ESTABLISHMENT OE POETS. 129 



the tide rises twice a day, thus changing the river into a true mari- 

 time gulf. London, Hamburg, Nantes, Bordeaux, Rouen, and many- 

 other great commercial cities, have been gradually built, in conse- 

 quence of the necessities of commerce ; as far as possible inland at 

 the precise spot where the depth of water and the force of the tide 

 allow ships to approach easily. Nevertheless, since the ships of the 

 present day draw much more water than those of our ancestors, the 

 result is that a number of ports on rivers have become insufficient. 

 It is thus that Rouen has been gradually replaced by Havre as the 

 port for international commerce. Thus Nantes, too, has seen in these 

 days a rival city grow up in the village of St Nazaire, so modest 

 but a few years ago. Perhaps the hamlet of Yerdon, provided sooner 

 or later with docks, basins, and jetties, will become likewise the real 

 commercial Bordeaux. 



