but they are chiefly used for drainage.

The Oxford Canal commences in the Coventry Canal at Longford, proceeding thence twenty-six miles and a half on one level across the upper part of the valley of the Avon to near Hill Morton, where it rises nineteen feet by three locks. About eight miles farther on it is joined by the Grand Junction Canal; and in eight miles and three quarters more, at Napton, by the Warwick and Napton Canal. Thus far the course is very crooked. In the next two miles it rises fifty-five feet by nine locks to the summit-level, on which it continues ten miles and three quarters

(passing a tunnel of 1188 yards) to Claydon. From this the canal descends into the valley of the Charwell, proceeding seven miles and a quarter to Bambury, with a fall of seventy-seven feet by twelve locks. Following the Charwell, and crossing it near Hampton Gay, it passes to its termination in the Thames at Badcock’s Garden on the west of the city of Oxford. The total length is about ninety-one miles; and in the last twenty-seven miles and a half from Banbury it falls 118 feet, by eighteen locks. It is twenty-eight feet wide at top, sixteen at bottom, and four and a half deep; but, to act partly as a reservoir, the summit-level is six feet deep. For various improvements and alterations on this navigation, we beg to refer to Priestley’s Account of Canals, &c.

The Peak Forest Canal commences at Duckenfield, in the Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Oldham Canal, and passes south-east fifteen miles to Bugsworth, from which the line is continued seven miles by a railway to Limestone Rock, Peak Forest.

Penclawdd Canal extends eastward from the river Burry at Penclawdd, in Glamorganshire, for three miles and three fifths, to Kingsbridge; and, though short, it is said to be of great utility.

Pocklington Canal, Yorkshire, extends from East Cot-tingwith, on the Derwent, to Street Bridge, Pocklington, a distance of eight miles and a half.

The Portsmouth and Arundel Canal commences in the tideway in the river Arun, at the village of Ford, three miles from the sea, at Arundel harbour, and proceeds westward close by Yapton, Barnham, and Merston, to half a mile from North Mundham, where the Chichester branch takes off. From this it passes by Donnington to Chichester harbour, where the principal line, which is almost twelve miles long from the Arun, terminates. The bed of the Arun is fifteen feet below high water spring tides; and there is a lock of five feet, above high-water mark, on the bank of the river. A little farther on is another lock of seven feet lift, from which the canal continues on the same level for ten miles five furlongs, to two locks, equal respectively to the two just mentioned, and similarly situated in respect of the other termination in the tideway. This canal is thirty-three feet wide at top, nineteen and a half at bottom, and four and a half deep. Both it and the Chichester branch, of a mile and a quarter, are fed by water raised by a steam-engine. The channel from the extremity of the main line of canal in Chichester harbour, round Thorney Island and Hayling Island, by Thorney and Langstone Wadeways, and Langstone harbour, to the end of the Portsea Canal, is thirteen miles and an eighth. The canal from Eastnay Lake is two miles and three eighths long; there are two locks at the east end, and a basin at the termination at Portsea. This part is five feet deep, and is fed by an engine. From the end of the main line in Chichester Harbour to the canal at Cosham, the distance is fifteen miles and a quarter; and the length of the canal to Porchester Lake in Portsmouth harbour is one mile and a quarter. This branch is seven feet deep, with a sea-lock of ten feet lift at each end. These important undertakings, from their connections with so many other navigations, will tend to open a ready inland communication between this quarter and almost every part of the kingdom, and may become serviceable for conveying military stores from London to Portsmouth in time of war.

Ramsden’s (Sir John) Canal, is a short connecting link of three miles and three quarters, between the Huddersfield Canal at the King’s Mill near Huddersfield, and the Calder and Hebble Navigation near Cooper’s Bridge. It descends fifty-seven feet and a half, by nine locks.

Regent’s Canal commences in the Paddington branch of the Grand Junction Canal, near the Harrow Road, and, [7:16:18]proceeding in a north-east direction, passes through a short tunnel under the Edgeware Road, and thence runs parallel to Primrose Hill Road, till, having passed on the north of the Zoological Gardens, a branch of half a mile runs south-east to a basin at Cumberland Market. The main line preserves nearly its first direction, till, crossing the Paneras Vale Road, on the north of Camden Town, it turns more eastward; then locking down, it crosses Camden Road and the King’s Road, and turns south-east across Maiden Lane, next to Horsfall’s Basin, a quarter of a mile beyond which it enters the tunnel under Islington, 900 yards long, but which, most unfortunately, to save a trifle of expense, has no room for a towing-path. It next crosses the New River to Frog Lane, on the east of which is a lock, and also a branch called the basin, passing under the City Road. The main line continues eastward to Bridport Place, and, running parallel with Felton Street, it leaves a second basin on its north bank, and a little farther on a third basin on its south bank. From this it proceeds across Cambridge Heath Road, and then, bending greatly south, crosses Mile End Road, passes to Stepney Lane, crosses the Commercial Road, and finally arrives at the basin at Limehouse, by which it locks into the Thames, being a total distance of eight miles and a half, descending ninety feet by twelve locks besides the tide-lock. At Globe Town, a cut of one mile, running north-east, connects this canal with the River Lea Navigation. It is named the Hertford Union Canal, and sometimes the Lea Union.

Ribble River, Lancashire, has been rendered navigable for eleven miles westward from Penwortham Bridge, near Preston, to its mouth in the Irish Sea.

Rochdale Canal commences in the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield, Manchester, and about a mile from this is joined by the Manchester, Ashton-under-Line, and Oldham Canal. It then passes the town of Rochdale, and along the north border of the high ground called Blackstone Edge, to its termination in the Calder Navigation at Sowerby Bridge Wharf, a distance of thirty-one miles and a half. The rise from Knott Mill, Manchester, to the summit, is 533½ feet, and the fall from this to Sowerby Bridge is 353½. This canal is one of the main links in the chain of inland navigation between the east and west seas.

The Rother River Navigation commences at Lower Platt, near Midhurst, Sussex, and passes by Cowley Park to Ambersham, and by Petworth and Burton to a little beyond Little Fittleworth, from which a cut passes to the river Arun, near Stopham Bridge, where the navigation terminates, the total length being eleven miles.

The Royal Military Canal commences in the tideway at Shorncliff in Kent, proceeding west to Hythe, and, gradually bending southward, passes on the south of Lympne and Appledore to the junction with the long proposed weald of Kent Canal. From this it proceeds south to the river Rother, in the bed of which it continues past Rye to Winchelsea, where that river verges south-east, whilst the canal continues due south to Cliff End, and there terminates. The total length is about thirty miles, the width at top is from sixty-two to seventy-two feet, and at bottom from thirty to thirty-six, and the depth is nine feet. The locks are seventy-two feet long and sixteen wide; they are only required for the tide, and the fluctuations of the Rother.

St Columb Canal is a cut of six miles, from Maugan Porth to Lower St Columb Porth, in the county of Cornwall.

The Salisbury and Southampton Canal commences in the Itchin River at Norham, near Southampton, and runs along the north-east shore of Southampton Water to Redbridge, from which the line of navigation is continued north in the Andover Canal. From the latter, at Mitchel-mersh, a branch was dug westward to Salisbury, but was abandoned because it would not hold in the water. This had not, it would seem, been thought worth a lining of, clay, which, if properly executed, would make any canal hold in.

Sankey Brook Navigation, the first executed in England, originally commenced at Fidler’s Ferry, at the mouth of Sankey Brook, from which it at first runs north, gradually bending west, and latterly turns south to St Hellens, where it terminates. The length is about twelve miles, rising seventy-eight feet by ten locks; width forty-eight feet at top, depth five and a half. In 1830 an act was obtained for extending this navigation three miles and a quarter, from a little above Fiddler’s Ferry to Widness Wharf, West Bank, near Runcorn Gap.

The Severn River is navigable for 178 miles, with a descent of 225 feet, from Welshpool, through the counties of Montgomery, Salop, Worcester, and Gloucester, till it enters the Bristol Channel. Its navigable connections are the Montgomeryshire Canal at Newtown; the Shrewsbury Canal at Shrewsbury; the Shropshire Canal at the Hay; the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, and the Leominster Canal, at Stourport; the Droitwich Canal at Hawford; the Birmingham and Worcester Canal at Diglis, below Worcester; the river Avon at Tewkesbury; the Coombe Hill Canal at Fletcher’s Leap; the Hereford and Gloucester Canal at Gloucester; the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, both at Gloucester and at Sharpness Point; the Stroud Canal at Framiload; the Lydney Canal below Lydney; the river Wye at Beachley; the Bristol River Avon at Morgan’s Pill; and the Monmouthshire Canal at Newport.

Sheffield Canal connects that town with the river Dan Navigation in the township of Tinsley. It is little more than four miles long, with a fall of seventy feet by eleven locks.

The Shrewsbury Canal commences at Rockwardine Wood, in the north extremity of the Shropshire Canal. The first mile is level. At Woombridge it descends seventy-five feet by an inclined plane; and in the next four and three quarters miles to Langdon is a farther fall of seventy-nine feet by locks. It then crosses the river Tern by the first iron aqueduct used in a navigable canal, and, proceeding by Roddington, it passes a tunnel of 970 yards, and at length runs along the bank of the Severn to its termination at Shrewsbury. The total length is about seventeen miles and a half.

Shropshire Canal commences at the Donnington Wood Canal, and passing Rockwardine Wood and Madeley, proceeds to its termination in the Severn at Coalport, two miles below Coalbrook Dale. The length is seven miles and a half. It has a rise of 120 feet, and two falls of 126 and 207 feet, all of them by inclined planes.

Sleaford Navigation extends from Chapel Hill, on the Old Witham River, to the Castle Causeway near Sleaford. It is about thirteen miles and a half long, thirty feet wide at top, eighteen at bottom, and five feet deep. The greater part of its course is embanked through the fens.

Soar River Navigation consists of the river Soar, made navigable for seven miles up from the Trent, and of a cut of one mile and a half, which continues it to Loughborough, where it connects with the Leicester Navigation.

Somersetshire Coal Canal commences at the Kennet and Avon Canal at Limpley Stoke, and terminates at Paulton, a distance of ten miles. It is connected with various collieries by railways.

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal commences in the Severn at Stourport, and proceeds northerly by Milton, Kidderminster, Tittenhall, Penkridge, and Baswich, to its termination in the Trent and Mersey Canal near Haywood, Staffordshire. The total length is forty-six miles [7:16:19]and a half. In the first twelve miles and a quarter from Stourport, to where it is joined by the Stourbridge Canal, it rises 127½ feet by thirteen locks; in the next eleven miles it rises 166½ feet by eighteen locks. The next ten miles, in which it is joined by the Old Birmingham Canal, are level; and in the remainder it falls 100½ feet by thirteen locks. This canal is thirty feet wide at top, and five deep. The locks are seventy-four feet long, and seven feet wide, but had originally only four feet water on the sills.

Stainforth aΛd Keadby Canal begins in the river Dun, near Stamforth, Yorkshire, and passes eastward fifteen miles to the Trent at Keadby, Lincolnshire, where it has a tide-lock. There is only another lock near Thorne, of five feet lift, the tract is so flat.

Stort River has been made navigable for ten miles in Hertfordshire and Essex, from the New Bridge, Bishop-Stortford, to the river Lea at Rye near Hoddesden.

Stourbridge Canal extends about five miles from the Stafford and Worcester Canal at Stewponey, near Stourton, to the Dudley Canal at Black-Delph, from which a branch of one mile goes to Stourbridge, and another of two miles to Pensnet Chase Reservoir. It rises 191½ feet by twenty locks.

Stour River, between Suffolk and Essex, has been rendered navigable for nineteen miles from Sudbury to Manningtree; thence to Harwich it is a wide estuary.

Stratford-upon-Avon Canal commences at King’s Norton, about six miles from Birmingham, and proceeds southeastward by Lapworth and Preston Mill to Stratford, a distance of twenty-three miles and a half, descending 309 feet. From near Hockley, a branch of two miles and a half goes to Tamworth quarries; from Lapworth another of one mile and three quarters to the Warwick and Birmingham Canal; from Wilmote another of four miles to Temple Grafton Limeworks; and from this branch a cut of one mile to Aston Cantlow.

Stroudwater Navigation commences at Framiload, running eastward across the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, and the Stroudwater, to Wallbridge, near Stroud, in the Thames and Severn Canal, a distance of eight miles, rising 102½ feet.

Swale River, see Ouse.

Swansea Canal commences in Swansea harbour, and running north-eastward by Landoor, and across the small river Twrch, terminates at Pen Tawe, a distance of seventeen miles, rising 373 feet.

Tamar Manure Navigation. The river Tamar has been made navigable from Morwelham Quay (where Tavistock Canal begins) up to Boat Pool, whence a canal has been continued north-west for about twenty-two miles to Tamerton Bridge. From near Poulson Bridge a branch goes off to Launceton.

Tavistock Canal extends from the tideway in the Tamar four and a half miles north-east to Tavistock, with a rise of 237 feet. From Crebar a branch of two miles goes to the slate quarries at Millhill Bridge, rising nineteen feet and a half.

Tay River is navigable from the city of Perth, gradually widening downwards by Dundee to the German Sea, a distance of twenty-eight miles, through which the tide flows; but it only admits of large vessels reaching Perth at stream tides. It was formerly much obstructed by floods at one season, and shallows at another; but in 1830 an act was obtained for its improvement.

The Tees Navigation commences in that river at Stockton, and proceeds chiefly by an artificial course to Portrack, and thence by the estuary of the Tees Mouth to the German Sea; the total distance is about twelve miles, and level in the tideway.

Thames River having a separate article devoted to it, we shall only here treat very briefly of its navigation and navigable connections. The principal branch of this noble river, under the name of the Isis, and greatly improved by artificial means, begins to be navigable at Lechlade, about 146½ miles above London Bridge by the course of the river, and where the Thames and Severn Canal locks into it. At Oxford it receives the Oxford Canal; at Abingdon, the Wilts and Berks Canal; near Dorchester, its other branch the Thame; at Caversham Bridge, near Reading, the Kennet Navigation; near Woburn Park and Ham, the river Wey, with the Basingstoke Canal; near Brentford, the Grand Junction Canal; a little below Wandsworth, the Kensington Canal. Pursuing its course through London, it comes to the St Katherine’s Docks, and then to the London Docks, a little below which it is passed underneath by a tunnel. It is next joined on the south by the Grand Surrey Canal, and then at Limehouse on the north by the Regent’s Canal, and the Limehouse Cut to the river Lea. Proceeding a little, it reaches the western entrance to the West India Docks at the Isle of Dogs, round which it makes a more than semicircular bend, first south to Deptford and Greenwich, and then north again to the eastern or Blackwall entrance to the West India Docks. To avoid or shorten this route, a cut, called the City Canal, was made by government across the isthmus, and after all cutting off little more than half the bend; but so few inclined to avail themselves of such a partial improvement, that this canal was quite neglected, and was latterly sold to the West India Dock Company, who now use it for the wood trade, under the name of South Dock. But before reaching Deptford, the Thames had on its western bank passed the Commercial Docks. At Blackwall it passes the East India Docks, and, at Bow Creek receiving the river Lea, pursues its way to Woolwich, where a short canal is cut to the Arsenal, a little below which it receives the river Roding on the north, and, nearly opposite Purfleet, the river Darent on the south. At Gravesend, the Thames and Medway Canal unites with it; at Sheerness on the south it receives the river Medway, and has now itself become a large estuary, five miles wide, called the Mouth of the Thames, which, expanding greatly, receives from the north and west the rivers Crouch, Blackwater, and Colne.

Owing to the natural obstructions which exist in many parts of the river, from bends, shoals, islands, weeds, &c. the velocity of the Thames does not follow the law of the variation of the inclinations; and the artificial obstacles from weirs, pound-locks, fishing-aytes, &c. render it impossible to ascertain the velocity correctly. Much depends also on the volume of water which may be passing down the river at the time, and the use of flashes. ^[7. A flash is water suddenly let out to increase the depth over a shallow while a boat is passing. It also helps to scour and deepen the channel. ] The total fall from Lechlade to low-water mark at London Bridge, a distance of 146½ miles, is 258 feet; being on an average about twenty-one inches per mile. This is overcome by several locks, constructed at different periods, of which the lowest, at Teddington, eighteen miles and three quarters above London Bridge, forms the limit of the tide. In general the velocity may be estimated at from half a mile to two miles and three quarters per hour; but the mean may be about two miles. Between London Bridge and Westminster Bridge the mean velocity of the flood tide is now three miles per hour, maximum three and a half; and the mean ebb three miles and one sixth, maximum three and [7:16:20]three quarters. Formerly they were much less. The fall from Teddington Lock to London Bridge is only sixteen feet and three quarters, or ten inches and three quarters, per mile; for in general the fall gradually diminishes from Lechlade downwards.

The removal of the numerous and bulky piers of the Old London Bridge has wrought an important change in the Thames, not only above or west of the bridge, but likewise, though in a smaller degree, below or east of it. The very contracted spaces through which the water had formerly to force its way occasioned frequently a fall of five feet at low water, instead of which there is now only a fall of about two inches at the new bridge; so that the low-water line above the bridge is nearly five feet lower at spring tides than formerly. In consequence of this, a greatly increased body of tidal water now flows up and down the river, and with a decidedly greater velocity than formerly. The effect of this is to scour and deepen the bed of the river; its influence in this respect being already sensibly felt as far up as Putney Bridge, seven miles and a half above London Bridge. The shores above the latter, that were formerly foul and muddy, are now becoming clean shingle and gravel; and near low water the beach is quite hard and firm. East of London Bridge the shoals are also deepening; and there can be little doubt that the change will at no distant period be felt from the Nore up to Teddington. The depression of low water below the bridge has been so considerable as to cause ships in many instances to ground in their tiers. From a register of the tides, it appears that the average depth at low water on the sill at Shadwell Dock is twenty-two inches below the old mark called Trinity Datum; and where formerly there were eight feet upon the dock sill there are now only six feet two inches on the average. Before the removal of the old bridge, a barge starting from the Pool at Rotherhithe with the first of the flood, could not get farther than Putney Bridge without the assistance of oars or horses. But, under similar circumstances, a barge now reaches Mortlake, four miles farther up, before using oars; and with a little help she may reach Richmond, and, taking horses there, get to Teddington in a tide. The descent down the river has been equally facilitated.

The immense trade of the navigable part of this river arises principally from its having London on its banks, and bearing to and from it numberless ships, fraught with the produce of every country and every climate. Its depth of water is so great, that even at ebb tide it is from twelve to thirteen feet in the fair way of the river above Greenwich. The mean range of the tides at London Bridge is about seventeen feet, whilst at extreme springs it is about twenty-two. Up to Deptford, the river is navigable for ships of any burthen; to Blackwall, for those of 1400 tons; and to the St Katherine’s Docks, adjoining the Tower, for vessels of 800 tons.

The Thames and Medway Canal is a cut of about seven miles and a half through the isthmus, or rib of land, between these rivers, and was constructed for the purpose of shortening by forty miles (some say forty-seven) the water communication between Gravesend and Chatham, or Rochester, which had hitherto been by the Nore. It commences in the south bank of the Thames, at Gravesend, nearly opposite Tilbury Fort, where it has a great tidelock, and a basin and wharfs. From this it runs eastward for about three miles through Gravesend Marshes; then, after turning considerably to the south, it passes through a tunnel of two miles and a half, and proceeds to join the river Medway, where it has another tide-lock and basin nearly opposite to Chatham. The water in this canal is fifty feet wide at top, twenty-eight at bottom, and eight feet deep. The hill through which the tunnel is carried is in some places of such a loose texture that several of the workmen were killed by the unexpected shooting in of the chalk and flints upon them. They had not, it seems, used any precaution to prevent such an occurrence, or to avoid the danger of it. This tunnel, being of large dimensions, and provided with an excellent towing path, has greatly the advantage of many of the miserably confined holes which are carried through hills in other parts of the kingdom. The breadth of the water through the tunnel is twenty-two feet; but a particular description of the locks will be found farther on.

The Thames and Severn Canal commences at the extremity of the Thames and Isis Navigation, near Lechlade, and proceeds by Kempsford and Cricklade to Latton, where it is joined by the Wilts and Berks Canal; thence it passes to Siddington St Mary, at which a branch of a mile goes to Cirencester; continuing westward, it passes through the famous Sapperton tunnel, 4300 yards long, and 250 feet under the top of the hill. From this, it passes to its termination in the Stroudwater Canal, at Wallbridge, near Stroud. The total length is thirty miles and one eighth, viz. from Lechdale to the tunnel twenty miles and three eighths, rising 134 feet by fourteen locks; the tunnel or summit-level two miles and three eighths, and from it to the termination seven miles and three eighths, falling 243 feet by twenty-eight locks. This canal is forty-two feet wide at top, twenty-eight at bottom, and five deep. The locks are eighty feet long and twelve wide.

The Tone and Parrett Navigation commences in the line of the proposed Grand Western Canal at Taunton, and runs nearly north by a bending course, passing Bridgewater, to Start Point, in the Bristol Channel; being, however, joined in its course at Borough Chapel by the Parrett River. The length is about twenty-seven miles.

Trent River begins to be navigable at Burton-opon-Trent, where it is joined by a branch from the Grand Trunk, and which is about 117 miles from the Humber. It proceeds in a north-easterly direction to near Swarkestone, where it receives the Derby Canal, and then at Wilden Ferry it is joined by the Grand Trunk or Trent and Mersey Canal; next by the river Soar or Loughborough Navigation, and opposite to it by the Erewash Canal; then passing Clifton Hall, where the Beeston Cut, which connects with the Nottingham Canal, joins it on the north, it runs down to Nottingham, and there joins the Grantham Canal. Next at Torksey it connects with the Foss-dike Navigation, and at West Stockwith with the Chesterfield Canal and the river Idle. At Keadby it connects with the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, and joining the river Ouse at Trentfalls, their united waters form the Humber. The total descent in the 117 miles is about 118 feet. This river, connecting the port of Hull with a wide extent of country, by numerous rivers and canals, forms a ready medium of traffic for the several very extensive manufacturing and agricultural districts with which it communicates.

The Trent and Mersey Canal, sometimes called the Grand Trunk, from its passing through the central parts of the kingdom and connecting the Trent, Mersey, and Severn, commences at Wilden Ferry, where the Derwent falls into the Trent, and running south-west, passes Aston and Swarke-stone, near where it is crossed by the Derby Canal; thence continuing to Burton, where it communicates with the Trent, it passes on to Tradley, and there joins the Coventry and Fazeley Canal. Turning north-west by Rugeley to Heywood Mill, it is there joined by the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Passing by Weston to Stone, and north by Trentham to Stoke, it is there joined by the Newcastle-under-Line Canal on the south; and the Caldon branch runs from its north side to near Uttoxeter. Continuing north by Etruria, it passes through the new tunnel of 2880 yards at Harecastle, in Staffordshire, which was made only [7:16:21]about a dozen years ago, the original tunnel being excessively confined, and without a towing-path. This canal is , then joined by the Macclesfield Canal. It next inclines north-west to Middlewich, where the Middlewich branch goes off; then passes near Northwich, and through the three small tunnels of Barnton, Saltersford, and Preston, to its termination at Preston Brook, in the Duke of Bridgewater’s Canal. From Wilden Ferry on the Trent, to the Harecastle summit, there is a rise of 316 feet; and from this to Middlewich the fall is 326 feet; the remainder being level to Preston Brook. The total length is about ninety-three miles.

Tyne River is navigable for large vessels in the tideway for fifteen miles up from its mouth, in the German Sea, to Newcastle, and a few miles farther for a particular kind of barges called keels. The principal trade is in coals, and has for ages been carried on to a great extent.

Ulverstone Ship Canal commences at Hammerside, in Morecombe Bay, in the Irish Sea, and terminates at the new basin and wharfs at Ulverstone; it is about a mile and a half long. The water is sixty-five feet wide at top, thirty at bottom, and fifteen feet deep. It has a tide-lock 112 feet long at its entrance.

Ure River Navigation, or Ripon Canal, proceeds partly up the Ure, from its mouth at Milby, on the Ouse or Yore River, and partly by a canal to Ripon. The length is about eight miles and a half.

The Warwick and Birmingham Canal commences in the Warwick and Napton Canal at Saltesford, in the borough of Warwick, and passing north-west by Bowington to Kingswood, is there joined by the Lapworth branch of the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal; thence, by Knowle, Olton End, and Kingsford, it at length joins the Digbeth branch of the Birmingham Canal at Birmingham. The first half mile is level; the next two and a half to Hatton rise 146 feet by twenty locks; and thence there is a level of eight miles and a half to Knowle Common. Having in the next quarter of a mile risen forty-two feet by seven locks, it then runs ten miles level, and the remainder falls forty-two feet by five locks. The total length is twenty-two miles and a half.

Warwick and Napton Canal extends from the Warwick and Birmingham Canal at Saltesford to the Oxford Canal, nearNapton-on-the-Hill, a distance of about fourteen miles, with a rise of 134 feet.

Waveney River, between Suffolk and Norfolk, is navigable for about twenty-three miles from its mouth in the Yore, at Burgh, up to Bungay.

Wear River is navigable from its mouth in the German Sea, at Sunderland, up to near the city of Durham; a distance of about eighteen miles. This navigation is of great importance for the exportation of coal, which abounds in the neighbourhood; and in 1830 an act was obtained for various improvements on it.

Weaver River Navigation commences in the tideway of the Mersey at Weston Point, and proceeds first in a cut for four miles, and then nearly up the course of the river to Winsford Bridge; a total distance of twenty-three miles and three quarters, ascending fifty feet by twelve locks.

Welland River has, by means of locks, weirs, and cuts, been made navigable from its mouth in the Wash, up to Stamford, in Lincolnshire; but the works require to be greatly improved.

Wey River has been rendered navigable from its mouth in the Thames, partly by extensive side-cuts, and partly in the bed of the river, up by Woburn Park and Guildford to Godalming. In fifteen miles and a quarter from the Thames to Guildford it rises sixty-eight feet and a half; and thence to Godaiming, which is mostly an artificial canal, the rise is thirty-two feet and a half. The total length is about twenty miles and a half. About two miles from the Thames it is joined by the Basingstoke Canal, and farther on by the following.

The Wey and Arun Junction Canal extends from the Wey, near Shalford Powder Mills, to the Arun Navigation at Newbridge; a distance of eighteen miles. It forms part of the navigable line between London and Portsmouth.

The Wiltsand Berks Canal commences at Semington, in the Kennet and Avon Canal, and proceeds by near Melksham, Chippenham, Wootton-Basset, and Wantage, to the Thames at Abingdon; a distance of fifty-two miles. From Derry Hill a branch of one mile and a half goes off to Chippenham; and near Stanley House another of three miles goes to Calne. From near Eastcott a branch of eight miles and a half, originally called the North Wilts Canal, goes to join the Thames and Severn Canal, near Cricklade, with a fall of fifty-eight feet and two thirds; and from Breach Field a branch of three quarters of a mile goes to Wantage. In the first seven miles and three eighths to the Chippenham branch the rise is fifty-four feet; thence to the Calne branch, one mile and a half, rising seventeen feet; and thence to the summit-level, ten miles and three quarters, rising 130 feet. The summit extends nine miles and three eighths, and in fifteen miles from it to Wantage River the fall is seventy-one feet and a half; thence to Abingdon, seven miles and three quarters, the fall is ninety-six feet and a half. This canal is an important link in several navigations.

The Wisbeach Canal is a level cut of six miles, from the Nen River at Wisbeach, to the Old River at Outwell, at the end of Well Creek, through which it communicates with the·Ouse at Salter’s Load Sluice.

Witham River is navigable from its mouth in the Wash, up to the Foss-dike Navigation, at the city of Lincoln; a distance of thirty-eight miles, through a level country, viz. from the sea to Boston five miles, thence to the Sleaford Canal eleven miles, thence to the Horncastle Navigation three miles, and thence to Lincoln nineteen miles. The greater part is embanked on both sides from the sea upwards.

The Worcester and Birmingham Canal commences at the junction of the Birmingham Canal and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, at the upper end of the town of Birmingham, and runs south-west to its junction with the Dudley Canal at Selly Oak; thence south-east to King’s Norton, where it receives the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal. From this it continues south-west by Stoke Prior, till,alittle east of Droitwich, it joins the Severn at Diglis, a little below Worcester. The total length is twenty-nine miles, the breadth at top forty-two feet, and the depth six. In the first fourteen miles the canal is level; but in the remaining fifteen it falls 428 feet by seventy-one locks, which are each eighty-one feet long and fifteen wide. There are five tunnels on this line; that at West Heath is 2700 yards long.

Wreak and Eye Rivers, or Leicester and Melton-Mowbray Navigation, extends from the Leicester Navigation at Turnwater Meadow to the Oakham Canal at Melton-Mowbray, about eleven miles. It follows the courses of the Wreak and Eye.

Wye and Lugg Rivers, the former the principal branch, begins to be navigable ninety-nine miles and a half by water from the Severn, viz. from Hay to Hereford thirty miles, thence to the mouth of the Lugg seven and a half, thence to the town of Ross twenty-one and a half, thence to Lidbrook eight, thence to xMonmouth twelve, and thence to the Severn twenty and a half. This river has a considerable declivity; and the great rise of the tides renders the lower part difficult and dangerous.

Wyrley and Essington Canal commences near Wolverhampton, in the Birmingham Canal, and passes by Polsal and Lichfield to the Coventry Canal near Huddlesford, a distance of twenty-four miles. The first sixteen to Can-nock[7:16:22] Heath Reservoir are level; in the remaining eight is a fall of 270 feet by thirty locks. There is a branch of five miles and a half to Hay-Head Lime-works; another of two miles and a half to Lords-Hay Collieries; another of four miles to Wyrley-Bank Collieries, with a cut of one mile from it to Essington New Collieries. The canal is twenty-eight feet wide at top, sixteen at bottom, and four and a half deep.

Yare River is navigable from Norwich to Yarmouth by a crooked course of twenty-eight miles. At Yarmouth it is joined by the river Thym, and at Burgh by the Waveney. This navigation being incommoded by shallows, gave rise to the Norwich and Lowestoff Navigation.

Yore River, see Ure.

Several of the British canals always were, and others are now become, very unproductive. Some have suffered from an ill-advised location, and others have been reduced in value by changes in the course of trade. The rapid progress of manufactures, and the increase of domestic commerce, have invited a resort to new and shorter channels of communication; and not a few costly works are now sustaining an unequal competition with the less expensive productions of more modern art. The day may not be very distant when these will in their turn become unprofitable, and give place to other projects; but they can never cease to be regarded as monuments of skill in mechanical construction. Some of the canals of England are sadly cramped, by the miserably confined state of their bridges, and especially of their tunnels, which are often so low and narrow as to have neither room for a towing-path, nor yet for the boatmen, except lying prostrate, and moving the boat slowly along, by pawing against the walls with their hands or feet. Some excuse might be pleaded for those of this sort which were first made, or which are in obscure districts; but it is remarkable that the tunnel of the Regent’s Canal, which passes under a wing of the great metropolis, and was only made in 1819, should have no towing-path.

Ireland.

It has been said that the unfortunate Earl of Strafford, from having seen the utility of inland navigation in the Low Countries, first suggested the improvement of river navigation in Ireland. In 1703 the first act of parliament was passed for rendering the Shannon navigable, and many improvements were projected. Nothing, however, was effected but an useless expenditure of L.140,000 on the Shannon and Boyne in the year 1758. Various other large sums were afterwards granted and frittered away in partial improvements of the Shannon, Boyne, Barrow, and Newry Rivers, besides the Grand, Royal, Kildare, Naas, and Lough Earne Navigations.

The following is a concise account of the principal inland navigations of Ireland, arranged alphabetically; but several others are in progress.

Bandon River, county Cork, is navigable from the port of Kinsale up to within two miles of Bandon.

Bann River, county Down, is navigable for nine miles, from where it is joined by the Newry Canal, near Portadown, to its entrance into Lough Neagh. This is sometimes called the Upper Bann. The outlet of Lough Neagh, called the Lower Bann, is not navigable, but might surely be easily made so, since it has only a descent of thirty-eight feet to the sea, five miles below Coleraine.

Barrow River has been rendered navigable from the tideway below St Mallins, up to where it is joined by the Grand Canal at Athy Bridge, a distance of forty-three miles, falling 172 feet. But from Athy to the mouth of the Barrow, in the estuary of Waterford harbour, and through that to St George’s Channel, the distance exceeds sixty miles.

Blackwater River, county Cork, is navigable from its mouth at Youghall, up as far as the tide reaches, or at most to Cappoquin. There is another and smaller Blackwater, connected with the Tyrone Canal, and flowing into Lough Neagh.

Boyne River is navigable from the bay of Drogheda for twenty-two miles up to Trim, in the last seven miles of which it ascends from Navan 189 feet, by means of locks, which are from eighty to 100 feet long, and fifteen wide.

Corrib River and Lough or Lake form a navigable line, commencing at the mouth of that river in Galway Bay, and extending from Galway town in a north-westerly direction for about twenty-four miles.

Earne River and Lough or Lake are navigable through the lake, from the upper part, where the river enters it, below Belturbet, till it leaves it again at Enniskillen, where it is obstructed by weirs; but below the isle on which that town is built the river again expands into the lower part of the lake, through which it is also navigable. Thus far the entire distance is about thirty miles, and the navigation is terminated by a fall, from which the river has a rapid course of nine miles to Donegal Bay. It has been proposed to construct a canal from Lough Earne, beginning near Belturbet, and to follow along the valleys of the Finn and Blackwater to Lough Neagh.

Fergus River, county Clare, is navigable from its mouth, in the Shannon, up to Ennis, the county town.

Foyle River is navigable for ten miles from its mouth, in the estuary of Lough Foyle, below Londonderry, up to Strabane.

The Grand Canal commences on the south side of the river Liffey, near its mouth, and proceeds westward by the south side of the city of Dublin, through the counties of Dublin, Kildare, and King’s County to the Shannon, with which it unites near Banagher. But, exclusive of this main line of about eighty-seven miles, there is a westerly branch or rather continuation of the line for fourteen miles beyond the Shannon to Ballinasloe, and there is a southerly branch of twenty-six miles from Lawton to Athy, where it joins the Barrow. There are also branches to Naas, Mount Mellick, Portarlington, and other places. The water is forty feet wide at the surface, twenty-five at the bottom, and six deep. The locks on the main line are seventy feet long, fourteen and a half wide, with five feet of water on the sill, and their average lift is nine feet. The track of this canal passing for a considerable way through the bog of Allen added greatly to the expense, which is said to have exceeded two millions sterling. The highest part rises 278 feet above the sea.

Lagan Navigation commences in the tideway at Belfast, and proceeds mostly by the course of the river as far as Lisburn, from which it is continued by a canal, by Hillsborough and Moira, to Lough Neagh. The total length is twenty-eight miles.

Lee River is navigable in the tideway up to the city of Cork, and for small craft somewhat farther. Below Cork, however, the navigation is principally an arm of the sea called Cork harbour.

Liffey River is navigable from its month in Dublin Bay for about three miles up to Carlisle Bridge, at the farther end of the city of Dublin. From the south side of this navigable part proceeds the Grand Canal, and from the north side the Royal Canal.

Limerick Navigation commences at that city, and proceeds in a north-easterly direction, partly in the Shannon and partly by canals, for fifteen miles, to Killaloe, at the south end of Lough Derg.

Maig River, county Limerick, is navigable from its mouth in the Shannon to near Adare.

Moy River, county Mayo, is navigable for about five miles, from Killala Bay up to Ballina.
[7:16:23]

Neagh Lough or Lake, being about twenty miles long and ten broad, is generally of sufficient depth to be navigable to a considerable extent in every direction. It communicates with Belfast by the Lagan Navigation, with the Tyrone Collieries by the Blackwater, ^vi th Antrim by the Antrim River, and southward with the sea by the Newry Navigation.

Newry Navigation commences in the tideway of Lough Fathom, three miles below Newry, which it passes, and proceeds sixteen miles by a canal to the upper Bann River, in which it continues to Lough Neagh. The entire length is about thirty miles and three eighths, generally in a north direction. It has hitherto been a very imperfect navigation, but was the first executed in Ireland.

Nore River is navigable from its mouth, in the Barrow, two miles above New Ross, for considerable vessels to Innistioge, and up to Thomastown for barges.

The Royal Canal commences at Dublin, on the north side of the Liffey, and proceeds in a direction which generally diverges slightly from that of the Grand Canal, being about west by north for eighty-three miles to its junction with the Shannon at Tarmonbury. The water is forty-four feet wide at top, twenty-four at bottom, and six deep, and the summit is 322 feet above the sea. The locks are eighty-one feet long and fourteen wide. A few years ago this canal was said to be in a sadly neglected state; part of it at Leikslip, eight miles only from Dublin, having scarcely ever been used, and the works apparently fast going to ruin.^[8. Macculloch’s Statistics of the British Empire. ]

Shannon River forms the most important feature in the inland navigation of Ireland. For the first 144 miles of this navigation, viz. from the head of Lough Allen to the sea below Limerick, the Shannon may be considered as a concatenation of rivers and lakes. Issuing from Lough Allen, it passes Leitrim, Carrick, Tarmonbury, &c., and then enters, at Lanesborough, a very irregularly shaped and extensive sheet of water, called Lough Ree, about seventeen miles in length. Leaving it, the river, now greatly augmented, passes Athlone, and then winds by Shannon Bridge and Banagher to Portumna, near which it expands into Lough Derg, another narrow lake, twenty-three miles long, with deep bays and inlets. From the southern extremity of this lake it flows on to Limerick. In this extent of navigation we have, first, Lough Allen, ten miles; thence to Lough Ree, forty-three; Lough Ree itself, seventeen; thence to Lough Derg, thirty-six; Lough Derg, twenty-three; thence to Limerick, fifteen; making together 144 miles. The mean height of Lough Allen above the sea at Limerick is about 143½ feet, being on an average about a foot of declivity per mile. Instead of the natural fall, however, the water has been reduced, by means of locks, to a series of level pools. The estuary or frith of the Shannon extends south-west about seventy miles beyond Limerick to its mouth, which is finally about eight miles wide between Loop Head and Kerry Head, at the Atlantic.

The direction of the Shannon from Lough Allen to Limerick, though generally south by south-west, is very circuitous, and broken by many streams, islands, and rocks. The soundings are as various, and both banks are liable to be overflowed by the river to a great extent; and the large expanse of the lakes would require a different sort of vessels from those which navigate the river. The works which have been constructed to overcome the natural difficulties of the navigation are either insufficient or in a state of decay; and it seems to be generally admitted that very little real good can be effected until the natural obstructions are removed, the number of lakes reduced, and the channel deepened and improved in various parts; though it is still doubted if the navigation would even then be suitable for any thing but steam-vessels. The Shannon connects with the Royal Canal at Tarmonbury, and with the Grand Canal at Shannon harbour, near Banagher. At Shannon Bridge it receives, on the west, its principal tributary the Suck; on the east, the Inny, the Upper and Lower Brosna, Mulkerna, Maig, Fergus, &c. Much information on this and the other navigations of Ireland will be found in the Parliamentary Reports, particularly those for 1830 and 1834.

Slane or Slaney River is navigable from its mouth in Wexford Haven, for fourteen miles, to Enniscorthy.

Suir or Sure River unites with the Barrow in the estuary called Waterford harbour, about five miles below the town, and is navigable from that up to Carrick for sloops, and to Clonmell for barges. At the town of Waterford, the largest ships lie afloat in forty feet water.

The Tyrone Colliery Canal commences at the southwest extremity of Lough Neagh, proceeding by a short cut' across the isthmus of Maghery to the Blackwater River, and, following it a short way, passes by another cut of three miles to the Colliery Basin, from which a railway extends to the mines.