The River Port Hutton to Smithford 



inhabited, and it would have been a Herculean task for 

 the few farmers who dwelt along the river's banks to 

 accomplish so great a work. 



The banks and the presence of such a large number 

 of windmills aroused our curiosity, and we determined 

 to land at the first suitable spot to investigate these 

 matters. A few miles farther up stream we noticed a 

 wooden jetty, and gave instructions to put the steamer 

 alongside. 



On landing we found that our impression that the 

 banks were far too large to be artificial was fully 

 justified. They were 40 or 50 feet in thickness, and 10 

 or 12 in height above the country beyond, which was 

 flat and intersected by numerous artificial canals of vary- 

 ing size and at two different levels. The smaller and 

 more numerous canals were on the general level of the 

 ground, but there were two larger ones, which ran at 

 right angles to the course of the river, and had been 

 built up to such a level that their waters could be dis- 

 charged into it at low tide. The windmills were attached 

 to pumps which lifted the water from the low-level canals 

 into the high-level ones, so that when the tide fell, and 

 the sluices were opened, it might flow away towards the 

 sea. Here we had a system of drainage not unlike that 

 which is in use in Holland and in the fenlands of the 

 east of England. 



Much of the country beyond the raised river banks 

 was below the level of the waters of the stream, when 

 the tide was at the full, and doubtless when high spring 

 tides coincided with heavy rains, disastrous floods would 

 occur. The deposit of which this part of the country 

 consisted was very porous, and it was only by means of 



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