141 
Suspension Bridge at Montrose. 
very rapid stream. But the great width of the river, and the 
current, deep and rapid beyond example indeed in this country, 
are not owinp to the magnitude of the South Esk river itself, 
hut to the singular manner in which the discharge of its waters 
into the sea is here combined with the action of the tides, and the 
configuration of the adjacent ground. 
The town stands on a gently rising ground, in one of those 
low sandy flats, which occur so frequently on the shores of the 
German Ocean, and which, from their slight elevation above the 
sea-level, and other circumstances, appear to have been once 
overflowed by the water. It has the German Ocean on the east, 
at the distance of about half a mile, and to the west is a tract of 
low and level sands, above four square miles in extent, and nine 
miles in circumference, through which the South Esk winds its 
way to the sea, passing close to the town on its south side. 
These sands lie below the level of high water and above the 
level of low water, and the river opening a communication with 
the sea, it necessarily happens, that every rising tide rushes up 
the channel of the river, and inundates the whole of this sandy 
flat to the west of the town, which is again left uncovered by 
the reflux of the tide. The channel through which this great 
body of water is alternately poured in and discharged, is sud- 
denly contracted at the south end of the town, to the breadth 
of 700 feet at high water, and 400 feet at low spring-tides ; and 
in consequence of this, the stream rushes in or out with great 
violence, according as the tide is either flowing or ebbing, and 
it is over this narrow part of the channel that the bridge is 
erected; the narrowness here, which both strengthens and 
deepens the current, rendering the situation in other respects 
favourable for a structure of this nature. 
This low land, over which, at each return of the tide, are 
spread the waters of the ocean, after they have made their way 
through the narrow channel of the South Esk, is called the Ba- 
sin, which forms a striking object in the scenery of the place, 
appearing, when the tide is full, a large and beautiful lake, and 
in a few hours afterwards, when the waters have retired, a de- 
ever, the passage of the ferry was often attended with danger ; and as it lies on the 
great road between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, it was at all times felt as a great 
inconvenience. 
