CHAP. i. WATKI; sriMM.v <>r LONDON IN KAIJI.Y TIMES, 



91 



li\ his adventures on the Spanish Main, observing the 

 greal inconvenience suffered by the population from 1 1 1 i s 

 wan! of watrr, as well as the difficulty of furnishing 

 the ships frequenting the port with that indispensable 

 necessary, conceived the project of supplying the defi- 

 ciency by leading a store of water to the town from 

 one of the numerous springs on Dartmoor. Accordingly, 

 in 1587, when he represented Bossiney (Tintagel) in 

 Cornwall, he obtained an Act enabling him to convey 

 a stream from the river Mew or Heavy; and in the 

 preamble to the Act it was expressed that its object 

 was not only to ensure a continual supply of water 

 to the inhabitants, but to obviate the inconvenience 

 hitherto sustained by seamen in watering their vessels. 

 It would appear, from documents still extant, that the 

 t< >wn < >f I'lyim >uth contributed 200. towards the expenses 

 of the works, Sir Francis being at the remainder of the 

 cost ; and on the completion of the undertaking the 

 corporation agreed to grant him a lease of the aqueduct 

 for a term of twenty years, at a nominal rental. Drake 

 lost no time in. carrying out the work, which was finished 

 in four years after the passing of the Act ; and its com- 

 pletion in 1591, on the occasion of the welcoming of the 

 stream into the town, was attended with great public 

 rejoicings. 1 



The " Leet," as it is called, is a work of no great mag- 

 nitude, though of much utility. It was originally nothing 

 more than an open trench cut along the sides of the 

 moor, in which the water flowed by a gentle inclination 

 into the town and through the streets of Plymouth. 

 The distance between the head of the aqueduct at Sheep's 



1 The tradition survives to this day 

 that Sir Francis Drake did not cut 

 the Leet l>y the power of money and 

 engineering skill, but by the power 

 of magic. It is said of him that, 

 calling Cor his horse, he mounted it 

 and rode about Dartmoor until he 



came to a spring sufficiently copious 

 for his design, mi which, pronouncing 

 si >me magical words, he wheeled round, 

 and, starting off at a gallop, the stream 

 formed its own channel, and followed 

 his horse's heels into the town. 



