6S [32] 
The two isstiPS of tliis canal, sire the only favorable points about 
)t; the iriterniodiatc grotmd is entirely unfit for such a work. The 
harl)or of Barnstable is \vcll sheltered; its channel near the entry of 
the port is intercepted by a bar, which has, at the ebb of the tide, 
but five or six feet of water, but, in the interior of the port it oflTeis an 
excellent anchorage. The tide rises here about ten leet. Hyanni's 
harbor is an open road, with two or three fathoms of water at low 
tides, but has an anchorage where vessels can be secured against any 
wind. In winter, it is easily disencumbered from ice. 
The line of canal which should join these two ports, would be only 
five or six miles long, but there is no valley in that space to receive it, 
and it should be one deep cut from one end to the other. The lowest 
part of the ridge which it should cross, is at sight 80 feet at least 
above low.tides. It is true, that between the hills which form this 
ridge, lie a cliain of ponds in the direction which tlse' canal should 
follow; wliich might suggest the idea of uniting them by deep cuts, 
and making them a part of the canal. But they would not give the 
water required for its navigation; they appear to be filled by rains 
and snows rather than by springs, and what confirms this hypothe- 
sis, is, that, a cut having been made from one of them,'to establish a 
mill at this artificial outlet, its surface immediately sunk to the level 
of its bottom, and never rose since. And, as besides, each of them only 
receives the waters of a small surface of ground, they cannot be con- 
sidered as reservoirs sullicient for the object in view; the highest of 
them could never feed a summit level. 
From these motives, and from Ihe evident inferiority of this line 
to a more western one, which we are going to describe, we are of 
opinion that it ought to be given up. 
BUZZARD'S BAY AND BARNSTABLE CANAL, 
A canal to communicate between Buzzard's and Barnstable bay, 
should follow successively from W. to E. the valleys of Monument 
ahd Scusset rivers. That route was surveyed in 1818, by Mr. L. Bald- 
Win, at the individual expense of Messrs. Israel Thorndike, Thomas 
Perkins, and other gentlemen of Boston. Its total length is about 
eight miles. (Sec map No. 19.) 
At its western extremity, the tide rises in Buzzard's bav, from five 
feet to five feet three incites. At its eastern extremity,' it rises in 
Barnstable bay, from ten feet, to ten foet four inches, and three hours 
and a half later than in the other. Thus the medium of tide water in 
Barnstable bay, is probably about on a level with high tide water in 
Buzzard's bay; the level of low water in the latter, was, on the lltli 
of September. 1818, 8^*^,^ incites liiglier tiian in Barnstable bay. 
As the tide ascends tlirce or four miles in Moiuiment river, and 
about two miles in Scusset liver, this route extends only two or three 
miles from the head of nn<' tide (o liir iicad of the otiioj/ Tiiehi"-hest 
