154 Dunkerque. [TEB. 



town, interminable lines of water stretch away or wind about in all di- 

 rections, intersecting each other every here and there each with its 

 trim green banks rising slantingly many feet above the water, its lines of 

 willows, poplars, or young elms, and its endless succession of locks, 

 basins, and drawbridges each of the latter objects being accompanied 

 by a multiplicity of machinery, unintelligible to any but the initiated, 

 yet producing a curious and interesting effect upon all. I know of no 

 other town where objects of this class may be seen to so much advan- 

 tage, as they are all in the most perfect repair ; and most of them, being 

 nearly new, are constructed upon the most approved and efficient prin- 

 ciples. There is one portion of them, in particular, which I will mention 

 here, while it occurs to me, and before we enter the town itself of which 

 it does not form a part. In front of the harbour of Dunkerque there 

 rises a high bar (as it is called), or sand-bank, which is of infinite detri- 

 ment to the traffic of the port, by preventing all but vessels of very light 

 burthen from entering, except at nearly high water, and by excluding 

 vessels of very heavy burthen altogether. For several years past a very 

 noble work has been constructing, for the purpose of gradually reducing 

 this bar, and, at all events, of preventing the perpetual increase of it, 

 which has been observed of late years to take place. The work consists 

 of an immense basin, at about a third of a mile from the situation of the 

 sand-bank, which communicates with the port, and consequently into 

 which the sea runs, as the tide flows, and fills it. The entrance to this 

 basin consists of five sluice-gates, which, on the days that the works are 

 intended to be put in action, are shut at high water, and so remain till 

 nearly the point of low water when they are suddenly opened, and the 

 immense body of water contained in the basin is precipitated, in the form 

 of five tremendous cataracts, directly towards the object they are intended 

 to act upon. At the same moment, all the other sluice-gates of the canals 

 which communicate with the harbour are opened also, by way of auxilia- 

 ries to the great body contained in the basin; and the whole keep 

 pouring forth their resistless streams for the space of nearly an hour. 

 The basin has been for some months completed, and its effects have been 

 several times tried ; and report says, that the bar is already reduced some 

 feet in height. This is unquestionably one of the noblest works of its 

 kind in Europe ; and, as a mere sight, I know of nothing whatever so 

 fine, as an effect of human industry and art. The body of water poured 

 forth by the sluices, while in action, surpasses, both in strength and 

 quantity, that of most of the celebrated natural waterfalls in Europe : 

 and the whole being confined in its course to very narrow limits, by the 

 two jetties which bound the entrance to the harbour, the whole force of 

 the water is preserved till nearly the point where it has to play upon the 

 sand-bank. The manner in which the two bodies of water namely, 

 that which rushes from the mouth of the port, and the sea itself, which is 

 at the same time entering the same narrow course contend with each 

 other for mastery, produces also a very noble effect ; when it is considered 

 what the artificial stream has to contend against namely, nothing less 

 than the great body of the ocean itself. 



The gate of entrance to Dunkerque, on the French side, is at a bridge 

 called the Pont-rouge, which crosses the canal leading to Bruges, arid 

 flanking the first two leagues of the Lille road. This canal runs in nearly 

 a straight line its whole length, and has a very agreeable appearance from 

 the bridge just named, near which are assembled the various kinds of 



