for Members of Parliament is brought back to its natural state by the enactments of 1832.

A small town or village, partly in Maker, but extending into Rame, is distinguished by the double appellation of Kingston and Cawsand; the latter name is applied to the bay formed by a recess of the land at this place, a bay capable of containing the largest ships, and esteemed the least dangerous part of Plymouth Sound.

The Harbour of Plymouth consists of three distinct parts, the Sound, entirely exposed to the violence of south and south-western winds, and two inner harbours, Catwater and Hamoaze; the former adapted only for small vessels; and Hamoaze rendered utterly inaccessible in bad weather by a ridge of rocks extending from Drake’s Island to the western shore, thus restricting the only passage to a narrow and winding channel round that Island under the Hoe, and between Mount Edgcumbe and the Point.

To remedy this most essential defect, by making a safe anchorage in the outer harbour, an immense work was commenced in August 1812, which should be called the Artificial Reef, from its close resemblance to a natural reef, and from its having been avowedly planned in imitation of the coral reefs, abounding near all the Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The Plymouth reef consists of a middle part a thousand yards long, and lying directly across the entrance of the Sound, and of two wings bending inwards at a small angle, each 350 yards long, making in all 1700 yards, or very nearly a mile. Advantage having been taken of a shoal, the depth under low water averages about 36 feet, and the height above low water is just 20 feet. The slope towards the sea forms an angle of 22° with the horizon, giving an increase of breadth of nearly two feet and a half for each foot of descent; the slope towards the land forms an angle of 33° with the horizon, and increases one foot and a half for each foot of descent: consequently the increase of breadth on the whole is four feet for one of descent. The whole

mass is composed of stones blown by the force of gunpowder from limestone rocks on the river side, from whence they are rolled at once on board barges, which sail to the spot and drop them into sea.

The whole weight of the reef is estimated at 2,500,000 tons. It may be curious to compare it with the largest building in the world. The Great Pyramid of Egypt measures 687 feet on each of its four sides, and the perpendicular height is 480 feet; these dimensions, supposing the Pyramid to be solid, give a content of 76,500,000 cubic feet, and a weight exceeding 5,500,000 tons, more than double the weight of the reef, and the materials are large blocks hewn into regular forms, transported from a considerable distance by land carriage, then raised into the air, and finally laid with cement in their exact places.

The artificial reef has cost a million of money; the Pyramid must have required an amount of labour represented at present by perhaps twenty times that sum, a building without use or beauty, while the reef has made Plymouth one of the best harbours in the whole world.

Maker measures 1867 statute acres. If the artificial arrangement were attended to, 967 acres must be deducted.

£.s.d.
Annual value of the Real Property as returned to Parliament in 1815, including the part returned as in Devonshire under the name of Vaultershome346500
Poor Rate in 1831821160