is made fast to the part of the framework which projects above the gunwale, as shown in the drawing at d. The machinery is then put in motion; and the car bearing the boat, is drawn by a chain to the top of the inclined plane, at which there is a lock for its reception. The lock is furnished with gates at both extremities; after the car has entered it, the gates next the top of the inclined plane are closed, and, those next the canal being opened, the water flows in and floats the boat off the car, when she proceeds on her way. Her place is supplied by a boat travelling in the opposite direction, which enters the lock, and the gates next the canal being closed, and the water run off, she grounds on the car. The gates next the plane are then opened, the car is gently lowered to the bottom when it enters the water, and the boat is again floated. The principal objection which has been urged against the use of inclined planes for moving boats from different levels is founded on the injury which they are apt to sustain in supporting great weights while resting on the cradle during its passage over the planes. It can hardly be supposed that a slimly built canal boat, measuring from sixty to eighty feet in length, and loaded with a weight of twenty or thirty tons, can be grounded, even on a smooth surface, without straining and injuring her timbers; but this has, been overcome on the Monkland Canal, when Mr Leslie formed upon the carriage a caisson of boiler-plate containing two feet of water, so that the boats. are water-borne.*

* Inclined planes were used on the Ketting Canal in Shropshire in 1789, and afterwards on the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal. Mr Green introduced, on the Great Western Canal, a perpendicular lift of 46 feet, and more recently (1850) Mr Leslie of Edinburgh, and Mr Bateman of Manchester, constructed an inclined plane on the Monkland Canal, wrought by two highpressure steam-engines of 25 horse power each. The height, from surface to surface, is 96 feet, and the gradient is one in ten. The boats are not wholly grounded on the carriage, but are transported in a caisson of boilerplate, containing two feet of water. The maximum weight raised is from 70 to 80 tons, and the whole transit is accomplished in about ten minutes. For the five years previous to the end of 1856, the average number of boats that passed over the incline each year was 7500. Sir Wm. Cubitt has also introduced three inclined planes, having gradients of one and eight, on

But notwithstanding this objection, the twenty-three inclined planes on the Morris Canal are in full operation, and act exceedingly well. No pains have been spared to render the machinery connected with them as perfect as possible, and the greatest credit is due to the engineer for the success which has attended their operation.

The Lachine, the Rideau, the Grenville, the Welland, and the St Lawrence Canals, are the only artificial watercommunications in British America; but as I have already noticed these works in the chapters on River and Lake Navigation, it is unnecessary again to allude to them.

the Chard Canal, Somersetshire. One of these inclines overcomes a rise of 86 feet. (Stevenson's Canal and River Engineering)

CHAPTER VII.

ROADS.

Roads not suitable as a means of communication in America-Condition of the American Roads-" Corduroy Roads"-Roads from Pittsburg to Erie -New England Roads-The "National Road"-The "Macadamized Road"-City Roads-Causewaying or Pitching-Brick PavementsMacadamizing-Tesselated wooden Pavements used in New York and in St Petersburg.

Road-making is a branch of engineering which has been very little cultivated in America, and it was not until the introduction of railways that the Americans entertained the idea of transporting heavy goods by any other means than those afforded by canals and slackwater navigation. They object to macadamized roads, in consequence of the hurtful effects of their severe and protracted winters in all such works as more particularly noticed in the chapter on railways, and also on account of the difficulty and expense of obtaining materials suitable for their construction, and for keeping them in a state of proper repair. Stone fitted for the purposes of road-making is by no means plentiful in America; and as the number of workmen is small in proportion to the quantity of work which is generally going forward in the country, manual labour is very expensive. Under these circumstances, it is evident that roads would have been a very costly means of communication, and as they are not suitable for the transport of heavy goods, the Americans, in commencing their internal improvements, directed their whole attention to the construction of canals, as being much better adapted to supply their wants.

The roads throughout the United States and Canada, are,

from these causes not very numerous, and most of those by which I travelled were in so neglected and wretched a condition, as hardly to deserve the name of highways, being quite unfit for any vehicle but an American stage, and any pilot but an American driver. In many parts of the country, the operation of cutting a track through the forests of a sufficient width to allow vehicles to pass each other, is all that has been done towards the formation of a road. The roots of the felled trees are often not removed, and in marshes, where the ground is wet and soft, the trees themselves are cut in lengths of about ten or twelve feet, and laid close to each other across the road, to prevent the wheels from sinking, forming what is called in America a "Corduroy road," over which the coach advances by a series of leaps and starts, particularly trying to those accustomed to the comforts of European travelling. The following diagram represents the manner in which these roads are formed, fig. 1 being a plan, and fig. 2 a view of the ends of the logs.

Fig. 1.

Fig.2.

On the road leading from Pittsburg on the Ohio to the town of Erie on the lake of that name, I saw all the varieties of forest road-making in great perfection. Sometimes our way lay for miles through extensive marshes, which we crossed by corduroy roads, formed in the manner shown above; at others the coach stuck fast in mud, from which it could be extricated only by the combined efforts of the