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27
MORTALITY OF THE CITY OF LONDON.
and casting of soylage into the stream, was become
worse cloyed than ever it was before." Where that
soylage was cast, and where, since the days referred
to, so many habitations have arisen that no sign
of stream remains visible to the wayfarer above
ground, its traces still remain below. Throughout
at least a large portion of this district, the sub-soil
(your Surveyor informs me) consists of black mud,
the bed of the ancient river, in which are set the
foundations of the modern houses. The river, which
centuries ago fulfilled for a large population those
vile uses which now pollute the Thames, has gradually
yielded its foul banks to the residence of a
growing population; and the sanitary relations of
that population are exactly such as might be imitated,
if the volume of the Thames were henceforth
slowly reduced, and if those banks of mud which are
now exposed only at low water, were simultaneously
converted into the site of permanent habitations.
The history of the stream at Walbrook is, I believe,
not dissimilar; but there is this marked difference
between the two cases, that the comparative
declivity of the latter district has allowed its soil to
acquire a dryness and healthiness which have never
been reached on the banks of the Fleet. For, owing
to the extreme lowness of level in this district, the
tidal influence of the Thames is very inconveniently
felt; the cellars of houses are habitually exposed to
dampness, even to flooding; and probably the whole
porous sub-soil, at least as far north as your