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85
gine was at once set going. In a
brief space, standing on the edge of
the river, from an opening, there
came belching forth, a thick,
muddy, black, putrescent stream, in
volume and force enough— literally
speaking— to turn the wheel of a
large water-mill. It was then low
water, so that it would remain for
a short time in the full power of its
concentration, till, with the returning
tide, it was carried up the Lea
and down the Lea, and with all its
energy for good or for evil, down
the Cut, and this twice daily into
the heart of Limehouse, as in 1866
when its odours, as they are now,
were diffused right and left over the
chief part of the Cholera field.
This pumping is going on at any
time and at all times, tide or no
tide, night or day, hot or cold, in
the depth of winter, when the
thermometer is many degrees below
freezing point, or in the full blaze
of summer, tchen the temperature
may be, as it was at the commencement
of the epidemic, at 163° in
the sun.
It should be known then to all,
as well as to Mr. Radcliffe, who
speak of the filth of the East as
only on a piece with the rest of
London (Blue Anchor Yard of
course excepted), that in the midst