SO SPRINGS, RIVEBS, CANALS, LAKES, 



years, that I make no doubt that this canal would be shortened many 

 leagues, were it to be undertaken afresh. It is full of angles and 

 turns that do not appear necessary ; and on the contrary, in one or 

 two places has been driven straight at an enormous expence, through 

 numberless obstacles, when a short sweep would have conveyed the 

 waters, with greater ease, and less expence, to the place of their des- 

 tination. There are fifteen locks upon it in the fall toward the 

 ocean, and forty-five on the side of the Mediterranean. The highest 

 point between the two seas is at Naurouge, which is elevated one 

 hundred toises (more than two hundred yards) above the level of 

 each shore. The canal is carried over thirty- seven aqueducts, and 

 crossed by eight bridges." 



The SEINE rises near Dijon, in Burgundy (now the department of 

 Cote d'Ore) ; it proceeds in a north-western course. On this river 

 Paris is situated. It consists of three parts, independently of its 

 twelve suburbs, namely, the town, which lies on the north of the 

 Seine, the city, which is environed by that river, and the university, 

 which lies to the south of it. The city comprises three islands, 

 formed by the Seine, which are, 1'Isle du Palais, 1'Isle de St. Louis, 

 and ITsle Louviers : the last is small, and contains only storehouses 

 for wood. The isle du Palais communicates with other parts of the 

 city by means of seven stone bridges, the principal of which is the 

 Pont Neuf, or New Bridge, the finest bridge in Paris. It consists 

 of twelve arches, arid is seventy-two feet broad, reckoning the pa. 

 rapets. The middle, or carriage-way, is thirty feet broad, and on 

 each side is a raised footway. 



Over the piles on either side are also semicircular lodgments, in 

 which are an hundred and seventy-eight small shops, formerly be- 

 longing to the king's footmen, which, like those formerly disfiguring 

 London bridge, only serve to obstruct a most beautiful prospect. In 

 the centre of the budge stood once a fine equestrian statue of Henry 

 IV. in brass, larger than life, and standing on a marble pedestal, on 

 the s'des of which were basso relievos,, with inscriptions, representing 

 the victories and principal actions of that hero. At the four corners 

 were tied four slaves, also of brass, who trample upon antique arms. 

 Tiiis stately monument was inclosed within iron rails. Another orna- 

 ment of the Pont Neuf is the Samaritaiue, a building three stories 

 high, in which is an engine that supplies some parts of the city with 

 water. It was thus named from its containing in the front a groupe 



