52 



A STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



Address of the Preside?} t and Directors at the close of 

 the work. 



'■^ At the close of a work so important to you, and so ad- 

 vantageous to the community, as that or' the Permcment Bridg-e 

 which we now deliver over to our successors, in a state to 

 every useful purpose complete, it might be expected, that 

 some specific enumeration of its various difficulties, and the 

 impediments which rendered it dilatory and expensive, should 

 be given. But in the course of the undertaking, eveiy cir- 

 cumstance, worthy of notice, from time to time occurring, has 

 been detailed and published in the reports of our Building 

 Committee ; with an attention and constant regard to correct- 

 ness of representation, which has marked their conduct, from 

 the commencement to the end of this arduous enterprize. 

 The whole has been under the view of the Stockholders, who 

 have evinced their approbation, by continuing in the exercise 

 of the trust confided to them, the President and the major 

 part of the Directors, as they were originally chosen. This 

 mutual confidence has animated us in the discharge of a duty, 

 often laborious, frequently perplexing, and always exposing 

 us to responsibility for measures, taken under emergencies, 

 sudden, difficult, imperative, and requiring large and unlock- 

 ed for expenditures. The whole was new to us ; and some 

 parts of the work unexampled in any countn% We could 

 obtain, in exigencies the most pressing, no immediate assist- 



acid; as is our common lime stone. But no analysis was 

 made ; its effects only being the objects. In the Spanish 

 West India Islands., they use marine productions in cement, 

 for coating or rough casting.^ impervious to water, or mois- 

 ture. They may, possibly, be of the nature of Welch lime: 

 and, with careful search, such useful substances may be 

 found on our shores ; or, in our country, tarras., or some 

 earth of similar qualities may be discovered. In Jamaica 

 thev have an earth, which answers every purpose, of either 

 puzzolan^, or tarras. 



