go DRAINING OF THE POND OF CITIS, 



'water over a (j,(] jq present a statement of his desien, he showed the prac- 

 hill 172 feet .,.,.„ . , . , ,, , .,, 



high. tjcabihty of conveying the water into the sea over the hills, 



thou(;h their tops were 172 feet above the bottom of the pond; 

 and tliat, by adapting the power of the machine to the quan- 

 tity of water to be raised, he could engage to accomplish it in 

 a very short time. Lastly, as the company seemed undeter- 

 mined, he agreed to undertake it at his own expense. His 

 proposals and his conditions were accepted. 

 This might JMi. Jesse might have accomplished his purpose, by placing 



have been ef- ^^.y^^j.^! steam engines on the ascent of tlie first hill ; the wa- 

 fectodbyasuc- ° 



cession of tt^f raised by the first being raised higher by the second, and 

 steamerigiiiesj y^ on successively, till it reached the lop. The power of these 

 engines, which may be increased to any extent, assured him 

 but a Mng!e , of a given quantity of waier in a given lime ; but such a com- 

 ona prettrrcd. pij^-ation would have been detrimental to the general efiect, 

 for the draining could not have gone on regularly, unless all 

 the engines had worked with constant uniformity, which could 

 not easily have been efi%cted. That he might have no obsta- 

 cles of this kind, and no stoppage, lie conceived the design, 

 and carried- it into e,\ecution, of throwing the water from the 

 pond to the top of the first hill in a single stream, and by 

 means of a single engine. This was adding to the difficulty; 

 but in this the chief merit of the undertaking consists. We 

 shall give an account of the works, by wliich tliis was accom- 

 plished : and we apprehend the reader will be gratified by the 

 view of them given in Plates III and IV. 

 Tlie canal for After having corrected the errours committed in the con- 

 the'ra'iit water ^^'^'*-^'*^" "^ ^^^^ original canal, or drain for the rain-water, 

 first repaired carried round the mountains, and encircling the pond, he 

 improve , ^.,jjj.^,j j^j. \(,^-q[ considerably, so as to give it a greater descent 

 toward the end where it discharged itself. This canal was 

 supported in the steepest parts by stone causeways; and to 

 prevent the fall of the water into it from being too forcible, he 

 diverted ii; as much as possible from a perpendicular direc- 

 tion, giving it diffeient inclinations, according to local cii> 

 cumstances. 

 A w 11 iunk, At some distance from the pond, on the slope of the hill, 



vnhiwo the steam engine is erected. A well is there sunk to a level 



piin)|)s,w»;rkcd '^ 



aliirnatal)' by below that of the bottom of the pond, and from its bottom a 



horizontal 



