"In its course through the metropolis, the Seine is bordered by a series of magnificent quais, which in turn are bordered by rows of sturdy trees. "The most attractive of these quais are those which flank the Louvre, the Tuileries, D'Orsay, Voltaire, and Conti. "Below the quais are deposed nine ports, or _gares_, each devoted to a special class of merchandise, as coal, wine, produce, timber, etc. "The north and south portions of the city are connected by twenty-six _ponts_ (this was in 1852; others have since been erected, which are mentioned elsewhere in the book). "Coming from the upper river, they were known as follows: the Ponts Napoléon, de Bercy, d'Austerlitz, the Passerelle de l'Estacade; then, on the right branch of the river, around the islands, the Ponts Maril, Louis-Philippe, d'Arcole, Notre Dame, and the Pont au Change; on the left branch, the Passerelle St. Louis or Constantine, the Ponts Tournelle, de la Cité, de l'Archevêche, le Pont aux Doubles, le Petit Pont, and the Pont St. Michel; here the two branches join again: le Pont Neuf, des Arts, du Carrousel, Royal, Solferino, de la Concorde, des Invalides, de l'Alma, de Jena, and Grenelle. "Near the Pont d'Austerlitz the Seine receives the waters of the petite Rivière de Bièvre, or des Gobelins, which traverses the faubourgs." Of the bridges of Paris, Dumas in his romances has not a little to say. It were not possible for a romanticist--or a realist, for that matter--to write of Paris and not be continually confronting his characters with one or another of the many splendid bridges which cross the Seine between Conflans-Charenton and Asnières. In the "Mousquetaires" series, in the Valois romances, and in his later works of lesser import, mention of these fine old bridges continually recurs; more than all others the Pont Neuf, perhaps, or the Pont au Change. In "Pauline" there is a charming touch which we may take to smack somewhat of the author's own predilections and experiences. He says, concerning his embarkation upon a craft which he had hired at a little Norman fishing-village, as one jobs a carriage in Paris: "I set up to be a sailor, and served apprenticeship on a craft between the Pont des Tuileries and the Pont de la Concorde." Of the Seine bridges none is more historic than the Pont Neuf, usually reckoned as one of the finest in Europe; which recalls the fact that the French--ecclesiastic and laymen architects alike--were master bridge-builders. For proof of this one has only to recall the wonderful bridge of St. Bénezet d'Avignon, the fortified bridges of Orthos and Cahors, the bridge at Lyons, built by the Primate of Gaul himself, and many others throughout the length and breadth of France. The Pont Neuf was commenced in the reign of Henri III. (1578), and finished in the reign of Henri IV. (1604), and is composed of two unequal parts, which come to their juncture at the extremity of the Ile de la Cité.