UNDERGROUND LONDON.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 282, 19 March 1877, Page 4

UNDERGROUND LONDON.

Sttntfrranean London is a world little known, but yet having a strange history. From every ordinary house small ptp«s, which convey tlio sewage of the household, run into larger pipes, «nd these again into culverts, or brick passages, until at last the main sewer is- reached. A sewer is in effect an underground road, ami it is difficult to form any idea as to the enormous magnitude of the system «f sewers which tuns under London. In Paris some notion of what a great sewerage town, 9v> to> speak, is tike may be gathered under comparatively agreeable circumstances. On stated occasions a limited number of persons are admitted to visit fc* frputir, and alt who have the privilege are astonished at the cleanliness of the underground vaults,, with their well-kept whitewashed walls, their neat side walks, flanking the almost completely deodorised riv*>r ©f sewage, over which the visitor is swiftly carried on tram cars, or towed along in barges, every main and branch sewer being- labelled with the name of the corresponding street above. In London a subterranean network of sewers, much less pleasant to explore, ties everywhere under ear feet* It is easy to talk of the Catacombs of Home, about which many a romance has been written, or about the subterranean reservoirs of Constantinople or the giant caves of Kentucky. It is doubtful, however, whether there is anywhere in the whole world such a Cocytean labyrinth as the London sewers. As we make our way along the London streets we here and there come across a targe iron trap-door let into the pavement, white cccasionalty we find that the trap-door itself is open, and a second dour of iron network, allowing free passage to light and air, is left in Its place. If we stop to look down this aperture we see a sort of well, the shaft of which is lined with brickwork, and in the corners of which are a series of iron steps, forming a kind of ladder from the bowels of tlie earth into the upper air. Presently a glimmer of light appears; it grows larger and steadier ;. the trap-door is pushed open ; a being emerges, clad in boots that reach to his thig'is, with a larder™ in his band and a shovel over his shoulder. Solemnly and dt Überately he climbs into the open air, shuts the door, breathes a deep- sif?h of relief, thrusts his pip.; between h..J teeth, and goes his way. He is a '* tlusher," or in more ordinary partancw, a sewerman-, who has just left his underground labours.