NORMAN SELFE. LXXI. 



blow being obtained in the last 10 ft. without requiring generally- 

 more than a 5 ft. fall, instead of 11 ft., 12 ft., and 13 ft., as was 

 required for the same work with the lighter ram, and this with 

 little or no tendency to split the piles. 



The only other departure from ordinary practice, perhaps, is 

 in connection with the fender piles, which are secured into an 

 ironbark bolster in the ordinary way, by a heavy strap and two 

 bolts. Instead, however, of having a shallow iron cap, hooped, as 

 usual, these tops are made to a section which shows three-quarters 

 of a sphere externally, and with a good taper conical interior; they 

 are dropped over about eight inches of the piles' heads, which 

 are wrought conical to receive them, and they are thus enabled 

 to settle down, and always fit tightly as the pile-head shrinks. 



