Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

Smuggling and adulteration would immediately cease; our trade with France would be very greatly extended; and the revenue would gain, not merely by a direct increase of duty, but indirectly by a very great diminution of the expense of collection.

"But the effect of the increase of the duties on brandy in Ireland has been still more extraordinary. At an average of the 3 years ending with 1802, when the duty was 7s. 3 d. the wine gallon, the average annual consumption of brandy in Ireland amounted to 208,064 gallons, producing a nett revenue of 77,714. Now, mark the consequence of trebling the duties. The consumption during the 3 years ending with 1842, notwithstanding the population is more than doubled, only amounted, at an average, to 15,399 gallons, producing about 17,560l. a year revenue! Dr. Swift has shrewdly remarked, that in the arithmetic of the customs two and two do not always make four, but sometimes only one. But here we have threefold duties, with less than th part of the revenue, and less than th part of the consumption !

"It is surely impossible that a system like this, evincing in every part a degree of ignorant rapacity, to be paralleled only by that of the savages, who to get at the fruit cut down the tree, should be permitted for a much longer period to disgrace our fiscal code. Those only who are anxious for the continuance of smuggling, with all its consequent crime and misery, can be hostile to a reduction of the duty on brandy. By fixing it at 10s. a gallon, neither the consumption of British spirits nor that of rum would be sensibly affected. The middle classes would, however, be able to use brandy on occasions when, perhaps, at present, they use nothing; its clandestine importation would be prevented; those engaged in smuggling would be obliged to have recourse to industrious pursuits: and the manufacture of the abominable compounds, that are now so frequently substituted in its stead, would be put an end to."

At length, in 1846, the duties on brandy were reduced by Sir Robert Peel from 22s. 10d. to 158. a gallon. But though considerable this was not equal to some of the reductions effected by the same great minister in cases in which, perhaps, they were less necessary. It was, nevertheless, of much importance; and the subjoined account shows that the increased consumption which it occasioned has not only prevented any diminution, but has, in fact, been productive of a very considerable increase of revenue. No doubt, however, the beneficial influence of the measure would have been greater had the duty been reduced to 10s. or at most 12s. a gallon. And it is to be hoped that it may at no distant period be fixed at that amount.

Regulations as to Importation, &c. Brandy, geneva, and other foreign spirits, must be imported, if in casks, in casks containing not less than 20 gallons, under penalty of furfeiture. They must also be imported in ships of 60 tons

burden or upwards, and are not to be exported from a bonded warehouse except in a vessel of like tonnage under pain of for. feiture.

An Account of the Number of Gallons (Imperial Measure) of Foreign Brandy retained for Home Consumption in Great Britain and Ireland, the Rates of Duty affecting the same, and the entire nett Produce of the Duty, each Year since 1814 (obtained from the Custom-house).

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

Its

BRASS (Ger. Messing; Du. Messing, Missing, Geelkoper; Fr. Cuivre jaune, Laiton; It. Ottone; Sp. Laton, Azofar; Rus. Selenoi mjed; Lat. Orichalcum, Aurichalcum) is a factitious metal, made of copper and zinc in certain proportions. It is of a beautiful yellow colour, more fusible than copper, and not so apt to tarnish. It is malleable, so ductile that it may be drawn out into wire, and is much tougher than copper. density is greater than the mean density of the two metals. By calculation it ought to be 763 nearly, whereas it is actually 3.39; so that its density is increased by about one tenth. The ancients do not seem to have known accurately the difference between copper, brass, and bronze. They considered brass as only a more valuable kind of copper, and therefore used the word as to denote either. They called copper as cyprium, afterwards cyprium; and this in process of time was converted into cuprum. Dr. Watson has proved that it was to brass they gave the name of orichalcum. Brass is malleable when cold, unless the proportion of zine be excessive; but when heated it becomes brittle. It may be readily turned upon the lathe; and, indeed, works more kindly than any other metal.

There is a vast variety in the proportions of the different species of brass used in commerce; nor is it easy to determine whether the perfection of this alloy depends on any certain proportions of the two metals. In general, the extremes of the highest and lowest proportions of zinc are from 12 to 25 parts in the 100. In some of the British manufactories, the brass made contains one third its weight of zinc. In Germany and Sweden the proportion of zine varies from one fifth to one fourth of the copper. The ductility of brass is not injured when the proportion of zinc is highest. This metal is much used in the escapement wheels and other nicer parts of watch-making and bars of brass, very carefully made, fetch for this purpose a high price.

The use of brass is of very considerable antiquity. Most of the ancient genuine relics are composed of various mixtures of brass with tin and other metals, and are rather to be denominated bronzes. The best proportion for brass guns is said to be 1,000 lbs. of copper, 990 lbs. of tin, and 600 lbs. of brass, in 11 or 12 cwt. of metal. The best brass guns are made of malleable metal, not of pure copper and zine alone; but worse metals are used to make it run closer and sounder, as lead and pot-metal. — (Thomson's Chemistry, Encyc. Britannica, &c.)

BRAZILETTO, an inferior species of P'razil wood brought from Jamaica. It is one of the cheapest and least esteemed of the red dyewoods.

BRAZIL NUTS, or Chesnuts of Brazil, the fruit of the Juvia (Bertholletia excelsa), a majestic tree growing to the height of 100 or 120 feet, abounding on the banks of the Orinoco, and in the northern parts of Brazil. The nuts are triangular, having a cuneiform appearance, with sutures at each of the angles; the shell is rough and hard, and of a brownish ash colour. The kernel resembles that of an almond, but is larger, and tastes more like a common hazel nut; it contains a great deal of oil, that may be obtained by expression or otherwise. These nuts do not grow separately, or in clusters, but are contained, to the number of from 15 to 50 or more*, in great ligneous pericarps or outer shells, generally of the size of a child's head. This outer shell is very hard and strong,

so that it is rather difficult to get at the nuts, which are closely packed in cells inside. The natives are particularly fond of this fruit, and celebrate the harvest of the juvia with rejoicings; it is also very much esteemed in Europe. The nuts brought to this country and the Continent are chiefly exported from Para, and form an article of considerable commercial importance. · ( Humboldt's Pers. Nar, vol. v. p. 538. Eng. trans.)

BRAZIL WOOD (Fr. Bois de Brésil; Ger. Brasilienholz; Du. Brasilienhout; It. Legno del Brasile, Verzino; Sp. Madera del Bresil; Port. Pao Brasil). It has been commonly supposed that this wood derived its name from the country in which it is principally produced. But Dr. Bancroft has conclusively shown that woods yielding a red dye were called Brazil woods long previously to the discovery of America; and that the early voyagers gave the name of Brazil to that part of that continent to which it is still applied, from their having ascertained that it abounded in such woods. — (See the learned and excellent work, Philosophy of Colours, vol. ii. pp. 316-321.)

It is found in the greatest abundance, and is of the best quality, in the province of Pernambuco, where it is called Pao da rainha, or Queen's wood; but it is also found in many other parts of the Western Hemisphere. The tree is large, crooked, and knotty; the leaves are of a beautiful red, and exhale an agreeable odour. Its botanical name is Casalpinia Brasiletto, but it is called by the natives ibiripitanga, Notwithstanding its apparent bulk, the bark is so thick, that a tree as large as a man's body with the bark will not be so thick as the leg when peeled. When cut into chips, it loses the pale colour it before had, and becomes red, and when chewed has a sweet taste. It is used for various purposes by cabinet-makers, and admits of a beautiful varnish, but its principal use is in dyeing red; and though the colour is liable to decay, yet, by mixing with it alum and tartar, it is easily made permanent. There is also made of it, by means of acids, a sort of liquid lake or carmine for painting in miniature.

Brazil wood has been for many years past a royal monopoly; its exportation, except on account of

* Humboldt says he had most frequently found from 15 to 22 nuts in each pericarp; but De Laet, who gare the first and most accurate description of this fruit, says that the pericarp is divided into six compartments, each of which incloses from 8 to 12 nuts. (See Humboldt in loc. cit.)

government, being prohibited under the severest penalties. Owing to the improvident manner in which it has been cut down by the government agents, it is now rarely found within several leagues of the coast. Indeed, we are assured that many of the planters have privately cut down the trees on their estates, and used the timber as fire-wood, that they might not expose themselve to annoyance from the arbitrary and vexatious proceedings of these functionaries. The quantity of Brazil wood imported into this country is but inconsiderable. Its price in the London market, exclusive of the duty (2s. per ton), varies for the first quality from 607. to 80l. per ton. - (Dr. Bancroft in loc. cit. Encyc. Metrop. Modern Traveller, vol. xxix. p. 87.; Maite Brun, vol. v. p. 525. Eng. ed. &c.)

BREAD, the principal article in the food of most civilised nations, consists of a paste or dough formed of the flour or meal of different sorts of grain mixed with water, and baked. When stale dough or yeast is added to the fresh dough, to make it swell, it is said to be leavened; when nothing of this sort is added, it is said to unleavened.

1. Historical Sketch of Bread. - The President de Goguet has endeavoured, with his usual sagacity and learning, to trace the successive steps by which it is probable men were led to discover the art of making bread - ( Origin of Laws, &c. vol. i. pp. 95-105. Eng. trans.); but nothing positive is known on the subject. It is certain, however, from the statements in the sacred writings, that the use of unleavened bread was common in the days of Abraham - ( Gen. xviii. 8.); and that leavened bread was used in the time of Moses, for he prohibits eating the Paschal lamb with such bread. — (Exod. xii. 15.) The Greeks affirmed that Pan had instructed them in the art of making bread; but they, no doubt, were indebted for this art, as well as for their knowledge of agriculture, to the Egyptians and Phoenicians, who had early settled in their country. The method of grinding corn by hand mills was practised in Egypt and Greece from a very remote epoch; but for a lengthened period the Romans had no other method of making flour, than by beating roasted corn in mortars. The Macedonian war helped to make the Romans acquainted with the arts and refinements of Greece; and Pliny mentions, that public bakers were then, for the first time, established in Rome - (Hist. Nut. lib. xviii. c. 11.) The conquests of the Romans diffused, amongst many other useful discoveries, a knowledge of the art of preparing bread, as practised in Rome, through the whole south of Europe.

The use of yeast in the raising of bread seems, however, from a passage of Pliny (lib. xviii. c. 7.), to have been practised by the Germans and Gauls before it was practised by the Romans; the latter, like the Greeks, having leavened their bread by intermixing the fresh dough with that which had become stale. The Roman practice seems to have superseded that which was previously in use in France and Spain; for the art of raising bread by an admixture of yeast was not practised in France in modern times, till towards the end of the seventeenth century. It deserves to be mentioned, that though the bread made in this way was decidedly superior to that previously in use, it was declared, by the faculty of medicine in Paris, to be prejudicial to health; and the use of yeast was prohibited under the severest penalties! Luckily, however, the taste of the public concurring with the interest of the bakers, proved too powerful for these absurd regulations, which fell gradually into disuse; and yeast has long been, almost every where, used in preference to anything else in the manufacture of bread, to the wholesomeness and excellence of which it has not a little contributed.

The species of bread in common use in a country depends partly on the taste of the inhabitants, but more on the sort of grain suitable for its soil. But the superiority of wheat to all other farinaceous plants in the manufacture of bread is so very great, that wherever it is easily and successfully cultivated, wheaten bread is used, to the nearly total exclusion of most others. Where, however, the soil or climate is less favourable to its growth, rye, oats, &c. are used in its stead. A very great change for the better has, in this respect, taken place in Great Britain within the last century. It is mentioned by Harrison, in his description of England (p. 168.), that in the reign of Henry VIII. the gentry had wheat sufficient for their own tables, but that their household and poor neighbours were usually obliged to content themselves with rye, barley, and oats. It appears from the household book of Sir Edward Coke, that, in 1596, rye bread and oatmeal formed a considerable part of the diet of servants, even in great families, in the southern counties. Barley bread is stated in the grant of a monopoly by Charles I., in 1626, to be the usual food of the ordinary sort of people. (Sir F. M. Eden on the Poor, vol. i. p. 561.) At the Revolution, the wheat produced in England and Wales was estimated by Mr. King and Dr. Davenant to amount to 1,750,000 quarters. (Davenant's Works, vol. ii. p. 217.) Mr. Charles Smith, the very well informed author of the Tracts on the Corn Trade, originally published in 1758, states, that in his time wheat had become much more generally the food of the common people than it had been in 1689; but he adds (2d ed. p. 182. Lond. 1766), that notwithstanding this increase, some very intelligent inquirers were of opinion that even then not more that half the people of England fed on wheat. Mr. Smith's own estimate, which is very carefully drawn up, is a little higher; for, taking the population of England and Wales, in 1760, at 6,000,000, he supposed that 3,750,000 were consumers of wheat; 739,000, of barley; 888,000, of rye; and 623,000, of oats. Mr. Smith further supposed that they individually con

[ocr errors]

sumed, the first class, 1 quarter of wheat; the second, 1 quarter and 3 bushels of barley; the third, 1 quarter and 1 bushel of rye; and the fourth, 2 quarters and 7 bushels of oats.

About the middle of last century, hardly any wheat was used in the northern counties of England. In Cumberland, the principal families used only a small quantity about Christmas. The crust of the goose pie, with which almost every table in the county is then supplied, was, at the period referred to, almost uniformly made of barley meal. — (Eden on the Poor, vol. i. p. 564.)

Every one knows how inapplicable these statements are to the condition of the people of England at the present time. Wheaten bread is now universally made use of in towns and villages, and almost every where in the country. Barley is no longer used, except in the distilleries, and in brewing; oats are employed only in the feeding of horses; and the consumption of rye bread is comparatively inconsiderable. The produce of the wheat crops has been, at the very least, quadrupled since 1760. And if to this immense increase in the supply of wheat, we add the still more extraordinary increase in the supply of butcher's meat-(see art. CATTLE), the fact of a very signal improvement having taken place in the condition of the population, in respect of food, will be obvious.

But great as has been the improvement in the condition of the people of England since 1760, it is but trifling compared to the improvement that has taken place, since the same period, in the condition of the people of Scotland. At the middle of last century, Scotch agriculture was in the most depressed state; the tenants were destitute alike of capital and skill; green crops were almost wholly unknown; and the quantity of wheat that was raised was quite inconsiderable. A field of 8 acres sown with this grain, in the vicinity of Edinburgh, in 1727, was reckoned so great a curiosity that it excited the attention of the whole neighbourhood! -- (Robertson's Rural Recollections, p. 267.) But even so late as the American war, the wheat raised in the Lothians and Berwickshire did not exceed a third part of what is now grown in them; and taking the whole country at an average, it will be a moderate estimate, to say that the cultivation of wheat has increased in a tenfold proportion since 1780. At that period no wheaten bread was to be met with in the country places and villages of Scotland; oat cakes and barley bannocks being universally made use of. But at present the case is widely different. The upper and also the middle and lower classes in towns and villages use only wheaten bread, and even in farmhouses it is very extensively consumed. There is, at this moment, hardly a village to be met with, however limited its extent, that has not a public baker.

In many parts of England it is the custom for private families to bake their own bread. This is particularly the case in Kent, and in some parts of Lancashire. In 1804, there was not a single public baker in Manchester; and their number is still very limited. 2. Regulations as to the Manufacture of Bread. Owing to the vast importance of bread, its manufacture has been subjected in most countries to various regulations, some of which have had a beneficial and others an injurious operation.

a. Assize of Bread. From the year 1266, in the reign of Henry III., down to our own days, it has been customary to regulate the price at which bread should be sold according to the price of wheat or flour at the time. An interference of this sort was supposed to be necessary, to prevent that monopoly on the part of the bakers which it was feared might otherwise take place. But it is needless, perhaps, to say that this apprehension was of the most futile description. The trade of a baker is one that may be easily learned, and it requires no considerable capital to carry it on; so that were those engaged in the business in any particular town to attempt to force up prices to an artificial elevation, the combination would be immediately defeated by the competition of others; and even though this were not the case, the facility with which bread may be baked at home would of itself serve to nullify the efforts of any combination. But the assize regulations were not merely useless; they were in many respects exceedingly injurious they rendered the price of flour a matter of comparative indifference to the baker; and they obliged the baker who used the finest flour, and made the best bread, to sell at the same rate as those who used inferior flour, and whose bread was decidedly of a worse quality. But these considerations, how obvious soever they may now appear, were for a long time entirely overlooked. According, however, as the use of wheaten bread was extended, it was found to be impracticable to set assizes in small towns and villages; and, notwithstanding the fewness of the bakers in such places gave them greater facilities for combining together, the price of bread was almost uniformly lower in them than in, places where assizes were set. In consequence, partly of this circumstance, but still more of the increase of intelligence as to such matters, the practice of setting an assize was gradually relinquished in most places; and in 1815 it was expressly abolished, by an act of the legislature (55 Geo. 3. c. 99.), in London and its environs. In other places, though the power to set an assize still subsists, it is seldom acted upon, and has fallen into comparative disuse.

b. Regulations as to the Weight, and Ingredients to be used in making Bread. - Accord

ing to the assize acts, a sack of flour weighing 280 lbs. is supposed capable of being baked into 80 quartern loaves; one fifth of the loaf being supposed to consist of water and salt, and four fifths of flour. But the number of loaves that may be made from a sack of flour depends entirely on its goodness. Good flour requires more water than bad flour, and old flour than new flour. Sometimes 82, 83, and even 86 loaves have been made from a sack of flour, and sometimes hardly 80.

Under the assize acts, bakers are restricted to bake only three kinds of bread, viz. wheaten, standard Wheaten, and household; the first being made of the finest flour, the second of the whole flour mixed, and the third of the coarser flour. The loaves are divided into peck, half-peck, and quartern loaves; the legal weight of each, when baked, being, the peck loaf 17 lbs. 6 oz., the half-peck 8 lbs. 11 oz., and the quartern 4 lbs. 5 oz. avoirdupois.

Now, however, it is enacted, that within the city of London, and in those places in the country where an assize is not set, it shall be lawful for the bakers to make and sell bread made of wheat, barley, rye, oats, buckwheat, Indian corn, peas, beans, rice, or potatoes, or any of them, along with common salt, pure water, eggs, milk, barm, leaven, potato, or other yeast, and mixed in such proportions as they shall think fit. - (3 Geo. 4. c. 106. § 2., and 1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. 50. (2.)

It is also enacted by the same statutes, that bakers in London, and in the country, that is, in all places 10 miles from the Royal Exchange where an assize is not set, may make and sell bread of such weight and size as they think fit, any law or assize to the contrary notwithstanding. But it is at the same time enacted, that such bread shall always be sold by avoirdupois weight of 16 ounces to the pound, and in no other manner, under a penalty for every offence of not more than 40s., except, however, French or fancy bread, or rolls, which may be sold without previously weighing the same.

Bakers or sellers of bread are bound to have fixed, in some conspicuous part of their shop, a beam and scales, with proper weights for weighing bread; and a person purchasing bread may require it to be weighed in his presence. Bakers, and others sending out bread in carts, are to supply them with beams, scales, &c., and to weigh the bread if required, under a penalty of not more than 51.-(3 Geo. 4. c. 106. § 8.

Bakers, either journeymen or masters, using alum or any other unwholesome ingredient, and convicted on their own confession, or on the oath of one or more witnesses, to forfeit not exceeding 204, and not less than 57. if beyond the environs of London, and not exceeding 107. nor less than 54. if within London or its environs. Justices are allowed to publish the names of offenders. The adulteration of meal or flour is punishable by a like penalty. Loaves made of any other grain than wheat without the city and its Liberties, or beyond 10 miles of the Royal Exchange, to be marked with a large Roman M.; and every person exposing such loaves without such mark shall forfeit not more than 40s. nor less than 10s. for every

so exposed. - (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. 50. 6.)

Any ingredient or mixture found within the house, mill, stall, shop, &c. of any miller, mealman, or baker, which, after due examination, shall be adjudged to have been placed there for the purpose of adulteration, shall be forfeited, and the person within whose premises it is found punished, if within the city of London and its environs, by a penalty not exceeding 107. nor less than 40s. for the first offence, 54, for the second offence, and 101. for every subsequent offence. - (3 Geo. 4. c. 106. § 14.) And if without London and its environs, the party in whose house or premises ingredients for adulteration shall be found shall forfeit for every such offence not less than 57. and not more than 204. (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. 5. § 8.) Bakers in London and its environs are not to sell, or expose to sale, any bread, rolls, or cakes, nor bake or deliver any meat, pudding, pie, tart, or victuals of any sort, on Sundays, except between the hours of mine in the morning and one in the afternoon, under penalty of 10s. for the first offence, 20s. for the second offence, and 40s. for every subsequent offence. - (3 Ĝeo. 4. c. 106. 16.)

Bakers in the country are prohibited from selling, &c. any bread, &c., or baking or delivering any meat, &c. on Sundays, any time after half past 1 o'clock of the afternoon of that day, or during the time of divine service, under penalty of 5s. for the first offence, 10s. for the second, and 20s. for the third and every subsequent offence. - (59 Geo. 3. c. 36. § 12.)

There are several regulations in the acts now in force with respect to the sale, &c. of bread where an assize is set; but as the practice of setting an assize is nearly relinquished, it seems unnecessary to recapitulate them. The weight of the assize bread has already been mentioned, and the principle on which its price is fixed.

Notwithstanding the prohibition against the use of alum, it is believed to be very generally employed, particularly by the bakers of London. "In the metropolis," says Dr. Thomson (Suppl. to Encyc. Brit., art. Baking), where the goodness of bread is estimated entirely by its whiteness, it is usual with those bakers who employ flour of an inferior quality to add as much alum as common salt to the dough; or, in other words, the quantity of salt added is diminished a half, and the deficiency supplied by an equal weight of alum. This improves the look of the bread, rendering it much whiter and firmer."

There are believed to be about 1.700 bakers in London, Westminster, &c. The trade which they carry on is in general but limited, and it is not reckoned a very advantageous line of business.

BREMEN, one of the free Hanseatic cities, on the river Weser, about 50 miles from its mouth, lat. 53° 44′ N., long. 8° 48′ 3′′ E. Population 42,000. Its situation on the Weser renders Bremen the principal emporium of Hanover, Brunswick, Hesse, and other countries traversed by that river. The charges on the buying, selling, and shipping of goods, are very moderate. The principal exports are linens, grain, oak bark, glass, smalts, hamns, hides, rapeseed, beef and pork, rags, wool and woollen goods, wine, &c. The wheat and barley shipped here are mostly very inferior; but the oats are useful common feed; beans are good. The linens are mostly the same as those from Hamburgh. The imports consist of coffee, sugar, and other colonial products; tobacco, whale oil, iron, rice, hides, wines, raw cotton, cotton stuffs and yarn, earthenware, brandy, butter, tar, tea, dyewoods, timber, hemp, &c.

Entrance to Bremen. - The entrance to the Weser lies between the Mellum and other sands on the south-western, and the Teglers Plaat, &c. on the north-eastern side. Its course from Bremeriehe to its mouth is nearly S. E. and N.W. It is booved throughout. The buoys on the right or starboard side when entering being black and marked with letters, while those on the left or larboard are white and numbered. The first or outer black buoy has a gilt key upon it, and is, therefore, called the schlussel or key huoy; it lies in 10) fathoms, bearing N.E. 5 miles from Wrangeroog light. This is an intermitting light, having replaced, in 1830, the old coal-fire beacon on the island of Wrangeroog, opposite to the northern extremity of East Friesland. It is, according to the most authentic statements, in lat. 53 47 N., long. 7° 51' 55" E.; is elevated (34 feet above high water mark, being alternately

visible and invisible for the space of a minute. A light vessel is moored in the fair way of the Weser, between the black buoys E and F, and the white buoys 2 and 3. She has two masts: during day, a red flag, with a while cross upon it, is kept flying at the main-nast; and at night she exhibits 7 lantern lights, 28 feet above deck. This vessel is on no account to leave her station, unless compelled by the ice. Large vessels do not now generally ascend further than Bremerlehe, on the east side of the river, about 38 miles below Bremen, where a new and spacious harbour, called Breiner Haven," has been constructed. But vessels not drawing more than 7 feet water come up to town; and those drawing from 13 to 14 feet may come up to Vegesack, about 13 miles from Bremen. (See the Sailing Directions for the North Sea, published by Ms. Norrie.)

« AnteriorContinua »