267 



the rivers of the western and the eastern coast, 

 Engineers have long* so little regarded 580 feet, 

 that is, the height of the hie/of division of Nau- 

 rouse, on the canal of the south, as the maxi- 

 mum which may be reasonably attained in this 

 kind of hydraulic construction, that Mr. Perro- 

 net, a man justly celebrated, considers the pro- 

 ject as very practicable, of forming a canal in 

 Burgundy, between the Yonne and the Saone, 

 which must pass over a height (near Pouilly)^ 

 of 921 feet above the level of the Yonne at low 

 water. In combining inclined planes and rail- 

 ways with lines of navigation, boats have passed 

 into the Monmouthshire canal at a thousand 

 feet of elevation ; but such works, so important 

 for the prosperity of the inland trade of a coun- 

 try, do not constitute what may be called canals 

 for sea navigation. 



The discussion with which we are at present 

 occupied, regards the communication from sea 

 to sea by vessels fitted, from their structure and 

 tonnage, for the India and Chinese trade. Now, 

 the industry of the nations of Europe presents 

 two examples of these oceanic communications, 

 on a very great scale ; one, in the canal of the 

 Eyder or Holstein, the other in the Caledonian 



English usage, are thus classified. {Dutens, Mem. sur les 

 travaux publics, p. 81, 91, 94.) The locks of the first class 

 are at least 04 feet long, and 14 feet wide ; the locks of 

 the second class are also 64 feet long, but only 7 feet wide. 



