328 The Unknown River, 



•attempt at construction : a wooden bridge for foot- 

 passengers only, the cattle and cart traffic still passing 

 through the water in a shallow ford a little below. Then 

 comes the first stone bridge, a single arch, if the people 

 are rich enough to afford a piece of accomplished engi- 

 neering ; but, if the village masons have done the work, 

 more usually two or three tiny arches, that a stray cow 

 might possibly pass under, and which are pretty sure to 

 be choked with water in a flood which will wash over 

 the rude parapet. As the river widens it passes near 

 some town or city, and then we find the stately stone 

 bridge of careful masonry — three arches, perhaps — 

 where the high-road enters the town. After that the 

 number of arches increases, till at last you meet with 

 those long and stately constructions, whose fine perspec- 

 tive attracted Turner so much when he illustrated the 

 rivers of France. 



The accompanying sketch, which represents the bridge 

 of Gueugnon, gives evidence that the Unknown River 

 has quite grown out of the romantic and tumultuous 

 period of its existence, and become a sober stream capa- 

 ble even of rendering service to navigation, if it were 

 worth while to deepen a few shallows here and there. 

 Indeed, from this bridge to the Loire the river is classed 

 amongst those which, if not positively navigable, might 

 easily be made so. 



Gueugnon is rather an industrial place, as may be 

 guessed from the smoky chimneys in the etching, which 

 belong to some ironworks, where they make wire, and 

 sheet-iron for tinning. Here the traveller found an iron 



