4 
Trunk Drainage. 
of the interests dependent upon a continuation of the mischief. 
But let the reader form his ideas from tlie followin|j; selection of 
the more notable river-damages during- the last few years. 
I shall first adduce a few cases of violent inundation from 
the precipitous western districts. In 1845 Cumberland and West- 
moreland, where heavy losses are yearly suffered from the sud- 
denly descending mountain streams, experienced a series of 
terrific floods. From only two days of a tremendous rain in 
October (the beginning of the wet season), all the rivers were 
swollen and overflowed. The Eden, Lowther, Eamont, Lune, 
and Petteril, destroyed a large amount of property. Thousands 
of pounds value of railway-bridge scaffolding, timber, and ma- 
terials, were carried away. Hundreds of stooks of corn were 
swept out of the fields ; the uncut crops washed flat upon the 
giound ; and the coi'n-mills on the rivers stopped by the flood. 
Again, in July 1852, the river in Kendal swelled from a 
thunderstorm, overflowed the streets, washing out the tan-pits, 
bearing away everything loose in its current. In the neigh- 
bourhood bridges were swept away, the soil was completely 
washed away from the potato plots, and " a whole fleet of hay- 
cocks was seen sailing down the Kent." And the rushing of 
numerous gills and becks inflicted similar damages in many towns 
and valleys. 
In December of the same year tiie floods were severely felt 
throughout North Wales ; at Carnarvon the Cadnant river, burst- 
ing its banks, destroyed nmch property, and the estuaries of the 
Seiont and Gwysfai, which flow from the Llanherin and Quellyn 
lakes, overflowed, demolishing a bridge and covering a consider- 
able breadth of ilat land with water. 
In South Wales the valley of the Towy and vicinity of Car- 
marthen suffered from an extraordinary inundation in the winter 
of 1847-8. Again, in 1852, great disasters occurred in various 
counties, particularly to railway and other bridges ; but the 
storm-floods of July, 1853, wrought an immense amount of de- 
struction. At Cwm Neath no less than seven bridges were 
swept away. Tiie TafF ravaged the upper part of Brecknock- 
shire and the adjoining vale of Neath. Brecon town was flooded 
and filled with mud, and many of the houses completely gutted. 
A villa, near Builth, with five inmates, was carried away, and 
the whole district was swept clear of hay, potatoes, and all move- 
able articles. The rivers Nedd, Vechan, and Mellte, bore away 
their bridges, and devastated cornfields and meadows. The Neath 
inundated various farms, clearing off the hay and drowning the 
cattle, while the farmers barely escaped with their lives. At 
Loughharne wheat as well as hay crops were greatly damaged. 
The district of Marras Pendine and Amroth was completely over- 
