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pulation at the same timo that they procure to the mass 

 a quiet and harmless recreation. 



The subject of the paper communicated by Mr de 

 Closets interests in a hio;h dep^ree the manufacturers of 

 sugar in the colony, for its object is the application of 

 moveable railways for the conveyance of the canes to 

 the mill Avliere they are to be wurked. 



Already thanks to tlip spirit of pronjress of Messrs. 

 Rochecouste, of Grand-Port, a railroad is in the course 

 of construction on their estate "Riche en eau." It will 

 be constructed so as to enable mtilos to be used at first, 

 and a locomotive enoine at a future period. Mr de 

 Closets values at £800 or £ 1,000 per mile the cost of 

 an iron railroad, and at about the same sum the cost 

 of a locomotive engine. The steepest incline of the 

 road now in the course of formation at "Riche en eau," 

 ■will be about 2 per cent for a small distance. Thp lo- 

 comotive is calculated to ascend a slope of 3 per cent 

 at an average speed of nine feet (3 metres) per second. 



The rails proposed by the author have the advantage 

 of not requiiing either wooden steepers or chains to 

 keep them in placp. Let us picture to ourselves two 

 parallel plate bands 8 or 9 inches in breadth, and with 

 a rounded projection in the middle of their length ; 

 they are laid flat on the ground which is previously 

 levelled, and their parallel position is preserved by bars 

 which are placed at cert-iin distances; each band is of 

 a length of tAvelve feet or more, and the extremities are 

 joined by coupling plates. This is the railway as sim- 

 ple as it is ecouomica3, propossd by the author. Such 

 railroads, he agrees, have been used with success in 

 Europe, on some great lines of communication. The 

 proposed rails are either of cast or wrought iron. Mr. 

 de Closets recommend cast-iron for the damp districts. 

 Waggons of a convenient shupe to contain the canes 

 are placed on these rails, and according; to the locality, 

 drawn by mules, or by the mere force of gravity, or by 

 steam, by fixed or locomotive engines. 



The paper examines evc^ry e.tsc which may occur \n 

 practice in Mauritius, taking ifito cousideratioti the de- 

 clivities to be ascended or descended, and compares 



