JAMES B RIND LEY. 57 



know, is merely a small intermediate space, in which the 

 water can be kept at the same elevation as either part of 

 the channel, into which the boat is admitted by the opening 

 of one floodgate, and from which it is let out by the 

 opening of another, after the former has been shut; — the 

 purpose being thus attained of floating it onwards, without 

 any greater waste of v/ater than the quantity required to 

 alter the level of the enclosed space. When locks are not 

 employed, the canal must be either of uniform level 

 throughout, or it must consist of a succession of completely 

 separated portions of water-way, from the one to the other 

 of which the boat is carried on an inclined plane, or by 

 some other mechanical contrivance. 



Canals have also been long in use in several of the 

 countries of modern Europe, particularly in the Netherlands 

 and in France. In the former, indeed, they constitute the 

 principal means of communication between one place and 

 another, whether for commercial or other purposes. In 

 France, the canals of Burgundy, of Briare, of Orleans, and 

 of Languedoc, all contribute important facilities to the com- 

 merce of the country. The last-mentioned, which unites the 

 Mediterranean to the Atlantic, is sixty feet broad and one 

 hundred and fifty miles in length. It vras finished in 

 1 68 1, having employed twelve thousand men for fifteen 

 }ears, and cost twelve hundred thousand pounds sterling. 



It is remarkable that, with these examples before her, 

 England was so late in availing herself of the advantages 

 of canal navigation. The subject, however, had not been 

 altogether unthought of. As early as the reign of Charles 

 the Second, a scheme was in agitation for cutting a canal 

 (which has since been made) between the Forth and the 



