Nor
would there be any difficulty in making reservoirs upon the ridge-tops,
with launders, or gutters, to collect the rain. Thus work would continue
throughout the year, and not be confined, as at present, to the dry
season. A pressure of 100 to 200 lbs. per square foot can easily be
obtained, and the force of the jet is so great that it will kill a man on
the spot. The hose should be of heavy duck, double if necessary, rivetted
and strengthened by metal bands or rings--in fact, the crinoline-hose of
Australia. Leather would be better, but hard to repair in case of
accidents by rats; guttapercha would be expensive, and perhaps thin metal
tubes with flexible joints may serve best. The largest hose carried by
iron-clads measures 19 to 20 inches in diameter, and is worked by 30 to 40
horse-power. Other vessels have a 15-inch hose worked by manual labour,
fifty men changed every ten minutes, and will throw the jet over the royal
yards of a first-class man-of-war. The floating power-engines attached to
the Dockyard reserves would represent the articles required.
With a diameter of from ten to fifteen inches, and a nozzle of three to
four inches, a 'crinoline-hose' will throw a stream a hundred feet high
when worked by the simplest steam-power process, and tear down a hill
more rapidly than a thousand men with shovels.
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