97 tons. A start was made down the river at 11:15 A.M., the engines making about 180 revolutions per minute, and the boat running at some 11½ or 12 knots.

During this time the stokehole hatches were open, but the fans were kept running at slow speed to maintain a moderate draught. The fuel used throughout the trip was briquettes made of the best Welsh anthracite worked up with a little tar. The briquettes were broken up to convenient sizes before being put in the bunkers. This fuel is not of so high evaporative efficiency as Nixon's navigation coal, but it is more suitable for torpedo boat work, because it gives out Very little dust, while the coal in closed stokeholes half smothers the firemen. Watering only partially mitigates the evil. Besides this, the patent fuel does not clinker the tube ends—a matter of vital importance.

During the run down to Gravesend, the small quantity of smoke given out was borne down and away from the tops of the funnels by the fierce head wind, and now and then a heavy spray broke on the bows, wetting everything forward. In the engine room preparations were made for taking indicator diagrams. No attempt was made to drive the boat fast, because high speeds are prohibited by the river authorities on account of the heavy swell set up.

The measured mile on the Lower Hope is on the southern bank of the river, about three miles below Gravesend. Just as the boat passed the town, in the midst of a heavy rain squall, the stokehole hatches in the deck were shut, and the dull humming roar of the fans showed that the fires were being got up. The smoke no longer rose leisurely from the funnels. It came up now with a rush and violence which showed the powerful agency at work below. A rapid vibrating motion beneath the feet was the first evidence that the engines were away full speed. As the boat gathered way she seemed to settle down to her work, and the vibration almost ceased. The measured mile was soon reached, and then in the teeth of the northeaster she tore through the water. The tide and wind were both against her. Had the tide and wind been opposed, there would have been a heavy sea on. As it was, there was quite enough; the water, breaking on her port bow, came on board in sheets, sparkling in the sun, which, the rain squall having passed, shone out for the moment. As the wind was blowing at least thirty miles an hour, and the boat was going at some twenty-six miles an hour against it, the result was a moderate hurricane on board. It was next to impossible to stand up against the fury of the blast without holding on. The mile was traversed in less than 2½ minutes, however; but the boat had to continue her course down the river for nearly another mile to avoid some barges which lay in the way, and prevented her from turning. Then the helm was put over, and she came round. There was no slacking of the engines, and astern of her the water leaped from her rudder in a great upheaved, foaming mass, some 7 ft. or 8 ft. high. Brought round, she once more lay her course. This time the wind was on her starboard quarter, or still more nearly aft. The boat went literally as fast as the wind, and on deck it was nearly calm. The light smoke from the funnels, no longer beaten down by wind, leaped up high into the air. Looking over the side, it was difficult to imagine that the boat was passing through water at all. The enormous velocity gave the surface of the river the appearance of a sheet of steel for 1 ft. or more outside the boat. Standing right aft, the sight was yet more remarkable. Although two 6 ft. screws were revolving at nearly 400 revolutions per minute almost under foot, not a bubble of air came up to break the surface. There was no wave in her wake; about 70 ft. behind her rose a gentle swelling hill.

Her wake was a broad smooth brown path, cut right through the rough surface of the river. On each side of this path rose and broke the angry little seas lashed up by the scourging wind. Along the very center of the brown track ran a thin ridge of sparkling foam, some 2 ft. high and some 20 ft. long, caused by the rudder being dragged through the water. There was scarcely any vibration. The noise was not excessive. A rapid whirr due to the engines, and a rythmical clatter due to the relief valve on one of the port engine cylinders not being screwed down hard enough, and therefore lifting a little in its seat at each stroke, made the most of it. The most prominent noise perhaps was the hum of the fans. Standing forward, the deck seems to slope away downward aft, as indeed it does, for it is to be noted that at these high speeds the forefoot of the boat is always thrown up clean out of the water—and the whole aspect of the boat: the funnels vomiting thin brown smoke, and occasionally, when a fire door is opened, a lurid pillar of flame for a moment; the whirr in the engine room; the dull thunder of the fans, produce an impression on the mind not easily expressed, and due in some measure no doubt to the exhilaration caused by the rapid motion through the air.

The best way to convey what we mean is to say that the whole craft seems to be alive, and a perfect demon of energy and strength. Many persons hold that a torpedo boat is likely to be more useful in terrifying an enemy than in doing him real harm, and we can safely say that the captain of an ironclad who saw half a dozen of these vessels bearing down on him, and did not wish himself well out of a scrape, has more nerve than most men.

The second mile was run in far less time than that in which what we have written concerning it can be read, and then the boat turned again, and once more the head wind with all its discomforts was encountered. Events repeated themselves, and so at last the sixth trip was completed, and the boat proceeded at a leisurely pace back again to Poplar. Mr. Crohn, representing Messrs. Yarrow on board, and all concerned, might well feel satisfied. We had traveled at a greater speed than had ever before been reached by anything that floats, and there was no hitch or impediment or trouble of any kind.

The Italian government may be congratulated on possessing the two fastest and most powerful torpedo boats in the world. We believe, however, that Messrs. Yarrow are quite confident that, with twin screw triple expansion engines, they can attain a speed of 26 knots an hour, and we have no reason to doubt this.—The Engineer.

RESERVOIR DAMS.^[1]

By DAVID GRAVELL.

The construction of dams, in some form or other, may probably rank among the very earliest of engineering works. Works of this character are not infrequently referred to in the accounts of the earliest historians; but it is to be feared that they are not always perfectly trustworthy. The subscribers to the Mudie of the period had to be considered, and their taste for the marvelous was probably not much inferior to that of our own day. When, therefore, Herodotus describes the reservoir of Moeris as formed for the control of the river floods of Nile-nourished Egypt, and of another constructed by Nebuchadnezzar at Sippara, of 140 miles in circumference, we must make allowances. But there is no question as to the existence in the East at the present day, and especially in India and Ceylon, of the remains of what may correctly be termed stupendous works; and the date of the construction of which, as regards India, is in many cases prehistoric. In Spain also the Moors, whose occupation of the peninsula terminated in the thirteenth century, have left reservoir dams of great magnitude, situated mostly in the south-eastern provinces of Murcia and Alicante, and many of which are still serviceable.

In India and Ceylon the greater number of the ancient dams or bunds are now in ruins, and this can occasion but little surprise, considering the meteorological condition of these countries.