STATISTICS. 121 



finished half a century ago. The proprietors of this 

 canal received no dividends or returns for their 

 money, for , thirty-two years, nor have they since re- 

 ceived 2J per cent, on what their shares have cost 

 them including lost interest. 421,525. at compound 

 interest would have amounted to two millions sterling 

 when tjie dividends commenced paying. . 



The Languedoc Canal. 



The Languedoc canal is 152 miles long, and six feet 

 deep, and was finished during the reign of Lewis 

 XIV., at an expense of 650,000/. It has 100 locks, 

 and its summit level is 639 feet above the level of 

 the sea. 



Rent above and below Ground. 



One-third of the produce is the common rent of 

 an estate above ground ; but only one tenth of the 

 produce of a coal mine. 



Coals. 



The Newcastle coal formation extends in length 

 23 miles, containing altogether 557,568,000; the 

 whole coal in this formation amounts therefore to 

 5,575,680,000 cubic yards. The quantity of coal 

 exported annually 2,000,000 of chaldrons. 



A chaldron weighs 25 cwt., so that 28,000,000 

 tons of coal are annually raised. A ton of coal is 

 nearly one cubic yard, so that the yearly loss from 

 mining amounts to 28 millions, or (adding 3 for 

 waste) to 31 millions of cubic yards. The result is, 

 that the Newcastle mines, at the present rate, are 

 capable of supplying coals for one thousand years. 



Cowries. 



In Soudan or Central Africa cowries were ex- 

 changed at the rate of about 2,000 for a Spanish 

 dollar. This shell, which forms an excellent medium 



