386 Observations on 



tieratccl for bricks and tiles ; and, at tlie 

 town of Briilgcwatcr in paiticnhir, for 

 scouring bricks, — a sort of staple manu- 

 facture, the doiuaud for which is daily 

 oil the increase. 



All tliesc views, when realized, must 

 have a strong, pernianeut, and beneficial 

 operation, more or less, upon the trade 

 and coniincrcc of the United Kingdom. 



f$ut what will make the junction of 

 Ihc Bristol and iMiglish channels of more 

 jnunediatc bcnelit and importance to 

 this country now is, tliiit ot finding in- 

 stant employnient for tens of thousands 

 of poor men, who are either starv- 

 ing — a heavy burthen upon the poor 

 rates, or filling our prisons, the hulks, 

 or Botany Bay, as victims amidst our 

 overcharged and unemployed popula- 

 tion, from one cud of the kingdom to 

 the other. 



Here then is a work wliieli a patriotic 

 poverimient would do well to commence; 

 at once, either by taking the manage- 

 ment and detail into its own hands, or 

 hy advancing sums of iiioncy from time 

 to time to a company of gentlemen, who 

 will, no doid)t, soon be found both wil- 

 ling and able to carry the desired mea- 

 sure into c.ftbct ; and, indeed, if the n»o- 

 ney were advanced by way of loan only 

 to the company, there can be little doubt 

 that the money so borrowed could bo 

 gradually repaid by the i)rofits arising 

 from the tolls, and other advantages 

 ^vhich must be derived from so large, so 

 grand, so stupendous, and withal so be- 

 neficial, an undertaking. 



I believe Mr. Rennie's estimate went 

 fio farther than to unite the River I'ar- 

 rct with Seaton, and cutting off certain 

 detonis between Bridgewatcr and tlie 

 liiouth of the said river ; Ijiit in my judg- 

 iiicnt, as well as others who Lave at all 

 digested the matter^ the plan should by 

 no means stop there. 'Ihe entrance to 

 the River Parret is well known to sea- 

 men as one of tlie most dangerous and 

 «'ircnitous in the whole chauMcl, not to 

 «ay in England ; and, reasojiing from the 

 increase of the muidjer of vessels which 

 wo(dd pass through it by the proposed 

 Jilan of .Ml. Rennie, ilisi'iir to conclude 

 that, unless some method be taken to 

 obviate the dangers at the mouth of the 

 river, more wrecks will inevitably oc- 

 cur. T caimot speak with ])rccision as 

 to the niunber of vessels which have 

 Ijeen lost on the very dangerous sands 

 fidled the Gore, durinj; the last fifteen 

 \tars, bot I am atiaitl it jfmouiits to 

 teearlj fifteen, or, un->itt werasie, oJiC ui> 



ihe Narrative [ITec. 1, 



nually. Some of tllcm have been in» 

 deed cases of aggravated distress, a de- 

 tail of which will answer no purposa 

 here. But, if a river of alwut one raila 

 long, a (juarter of a mile wide, and fortjT 

 feel deej), were cut a little below Comb- 

 wick, from the River Parret to the Bris- 

 tol Channel, across some marsh lands to 

 the noith-west, it would bring at one* 

 the port of Biidgcwatersix miles nearer 

 to the sea at least, save a circuit of ten 

 miles or upwards to every ship which 

 might enter that river; and it would in- 

 crease the facilities of entering it so 

 much, come from what place she might ; 

 and it would also obviate the great in- 

 convenience and dangers of the Gore 

 sands ; and, of course, crown the plan of 

 JMr. Rennie with perfection. The extra 

 expense of this part of the undertaking 

 will be perhaps about 160,0001. if made 

 of the dimensions above ; but, if half the 

 width might bo supposed sufficient, «f 

 course it would cost but one half th« 

 expense. J.\s. Jennings. 



Hunt spill; Oct. 10, 1816. 



To the ^Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 



SIR, 



1SEND yon some cursory obscrva- > 

 tions on the Narrative of Robert > 

 Adams, a sailor, who was wrecked ia ^ 

 the yoar 1810 on the north-western 

 coast of Africa, and was detained three 

 years in slavery by the Arabs of tha 

 Great Desart, and resided several montlis 

 during that period at Timhuetoo. 



1 call it 'fimbuctoo, not Tombuctoo, 

 because this orthography, first establish- 

 ed by .laokson in his Account of Mo- 

 rocco, is confirmed by M. Depuis, who 

 declares that it is invariably pronounced 

 Timhuetoo. Vide Adams's Narrative, 

 page 94, note D. 



To prevent any obstacles to the dis- 

 covery of Uie interior of Africa, that 

 Blight occur to travellers employed by v 

 tlie British government, it maj be ex- a 

 pcdient here to observe, that the place, •■ 

 4(X) miles north of Senegal, on tl^ •■ 

 western coast of Africa, where this poor fl 

 illiterate sailor v^as wrecked, is called 

 by the Arabs El Gazie ; that is to say, 



^J' — ^\, the g guttural Any Afri- 

 can traveller desirous of ascertaining 

 the iituatiou of El Gazie, would not be 

 able to make himself intelligible, unless 

 he iJiouoiincc^ gruperly tlie i, or g 



guttural 



