THE MONT CENIS TUNNEL. 23 



of Public Works for Sardinia, was unveiled by the 

 King at Turin. 



I am told that when the borings were being made, 

 so exact were the gradients one with another, that 

 just before the two tunnels met half-way, the French 

 workmen could hear distinctly the men at work on 

 the Italian side, and vice versa; and that when the 

 intervening rock was broken through, either blasted 

 or removed with picks, the floors of the two tunnels 

 did not vary but a few inches in their level. 



As regards the Times saying that the steam had 

 disappeared from the tunnel on the return journey, I 

 suppose the smoke is meant, as the steam would 

 naturally become condensed after a few minutes, even 

 in an atmosphere of 25° Centigrade. Although the act 

 of condensation might be delayed a little, it could not 

 be prolonged indefinitely. In this case the return 

 journey is said to have been made after a lapse of 

 two hours, and the journey itself occupied fifty-five 

 minutes, so that there were nearly three hours between 

 the time the train passed and returned, and it would 

 indeed have been a singular thing had the steam 

 remained in a state of vapour for such a length of 

 time. It is the smoke and not the steam which 

 makes the Metropolitan District Railway (commonly 

 called the U nderground) so unpleasant and unwholesome. 



There are many tunnels through which common 

 roads pass, but I cannot this moment recollect 

 their names. The Grotto Pausilipo, near Naples, is 

 a tunnel through which the high-road from Naples 

 to Pozzuoli passes. With this tunnel I am well 

 acquainted, having frequently ridden through it on 

 horseback ; it is cut out of the solid rock, its length 

 is two-thirds of a mile, and it is sixty feet in height 



