arches. Meissen, ten miles north-west of Dresden, is likewise situ. ated on this river, over which is a bridge, supported by stone piers, but the upper part is of wood: this bridge is considered as a masterpiece of art, the middle arch, which is seventy-five paces wide, being kept together by a single wooden peg. The Elbe bounds the Old Mark of Brandenburg toward the east, and there receives the Havel. It is the principal river in Lower Saxony. At Hamburg it becomes extremely broad, and has sufficient depth for large ships: it dis charges its waters into the German Ocean, by the fortress of Glukstadt. Few kinds of fishes are found in this river.

The principal rivers of FRANCE which have their sources in that kingdom are the Loire, the Garonne, and the Seine; these all discharge their waters into the Atlantic. The LOIRE is a larger river than the Rhone. It rises in the mountains of Cevennes, in Languedoc (now distributed into five departments); it takes its course north and north-west, till it passes the city of Orleans, in the Orleanois (now the department of the Loire); it afterward pursues a course south-west and west, by Tours and Angers, and discharges itself into the Bay of Biscay, forty miles below Nantes; its whole course, with all its windings, is computed to be five hundred miles, receiving in its progress the Allier, Cher, Indre, Creuse, Vienne, and Maine. It has a communication with the Seine by means of the canals of Briate and Orleans. In November 1790, it overflowed its. banks, and laid a large extent of country under water.

The GARONNE rises at the foot of the Pyrenees, in the county of Cominges; it becomes navigable at Muret, on the confines of Languedoc; in its course it is joined by many rivers; it passes Toulouse and Bourdeaux, below which it receives the Dordogne, a river nearly equal to it in consequence; these united streams then take the name of the Gironde, become very broad, and disembogue into the bay of Biscay. By means of this river, and a noble canal, a junction has been formed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. This canal is a work of such grandeur and utility that we cannot consent to pass it by without a more detailed description.

The ROYAL CANAL, formed in order to make a communication between the Atlantic Ocean and the gulf of Lyons, in the Mediterranean, of such extent, that vessels might pass from one sea into the other without going round by Spain, is in truth one of the noblest

works that any country has ever produced. Under Louis XIV. Paul Riquet, of Bezieres, after employing twenty years in a minute consideration of every particular relating to it, during which he had no other counsellor than his gardener, completed his plan. The first stone was laid in the year 1667, and the canal was opened in 1681, but it was not completed until many years after.

It begins in the harbour of Cette, on the Mediterranean, and tra verses the lake of Thau, and a quarter of a mile below Toulouse is conveyed by three sluices into the Garonne. It is every where six feet deep; so that a cargo of eighteen hundred quintals may be forwarded to any place upon it, and its breadth, from one bank to the other, is a hundred and forty-four feet.

At St. Ferreol, a quarter of a mile below Revel, between two rocky hills, that are in the form of a half-moon, is a large reservoir, twelve hundred fathoms in length, five hundred in breadth, and twenty deep, the whole surface being six hundred and eighty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-eight feet. Into this bason of water the rivulet of Laudot, which runs down the hills, is received, and inclosed by a wall two thousand four hundred feet long, a hundred and thirty-two in height, and twenty-four feet thick, having a strong dam, defended by a strong wall of free stone. Under the dam runs an arched passage reaching to the main wall, where three large cocks, of east brass, are turned and shut by means of iron bars; and these cocks discharge the water, through mouths as large as a inan's body, into an arched aqueduct, where it runs through the outer wall, beyond which it goes under the name of the river Laudot; continuing its course to the canal called Rigole de la Plaine. Thence it is conveyed to another fine reservoir, near Naurouse, two hundred fathoms in length, a hundred and fifty in breadth, with the depth of seven feet; and out of this bason is conveyed, by means of sluices, both to the Mediterranean Sea and to the ocean, according as the canal requires it. Though the above cocks remain open for some months successively, yet there is no visible diminution of the water in the great reservoir, Near Bezieres are eight sluices, which form a regular and grand cascade, nine hundred and thirtysix feet long, and sixty-six high, by means of which vessels may pass across the river Orb, and continue their voyage on the canal. Above it, between Bezieres and Gapestan, is the Mal-Pas, where the canal is conveyed for the length of a hundred and twenty fathom

under a mountain cut into a very lofty arcade, the greatest part of which is lined with free-stone, except toward the end, where it is only hewn through the rock, which is of a soft calcareous substance. At Agde is a round sluice, with three openings, three dif ferent depths of the water meeting at this place; and the gates are so ingeniously contrived, that vessels may pass through by opening which ever sluice the master pleases; an invention that struck the great Vauban himself with admiration. The lesser rivers and streams, that might have prejudiced the canal, have been carried under it by water-courses, forty-four in number, beside eight bridges.

This canal cost thirteen millions of livres (something more than half a million sterling), part of which money was furnished by the king, and part by the states of Languedoc. The king generously granted to Riquet, the projector and conductor, and his male heirs, all the jurisdiction and revenues belonging to it; so that the crown was not to come into possession till the extinction of his family. Ships passing on it, for every hundred weight paid twenty sous (10d. English), and even the king himself paid the same toll for military stores, &c. sent by way of this canal; so that the revenne, especially in time of a brisk trade, was very considerable. However, the charges attending it are also very great; for the salaries of the several directors, receivers, comptrollers, lieutenants, clerks, and watchmen, annually amount to one hundred thousand livres (4000%. sterling), beside an enormous great expence in repairs. The Counts of Caraman, descendants of Riquet, were also obliged to keep passage-boats, which are drawn by mules or horses; these go and return at stated times. According to Mr. Swinburne, 860 boats navigate this canal, each of which perform annually six voyages. The conveyance of goods is paid for by the league, passengers pay by the day. The proprietors of the works receive a thousand livres (437. 15s. sterling) each voyage. The whole annual income, the same writer states to be 2,160,000 livres (94,5007. sterling), the current expences and costs of repairs are supposed to amount, one year with another, to 1,610,000 livres (70,4377. 10s. sterling) per annum, and the net profits to 550,000 livres (24,0627. 108. sterling). The length of this canal from Toulouse to Bezieres, where it joins the river Orb, is 125,435 French toises, equal to one hundred and fifty-two English miles. "The system of inland navigation," observes the same writer, "has been so much improved of late

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