820 feet long, the basin, and a portion of canal. The sum granted for it in 1859 was £250. This is scarcely sufficient for its requirements, and is mostly absorbed in keeping down the deposits formed along the locks.

The improvement of the channel of Carentain has always been urgently desired by the seamen and inhabitants of the neighbourhood. The works of improvement were proposed in 1857, approved in August, 1858, and decreed in December following. The cost of them is estimated at £12,000, and a sum of £4,000 was granted in 1859 for their commencement.

St. Vaast.-At St. Vaast there is only a jetty, sheltering the port from the S.E., besides a quay 920 feet long, The sum of £70 is now assigned for preserving them, but is not sufficient, and should be increased to £120.

The works at present going on in the port of St. Vaast have two different objects. The first is the enlargement of the ships' berthingplace at the quay and the formation of two breakwaters of stone from the rocks. The cost is estimated at £2,000, for which this year a sum of £1,000 has been voted. The works are proceeding rapidly : the entrance of the berthing-place is enlarged and the first breakwater is finished, except at the northern end. The second work is the lengthening of the quay and berthing-place about 500 feet. The cost of this will be about £4,700, and the sum granted in 1859 was £1,000. The quay requires lengthening about 50 feet, and this small sum will soon be expended.

Barfleur.-The financial resources of this place scarcely suffice for keeping up the jetty, although it is capable of being made an important place, both for ship-building and a fishing station. It would be desirable to construct a quay here, and to remove the rocks which obstruct it. The plan of such a quay has been approved of, but as yet no funds have been assigned for its construction.

Cape Levi.-A plan for the restoration of this port was approved in September, 1858. The cost was estimated at £3,500, and would be further increased by an alteration which was ordered. This large sum renders it doubtful whether it will not be some time before the work can be undertaken.

Cherbourg. The works for maintaining the port of Cherbourg consist chiefly of repairs to the locks, the swinging bridge, the transporting buoys, the brickwork, pavements, and stone work of the piers. The sum assigned for these works in 1859 was £900, which is insufficient, and it is reduced by the lighting expenses, which amount annually to about £180. In 1848 the funds for maintaining the port of Cherbourg were £2,000; and, notwithstanding the statements of the engineers they have since then always been reduced.

As the outer port was not deep enough, dredging was commenced in its western part, and during 1855 and 1856 cost a sum of £800. This work has been going on according to a plan approved in December, 1856, and ordered in March, 1857. The cost of the works is estimated at £2,600: out of which, in 1857, £360; in 1858, £1,000;

and in 1859, £800 have been expended;-£440 still remain to be appropriated. It is hoped that another supply will be granted to complete this useful work in the course of this year, the delay being doubly injurious as navigation is impeded by the works.

Various projects had been submitted to the administration for improving the port of Cherbourg, but by the decision of October, 1858, the Minister only agreed principally to the deepening of the outer port, the repairing and lengthening of the East quay, and driving piles between this quay and the East pier. These works, first estimated at £18,000, form the subject of a detailed plan, which, after undergoing a nautical enquiry, and being submitted to the conferences ordered by the decree of August, 1853, was laid before the superior Board. The cost is estimated now at £18,800, in consequence of the deepening of the channel being added, a measure recommended by the nautical commission and the conferences. A plan for repairing

the gates of the locks of the basin and the canal has been drawn up; the cost of which is estimated at £1,600.

Goury. The stone jetty which protected this little port having been destroyed by the sea, a plan for rebuilding it was finally approved in August, 1857, at a cost of about £1,500. The general council of the department has voted a supply of £120 for this work, but nothing has yet been done.

Diélette.-Diélette, so called from the little river at the mouth of which it is situated, is in the commune of Flamanville. It was constructed about the middle of the seventeenth century by the Marquis of Flamanville, Hervé Bazan, and purchased by Louis XIV during the latter part of the Colbert administration.

The port was originally protected from winds and sea by a pier, which occasionally suffered but was always kept in repair. Humble as it was, it rendered good service to shipping, affording shelter from the storm or, in war, safety from the enemy. In the 7th year a brig from St. Malo bound to Havre, with a rich cargo, reached Dielette, which only just saved her from being captured by a Jersey privateer. In 1807 another Breton vessel, bound for Rouen, took refuge there, avoiding capture by a Guernsey vessel.

When the works for the port of Cherbourg were commenced in 1803, and large blocks of granite were required from the cliffs of Flamanville, they were shipped at Dielette, and the port received some important improvements. An official document published by the minister of public works in 1837 gives the following account of it:The entrance to this port for shelter in bad weather is difficult, the channel being exposed 650 feet across between the reefs; but a ship once inside is safe, and the wind that is fair for leaving it is also fair for rounding Cape La Hogue. A pier of masonry, 600 feet long, shelters the port from westerly winds; another, 130 feet long, partially protects it against those from N.E. The port suffers from the frequent accummulation of sand, which is carted away occasionally. The works then required for the improvement of the port of Dielette were calculated at £4,000, and are thus specified by the minister

in his statistics of the sea ports:-Rebuilding of the western pierhead, £2,400, and extension of the eastern pier, removal of rocks, £1,200.

A plan for improving this port was approved by the DirectorGeneral of Works on May 13th, 1837, consisting of repairing the old pier, lengthening it 65 feet, and terminating it with a semi-circular pierhead, with two small towers for lights, to indicate the direction of the channel between the reefs at the entrance. But the Lighthouse Commissioners did not consider Dielette of sufficient importance for lighting, and they were suppressed in a definitive arrangement contracted for on the 30th April, 1839.

Dielette is the only port of refuge from storms between Cherbourg and Granville for the numerous coasting vessels which frequent that dangerous coast, and a great number of vessels owe their safety to it. Indeed, but for the protection which Dielette affords, many vessels would have been captured during the war. Two only have been mentioned, but such escapes are common. Convoys of the state, laden with provisions and other supplies, avoid there the attacks of English cruisers; and privateers there await the propitious moment for starting and returning with their prizes.

The port of Dielette may be small, but its situation renders it of great importance to vessels in the dangerous part of their route; and it is because vessels seek; shelter at Dielette in bad weather, and consequently under difficulty, that it is important the channel should be well lighted, and the Council for the district of Cherbourg and the General Council of the Lights of the Channel exclaimed bitterly against the suppression in the ministerial project; but it is only after fifteen years' urging this point that their views are likely to be approved. By a decision of 30th July, 1853, the Minister of Public Works authorised the formation of two lights for the entrance of Dielette, but on condition that the Corporation of Flamanville should defray the expenses,-which the Corporation refused to do. At length, by the decision of 12th July, 1856, the Minister granted the establishment of these two lights, and that the expense of keeping them up should be defrayed by the state. This was carried out in

the course of 1857, and the lights appeared.

These lights, which when in line show the course to be steered for entering the port, consist of-First, a fixed light, visible at five miles, on the pierhead, and lights the whole of the horizon, and stands in 49° 33′ 7′′ N., 4° 11' 54" W. Second, a fixed red light in the interior of the port, 500 feet S.E. of the former, 75 feet above the surface of the sea, visible 9 miles. It would be desirable also that Dielette should have a lighthouse.

This port, for the improvement of which the District and General Councils make promises every session, well deserves the attention of the Government. Not only from its situation in this dangerous locality is it the resort of numerous vessels under stress of weather, but it is also of importance on account of its shipments of granite and agricultural productions, as well as a large oyster fishery which is

now carried on in its neighbourhood. Its importance will considerably increase by the working of the abundant strata of minerals and iron discovered in the port itself and its neighbourhood, that is of a very fine quality, and may be compared to that obtained from the best mines of Sweden.

But Dielette, with regret we say it, is far from being favoured, The annual amount for keeping it up is about £40, a very insufficient It was necessary, however, to do something to improve it. The District Council of Cherbourg has proposed constructing on the eastern side a quay from the angle of the small pier, and joining the South quay. The length of this quay would be only about 200 feet, and the expense not much, as materials would be found on the spot. Then vessels which now can only take in cargo at low water, could do so at any time of the tide; and, again, at no very great expense both the port and channel might be deepened some feet.

The time of high water full and change at Dielette is 6h. 44m. High tide, 13ft. 10in.; the great equinoctial tides are 33ft. 2in., and the lowest tides 8ft. 2in.

This little port, having two piers and a small quay, is the place for shipping granite in such large quantities from the quarries of Flamanville and its neighbourhood. It is supported by funds which are common to the three ports of Dielette, Carteret, and Portrail, which amount this year to £120. But it is too inconsiderable to admit of the different improvements being made that are necessary for the port of Dielette, the only port of refuge offered by our coasts along this route.

Carteret. In this port there is nothing but a dyke of clay and a barrier of rocks that protect the downs of the shore, and preserve the channel in the same direction. Its preservation depends on keeping this dyke in repair, and closing the breaches which the sea sometimes makes in it.

Portrail.-Portrail derives importance from its proximity to the British Isles, and its export trade with them. The repairs, which are defrayed from the same source as the two former, consist in keeping up the clay dyke along the downs and immediately repairing any breach.

Blainville. The improvement of this harbour, so continually urged by the communes, which voted a very large part of the necessary funds for it, consists in opening a new mouth and closing the old one, which is too difficult for navigation. The plan will cost about £1,400; out of which the state furnishes £600, the department £100, and the communes interested in it (Agon, Blainville, and Gouville) £700. In 1858, £1,200 were expended on it.

The works, commenced in 1856, were carried on till 1858, when the cutting of the new channel was opened and its barrier formed; but the sea causing the sand to fall in, filled up the cutting every day; and the sea being thus prevented from entering the harbour, there was no back scour from it. The barrier was overfiowed, and the sea would soon have carried it among the moving sands, in spite of the NO. 1.-VOL. XXX.

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means employed for preserving it As the resources did not permit of undertaking works on a larger scale, instead of keeping up a useless struggle with the sea, the engineers proposed to suspend these works, which had already exhausted a considerable sum.

The communes interested in the harbour still urging the works, the engineers have declared that the harbour of Blainville as a port is not of sufficient importance to justify any great expenditure, having scarcely 13 fect of water at springs, allowing at most seven or eight days a month; that the only method offering any chance of success, without throwing away large sums of money, would be to cut a wide channel, at the same time forming a barrier to it which could not be covered by sand. But this would require a new outlay of £2,000, without ensuring a satisfactory result in proportion to the sum expended. The question remained under consideration.

Regneville. This, which is only a natural harbour, is of some importance in relation to Jersey and St. Malo. A plan for improving the port and channel of the Sienne, as far as the bridge of La Roque, has formed the object of various inquiries, which resulted favourably to it. The cost is estimated-for Port Regneville, £1,600, and for the channel of Sienne, £6,000. By means of these works, this port will be connected with Coutances by a navigable canal.

Granville.-Granville now possesses, besides its large anchorage, a wet dock used by merchant shipping since 10th December, 1856, with a quay of 2,300 feet, an area of 3 hectares, and will contain seventy ships. The entrance to it by the Sas Channel admits of vessels going in without waiting for the tide. and the Sas can receive three or four ships together.

The sum allowed for maintaining this port in 1859 was £320, which was only sufficient for the works of the anchorage; the maintenance of the works, and especially of the channel, requiring the application of the funds as being of more importance than new works. But this will not last long; and when from these same funds all the works of the port of Granville have to be kept up, and the lighting expenses added, amounting to £100, the funds for this port should not be less than £650.

The basin, with all its accessories, especially the port for fishermen and the low quay to the West, is now finished. The cost of which altogether will amount to £140,000. An order of 24th June, 1858, requiring a plan for a second tidal basin at Granville, the engineers have prepared a design, which is now under the consideration of the Government. The cost of it is estimated at £80,000.

Lights.-There are but two first-class lights on the shore of this department, those of Barfleur and Cape La Hogue; one light of second class, that of Carteret; two lights of third class,-those of Granville (Cape Lihou) and Chaussey; one light or beacon of fourth class, a fine model, that of Cape Levi; twelve small lights of fourth order, those of the Island St. Marcouf, La Hogue, Morsalines, Reolle, the two at Barfleur, those of the fort of Isle Peler, the central fort of the breakwater; the tower of the East pier of the port of