AX AMERICAS' FARMER IX EXGLAXD. 



they are closed, and the water being retained, the ships are left 

 securely floating at a height convenient for removing their car- 

 goes. The docks are all enclosed by high brick walls, but be- 

 tween these and the water there is room enough for passing of 

 carts, and for the temporary protection of goods under wooden 

 sheds, as they are hoisted out, and before they can be removed. 

 The streets about the docks are mostly lined with very large and 

 strong fire-proof warehouses. The quay outside the docks is 

 broad enough to afford a wide terrace upon the river, which is 

 called the Marine Parade, and is much resorted to as a promen- 

 ade. Stone stairs at intervals descend to the bottom of the river, 

 and there are similar ones within the docks to give access to small 

 boats. There are buoys and life-preservers lashed to the rails 

 of the bridges, and small houses occasionally, furnished with in- 

 struments and remedies, for the resuscitation of drowning per- 

 sons. 



There are graving docks in which the depth of water can be 

 regulated at pleasure, for the inspection and repair of the bottoms 

 of vessels ; and there are large basins for coasters, to which there 

 are no gates, and in which the tide rises and falls, leaving them 

 in the mud at the ebb. The large docks are connected with each 

 other, and with the graving docks, by canals, so a vessel can go 

 from one to another at any time of tide, and without going into 

 the river. 



But you have yet no idea of the spaciousness and grandeur of 

 the docks. Some of them enclose within their walls ten or twelve 

 acres, half of which, or more, is occupied by vessels. The twelve 

 now completed (there are more building) extend along in front 

 of the town uninterrupted by buildings for more than two miles, 

 or further than from Whitehall Stairs to Corlear's Hook, in New 

 York. On the other side of the river, a considerably larger ex- 

 tent of docks is laid out and constructing. A basin for coasters, 



