On Embankments. 291 



neighbourhood ; and, 2. To reclaim from the sea, or large 

 rivers, land overflowed by them, and to render it useful ter- 

 ritory. 



1. Protecting Lands from Inundations. 



This is a subject of considerable extent and importance. 

 In many districts, the sea makes perpetual inroads on the 

 land ; in others, lakes, during the rainy seasons of the year, 

 or after the melting of snow, spread their waters over the 

 adjacent flat land ; while, above all, there is scarcely a river 

 in the country, that does not, every season, commit devasta- 

 tions along its banks, either rendering large tracts unpro- 

 ductive, or destroying and sweeping away the harvests. 



1. Protection against the Sea. Where the coast is defend- 

 ed by bulwarks, consisting of loose, soft, and penetrable ma- 

 terials, they are often broken down by the sea, more espe- 

 cially in high tides. The extent of land on the coast is thus 

 proportionably diminished, and considerable injury sustain- 

 ed. Bulwarks for preventing such encroachments are, in 

 most cases, both difficult, and expensive in the execution, 

 and often precarious in point of permanency. The power 

 of water, when impelled by strong wind, is not easily re- 

 sisted ; and when the sea is to be contended with, the bar- 

 riers erected against it, ought to be constructed with pecu- 

 liar care, as many circumstances may occur, to obstruct their 

 execution, and to overturn them when supposed to be com- 

 pletely finished ( 47 *). 



To prevent this mischief, artificial barriers of stone, or of 

 wood and stone, should be erected, to stop the progress of 

 encroachment ; but sometimes banks of shingles, and even 

 of sand, found on the spot, have answered, by an attentive 

 imitation of nature, in the formation of shoals, and ridges 

 of the beach ( 473 ). Where the object is, to protect such 

 low parts of the coast as are subjected to inundation, by the 

 flowing of high tides, a regular bank should be formed, the 

 breadth, height and strength of which, should be propor- 

 tioned to the depth and weight of water it may have to re- 

 sist. As a farther security, piles should be driven into the 

 shore, in front of the bank, to break the force of the waves. 

 By this expedient, the walls receive no farther injury, as the 

 space between the piles and the bank, is, in this manner, 

 rendered tolerably smooth, however tempestuous the waves 

 may be without ( 474 ). 



2. Protection against Lakes. In general, lakes are sub* 



T2 



