After passing these, you appear entering on an extended suburb to a large town; but the town itself is nowhere visible: it is without form or order; in short, to get to your inn you can scarcely find your way along the main road; for to dignify it with the name of street, is more than it merits; yet here is collected together a larger and more bustling population than any other town in the principality can boast; its markets are large, well attended, and more than reasonable; its shopkeepers are numerous and thriving; and all that seems to be required to make this town one of the most respectable in the principality is a little attention to order and cleanliness: the lower classes, it is true, are miserably poor; still, even about the iron-works, there are so many better provided for, and so much money is monthly put into circulation, that but little trouble would be wanted to make it assume the appearance, as well as enjoy the reality, of being a populous busy town of trade. The largest works at Merthyr are the Cyfartha, belonging to Mr. Crawshay: these now consist of six blast furnaces, and two near the town, with fineries, air and puddling furnaces, mill forges, &c. in proportion. The blast is furnished by a steam engine of eighty-horse power and an immense overshot water-wheel, fifty feet in diameter, by seven feet in width: this wheel rests on gudgeons, which weigh one hundred tons: it consumes about twenty-five tons of water per minute; part of the water is brought a considerable distance along a trough supported by stone pillars; the rest is furnished from the Taff. The gudgeons of all the wheels, and of such parts of the machine where there is any friction, have water continually running over them, to prevent their taking fire. It is the particular office of one man to grease every part of the machine whilst in motion; to accomplish which, he is frequently obliged to ride on an iron bar, similar to the lever of a pump when in motion, a considerable way from the ground. The whole of this machinery is worked by water, not more than a foot deep, which is conveyed by a long spout to the top of the wheel, where it discharges itself. The ore, lime-stone, and coals, which they use to promote the fusion of the ore, are all found on the spot. The ore, previous to its being thrown into the furnace, is burnt in a common lime-pit; the goodness of it is afterwards proved, by its adhesion to the tongue: the coal is all charked, and continually put into the furnace with certain proportions of ore. From the pigs, the iron is rolled into flat plates by a cylinder; this is performed with the greatest despatch. The gaunt figures of the workmen excite both pity and terror, and the sallow countenances and miserable air of the people prove it is a labour very prejudicial to their health.