Ossian Collection > Journal of a tour in Scotland in

184 JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN SCOTLAND
half-built, the fifth not quite excavated. Such
an extent of masonry, upon such a scale, I
had never before beheld, each of these Locks
being 180 feet in length. It was a most
impressive and rememberable scene. Men,
horses, and machines at work ; digging, wall-
ing, and puddling going on, men wheeling
barrows, horses drawing stones along the
railways. The great steam engine was at
rest, having done its work. It threw out
160 hogsheads per minute ; and two smaller
engines (large ones they would have been
considered anywhere else) were also needed
while the excavation of the lower docks
was going on ; for they dug 24 feet below
the surface of water in the river, and the
water filtered thro' open gravel. The dredging
machine was in action, revolving round and
round, and bringing up at every turn matter
which had never before been brought to the
air and light. Its chimney poured forth
volumes of black smoke, which there was
no annoyance in beholding, because there
was room enough for it in this wide clear
atmosphere. The iron for a pair of Lock-
gates was lying on the ground, having just
arrived from Derbyshire : the same vessel
in which it was shipt at Gainsborough, landed