Miscellany: The London Docks

A number of Amcricans, of whoni I was onc formeel a party the other day to explore the Lon don docks, by wliicli I mean notonly the London docks, so called. but all the docks o!' Lon don. And a dny's walk we had of ir. We wen most politely and kindly conducted by Mr. Vough nn,n gentleman holding an office in onc of the doel c mpanies.who in n veryohliging manner.exp'.ah cd to us more ihings than Í could write on marr cuch sheets as this. Ex-Governor Davis was o the party, whu no doubt w.li derive moii pleasureand profit from his foreign travel thai he woald have done from the nomination to th vice-presidency, f the Whigs had not so shabbi y droppedliim. Though the Thamcs, which isaboul aslarge a the Connecticut ac Hartford, is crowdi-d with all manner of shippi ng below Londen bridge, the lomJing and nnlonding is done almost emirely in the docks, which are artificial basins, excavated n the city, and cernmunicafrhg with the Thames by canals and locks. By this me ons, and an auxiliary stenm englne, they are always keptat the samo stage of water, the locks being opened only at a.cortain stage of the tide. These docks, witli the.eurrounding warchouses, are completcly cnclosed with high and strong walls uith niassive gate?, which are only open durine business hours. nnd are to be entered then only by persons having busincBs or tickeis as visitors from the proper authoritie8. To get such tickets u worh while.fo.r nothing in London is better worth sueing. This is the centre of the world's comnierce. and it is here that one sees the greatest accunniln tion of the most vnluabie anieles of trade. The Wange.ments to facilitare business, and to prevent wasle, and desiruction by firc, are admirable. We first visited St. Catharine's doek. one of the 3ma!lest. It may coniain a dozen acres o' waïer. surronhded by warc-houtes mnny stories high. ivhichare marlted A, B, C, vtc., in immense leters on the outsido. Hcre we saw ships from ill countrica, among which our own noble paqktship evidently bears the palm. Thé immense :ranes for unloading heavy anieles were execedngly curioiis. In the waichouscs diere isa place Kr every thing nnd evcry thing in its place, so hat if a thousand mejehants have goods stored, tnd no matter how long. that which beiongs to ach. on producing the proper certifícate, can bc ound instantly. A London nierchant has no rarehouse of his own. Ue takes the certifícate f the doek company, and trades upon that. And he goods moy be.sqld a dozen times without béng moved. at all. At last comes the purchaser rho 8 to woik them up, with liis certifícale., and emoves them. Uy this means, immense transction8 take place wiih great ease and despatch. nd goods are less damaged by being tumbled and arted about. We next proceeded to the Lor.don docks, which re mueh larger, enclosing about twenty acres of 'ater. This also is surrounded bv immense- _..¦ , t ; . .,, A ouiiuuiiUCU U V III Ull(. IJ!?C wnrebouses. Wewentinto ihe cellnr of one oí them, It 8 devoted to sherry wlne, and covers five acres. We were iurnished with lights, as if desc.ojiding into a mine. There, in tliosc interminable grim aidiways, are pi led up thouaands of muildy pipes fiiled wuh the great brain-stoaJer. I forgot the number of pipes of Lherry wine but in another cellar which we vïsiied. ofeqiial extent, we were told there wera 37,000 hogsheade of rum. Into tho latter repository of' inlernai spirit, they allowed no ligju to bc carried - There is a range of windows on one side, and he light comes ditnly gleaming over the long tiera of hogshcads, nnd when they wish to read the marka on the heada they use refleciors, to throw the light down upon them. These vasi vaults, both for wine and rum, are traversed by rilway8 for removing the ponderous puncheons and hog8henda. In the wine vaulta we saw certain vats for inixing the old.and new wines to duce the requisite quality and flavor, which contained 10,000 gallone apiece. We were also astonished at the size of the tobáceo warehouse, which covers four orfive acres, and before being cut in two by an eniargement of the doek, was twice as large, Tobacco is enormously taxed ; on eome Jiinds, to the extenf of 80'J or 9Ü0 per cent I was told. half the amounl used is mado up hy [ smugglirrgnndadulteration; (though what stuf! , Tile enough to adultérate tobáceo witb, ihey con fiet, ia past my comprehension;) and yet what s vast, yea, sublime quantitiea are hereof the gentene weed! People are bewitched for oigars and tf pipes, and you will see men whiffing their tobac, co in the street- strangely smelling tobáceo- probably adulterated, who don't look as if they knew wbcre to gei a dinner. or were on any temía whaiever vviih the milor. What a luxuryl - Here is tobáceo enough to make a Niágara ol juice, tobe chawedby cnation said to be starving! It was coinfortable to get away to hoards of other s luxttries, less stigrestive of the ruin and damnalion of human nature. I In other ejtensive warehouses we saw spices. ¦ cinnanion, mace, nutmegs, cloves, &c, in vnst qunntmes. When it a. rives here, ij is all soried I over and re-packed in merchantable condition, and great numbers of men were busy in the op! eration. In other places, we saw astonisning qunntiries of raw, umhrown silk, packed in boles like coiton. And il,en we saw -bidés and Jenther. ind dyewoods, and cordnge. and tullow, and bees' wax, all nicely stowed away n ranges and piles. of which there seemed to be -no end. Again! ihere were sugar warehouses, story aboveetory, full of boxes, bales and hogsheada enough to sweeten the sea. Bui the people nro only partiaüy sweetened. after all. Thcy cry gooseberrics, fine .gooseberriea for pits, in the streets, at 8xpence (tvvelve cents) a peck. What is the use, when browa sugar is fourteen cents a pound. Before visiting the West India docks, we passed through the Thames tunnel. Perhups I have described it belore. It is always the first thing a stranger sees inLondon. Sp qaeer is the idea of digging under a river to 'get over it. As t tliis Thames lunne!. it makes no great show, und. is quite out of sight. In a crowd of dingy old buildings, quito -.j,it of sight öf any river, you enter a door at one side of the streèt, pay a piece of copper. andpaes intoa rotuiuia.with skylighis Two wyiding staircases lead. down ahout 60 fuet. There. a doublé archwny, dry and lighted with gna, leads you off in a horizontal dtrectioh tbout a furlong. to anoiher c.rkscrew staircase. at the top of which you find yoursetf in the same sort of brick and inortar which you left, and have neither seen, tasted nor smelt of any river. The sublimity of the thing 6 allogeiher imaginmy and. historica!. On the Suny sitie we saw the siidd or apparatus with which the tunnel was excavated. Itconsistsof a ceries oi on frames, of 'prodigious strength, which were pushed on before '.he masonry,and which it woulu be impoesihle without cuis to describe intellitjibly. Tlie ponderoua machine has been hoisteii up and in nn appropriate building is shown lor three pence., The Th.nnes tunnel did not cost so much by nearly a million oi dollars as the VVaierloo bridge. As yet it s not complcted for carriages. Otlur large circular sliafis are to be sunk on both sides with cnrriage ways winding down frotn the top to bouoin, When íinished, it will have costbeiween Cour and fiv.e.mi!!ionst)f dollars, about thc sanie as? ihe nbove-memioned bridge. The bridges orer the Thames are all wonders. Built of slone or ron. ihey seem ükely to lasfos long 8 the world does, except Westtnmister bridge, which, though built of stone, slikoly to lumble down, if not removed. But, truco to the bridges. and the hundreds of ltttle sbarp, black steamers that are constanily dnrtmg hke swalIows under their beautiful archee, sometimes gracedilly stooping their smoke-pipes when the tide is up. We took a coupleof row boats, and glided through thn crowd of ships, smacks, lugsrers. coal barges, &c. to the West India docks. These nre on a far grandor seale than those we previously visited. Tiie water, ii 1 do not mistake, covers 8) acres, in ïwo oblong basins, of nenrly hnlfamüe ín Iength, one devoted to iinport and thfl other to export trade. On the whacf are landing shods, which stretch the whulelengtb. built with iron posts nnd slato roofs, and around the whole nre the sanie l'ofty uarehouses. The pcene, as you look down the vista of one of the Imuling sljedsj ishcautiful and wonderi'ul. Hundreds of men are busjs like ants, in weigh'ing nnd trujidliug away the sugar. rice, tea, ginger, fee. &c.; and every thing proceeds with the order and discipline of a band of music On one side we werestruck withan enormous warehouse Tor mnhognny and other fnrniture woods. There werp piles of St. Domingo mahogany, proving tliat f black pcople cannot take care ofthemselves. iií'éy can ent nnd hew. in a woikmanlike mqnner, logs that are often four fnet square and iwenty fect long. To facilitnte the removal and ;towage or these big logs, the top of the wafeliouse is traversed wiih a railway. under which he loga nre suspended in slings. But I despair -)'. givingany conception of the size nnd mngnill?ence of these docks. The Easf India nrestill leyond; nnd ihere ore oihers we have not seen. We nre, ihough four miles from St. Panl's, stil) n Londoh, nnd five miles irom our lodgings - Po accomplish the first ihree we pay four pence, ind take sents in the cnrs of tho Blockwell railvay. A stationary engine presently puüs us ihe hreo miles, over streets and through and above nultiludinoue houserop. Üke a streak of lightiing, and we trudge the rest ofthe way through he Same everlas'ing swarm nnd rush of s:mn;ers.