[15] I have two photographs of it, both taken by my friend Mr. C. S. Sargisson, a Lancashire pontist. At one end the lintel rests on a rocky bank and is broken across by long use; at the other end it rests on a slab projecting from the bank, just below a stile of unmortared flags set in a picturesque wall of loose stones. The footway is much worn; and in frosty weather even a temperance reformer might slide from it with his reputation.
[16] I am quoting this approximate date from Sir Ray Lankester.
[17] “The Mynach cataract consists of four leaps, making a total descent of 210 feet. The bridge has been thrown across a chasm 114 feet above the first fall and 324 feet above the bottom of the cataract.”
[18] What does this phrasing mean? I wonder. Is the living child to be reconstructed? in order that its body when buried under the new dam may be strong enough as a foundation?
[19] To-day, in some parts of China, a living pig is thrown into a river when a bridge is endangered by a flood. ([See p. 248].)
[20] “The Cradle of Mankind.” By the Rev. W. A. Wigram, D.D., and Edgar T. A. Wigram. London, 1914.
[21] Notes by the Rev. W. A. Wigram, D.D.
[22] To-day only a ruin can be studied at Pont Ambroise: two isolated arches and the lower part of an abutment; but recent French writers draw attention to the technical structure of the arches. In the under surface of each vault four arcs or bands are placed side by side. See Vol. III, Part II, p. 294, “Géographie générale du Département de l’Hérault.” Published by La Société Languedocienne, Montpellier, 1905.
[23] See a very helpful book, “Ponts en Maçonnerie,” by E. Degrand, Inspecteur Général des Ponts et Chaussées, and Jean Résal, Ingénieur des Ponts et Chaussées—Two vols., illustrated; Béranger, Paris; price 40 francs.