]S4.9.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



49 



Mr. Fergusson, before dismissing music, suggests that with the 

 resources of phonetic art, it has capabilities not yet brought out 

 in modern times; and that the sublimer passages of Shakspeare and 

 Miltun may be made to receive a higher expression, by being sung 

 in recitative, by one or more voices. In this case, however, he 

 considers music should be subordinate, and not as in the opera 

 or oratorio, preponderant. 



The Eighth Section is for the Phonetic Arts. The introduction 

 to this, however, shows much less information, and much less accu- 

 racy than we have found in other parts of the work. In this 

 introduction, he traces the means adopted for giving wider ex- 

 pression to words by hieroglyphics and alphabetic characters, down 

 to the printing press and electric telegraph. He indulges, too, in 

 the hope and belief, for which we have already given assurance, 

 that other tools and engines will be invented, by which the natural 

 powers of man's voice may be extended as much or more than the 

 powers of his muscles have been; and, he says, not only in loud- 

 ness, so as to be heard almost instantaneously at the furthest 

 corner of the earth, but in durability, so as to last longer than the 

 pyramids of Egypt. 



Mr. Fergusson says, let those who deny the progress and despair 

 of the perfectibility of mankind, look attentively at the two in- 

 ventions of the steam-engine and electric telegraph. "Is it 

 nothing," says he, "within the last hundred years, to have gained 

 for man the hundred arms of Briareus, and the seven-league boots 

 of the nursery tale, and to enable him to make his speech known 

 to any human being on the face of the earth, not only now, but 

 echoing to all after ages ?" 



The Ninth Section'takes up the subject of Politic Arts, but we 

 do not intend to enter upon it here; and the more so, as con- 

 sidering that Mr. Fergusson is weaker here in carrying out his own 

 principles, we should be led into longer explanations than is 

 justified by the space at our command. 



(To lie continued.) 



Account of some Recent Improvements in the System of Navigating 

 the Ganges by Iron Steam-Vessels. By Albert Robinson, C.E. 

 London : Weale, 1848. 



AVhat this book is, is an account by Mr. Albert Robinson of the 

 steamboats built for the Ganges by Messrs. H. O. & A. Robinson, 

 of Millwall, — a very unpromising announcement to many, for it 

 suggests the idea of a mere prospectus or advertisement. Sucli a 

 publication would come within the views of many firms, and is a 

 legitimate mode of pushing business ; but there is, however, a 

 higlier duty on the part of tliose engaged in a professional pursuit, 

 and that is to give some account of the works they perform. A 

 man who makes a coat after the received fashion would not be 

 thanked if he published its cut ; even in the case of a new paletot, 

 he would be exempt from any public communication : but men who 

 are engaged in more liberal pursuits, as they have largely benefit- 

 ted by the diifusion of information, are expected to contribute to 

 it in their turn. This duty, then, constitutes a valuable privilege, 

 a compliance with which is nevertheless too often neglected from 

 self-interested motives. Those, however, who have shown a better 

 feeling, have had no reason to regret their exertions, while they 

 have very usefully contributed to the annals of engineering litera- 

 ture. The compiler and the scientific historian may at some time 

 undertake the task, but no one can so well describe a work as 

 those \\ ho have been actively engaged in its execution ; and a 

 sliort pamphlet, or even a few lines, from them is worth the big 

 volume of strangers. Many valuable contributions will suggest 

 themselves to our readers, and we shall only name a few of those 

 which first occur to us, as Rennie's Breakwater, Mr. Edwin Clarke's 

 account of the Tubular Bridge, Mr. Alan Stevenson's Skerryvore 

 Lighthouse, the account of the Thames Tunnel, and Mr. Alexan- 

 der Gordon's Iron Lighthouses ; to say nothing of Smeaton's Ed- 

 dystone Lighthouse and Ramsgate Harbour, and Watt's directions 

 for putting up Steam Engines. 



A man wlio publishes such a work, does not only a service to 

 himself, but is deserving of thanks for the service lie renders his 

 profession, and we shall always welcome even the slightest attempt 

 in this way. Mr. Albert Robinson has, however, produced a very 

 useful book, in which he has gone to some expense, and has shown 

 much care, in order to give every information on the subject. We 

 do not think this liberality misplaced on any occasion, for whatever 

 information may be given to others, the successful completion of an 

 undertaking is always a guarantee and an advantage to the first 

 promoters ; and the Messrs. Robinson and Russell are much more 



likely to get further orders for India, Russia, and the West Indies, 

 than they are to awaken rivals. Still, there is everything that the 

 manufacturer, the projector, or tlie student re<]uires, to give a de- 

 tailed and accurate view of the whole undertaking, the drawings 

 and text being fully sufficient for all purposes. 



The circumstances which led Mr. Albert Robinson to this un- 

 dertaking are stated by himself. He liad had some experience on 

 the great rivers of America, and being led into communication 

 with capitalists here on the mode of improving the steam naviga 

 tion of India, he proceeded there in 1843, and surveyed the Gang-es 

 from Allahabad to Calcutta. The result was the formation of the 

 Ganges Steam Navigation Company, and the building of a fleet of 

 steamboats by Messrs. H. O. & A. Robinson. These proceedings 

 Mr. Albert Robinson relates. 



The Ganges is the natural channel for the commerce of northern 

 India, but it is distinguised by such natural peculiarities that 

 hitherto its resources have not been adequately developed. Mr. 

 Robinson thus describes it : — 



The country through which it flows may be said to be one immense plain, 

 the soil of which contriins a very large portion of sand, and is of course 

 easily acted on by running waters. The bed which the river has formed for 

 itself in such a soil is, as might lie expected, tortuous or devious in its 

 course, and of very irregular breadth and depth : being composed of loose 

 sand, it is kept in constant motion, and the changes which occur in the depth 

 and locality of the channels are incessant. The banks too are continually 

 undergoing change through the action of the water undermining them at 

 one place, and forming new banks at another. Flats or shallows intervene 

 with deep narrow channels throughout the greater part of its course; and 

 when the river is low, small shallow channels or runs are formed through or 

 across the flats or sand-hars ; and in one of these channels frequently is to 

 be found the only passage for the navigation. The wiJth of the river is so 

 various that it is impossible to give more than an idea of it. When low, it 

 is from J mile to 1^^ mile ; when high, from 1 to 3 miles, and in some places 

 it extends over 20 or 30 miles of the flat country. The depth, when high, 

 is in the channels between 35 and 75 feet ; and when low, between 3^ and 

 10 feet. The perpendicular rise of water in the wet season at Jellioghee is 

 about 32 feet. 'I'he Bhaugruttee, though called a river, is a side channel 

 or mouth of the Ganges, and through which the navigation is performed 

 in the high-water season : the width varies from a furlong to a quarter 

 of a mile, and during the navigable season the least depth is from 3 feet 

 to 22 feet. For some months of the year it is not navigable for large 

 vessels. The Hooghly, which is a continuation of the Bhaugruttee, and 

 through which the navigation is continued to Calcutta, although resembling 

 in its general features the great Ganges, is less irregular and of easier navi- 

 gation ; its depth is generally greater than the Ganges, and the width of the 

 channel is satisfactory : at Calcutta, where it is a tidal river, it is nearly as 

 wide as the Thames at Gravesend. The Sooderbunds, through which the 

 navigation to Calcutta has to pass in the low-water season, are, in fact, small 

 mouths of the Ganges, flowing to the sea through a delta of fine sandy 

 alluvial deposit, covered with a rank vegetation and jungle. These channels 

 are very numerous, and reticulate with each other in the most extraordinary 

 manner, like a labyrinth. Their width varies from only 50 feet to ^ mile, 

 and beiug within the tidal action, their depth is much the same at all seasons 

 of the year ; and at low water is probably not less in the channels used by 

 vessels than 5 feet; their chief peculiarity is their extreme crookedness and 

 sharp bends. 



In the low- water season, the length of the navigation between 

 Allahabad and Calcutta is 1,147 miles; in the high-water season, 

 787 miles : either length far beyond our English experience in 

 river navigation, but familiar to our brethren beyond the Atlantic, 

 whose system, as developed on the Mississip])i, Mr. Robinson has 

 applied to the Ganges. 



The rise of steam navigation on the Ganges is thus stated : — 



Under the administration ot Lord VVdIiam Uentinck, in 1834, the steam 

 traffic of the river was greatly developed by the estaldishment of a regular 

 line of steamers for the cuiiveyance of government stores, troops, passengers, 

 and merchandise. But although the government of India thus led the way, 

 it was understood that it was not intended to discourage or restrict private 

 enterprise. 



Fortunately for the advent of steam navigation in India, coal had then 

 been discovered in several places; and at Burdwan, 63 miles from Calcutta, 

 mines had been opened and worked. This coal is, however, not so good as 

 British coal, the estimation being that it is only equal to 75 per cent, of 

 Newcastle coal ; but it is highly probable that as the pits are deepened the 

 quality will improve. The Burdwan coal is now brought to Calcutta by the 

 Damoodie river, at a cost of 20^. per ton, and to other places on tlie river at 

 prices varying trom 18s. to 2/5. per ton. The price of English coals at Cal- 

 cutta is from 3Us. to 33s. pei ton. 



The system of steam navigation introduced by the Indian gsverment, and 

 which is continued to the present time, is that of placing the goods or pas- 

 sengers in small sep.irate vessels, and the steam-engine and coals in another, 

 which tu^s or tows the cargo-boat or passenger-boat, as the case may be. 

 The steamers or 'steam-tugs' are generally of iron, and abuul 12U feet long, 

 22 feet breadth of beam, 8 feet deep, and draw, when fully coaled, from 



