M. Esquiros continues:—“‘They are just beginning to work’ was soon remarked to me by the superintendent, who followed, even under the waves, every movement of his labourers. The nature of their operations varies, of course, very much according to the undertaking in which they are engaged. The two divers who had just gone down had for their task to clear away round the adjacent portion of the foundation of the breakwater. As soon as they reach the bottom they jump off their seat, and, armed with a pickaxe, begin to dig into the moist sand in order to get out the stones. It often happens that the movement of the tide or some other cause disturbs the water round the rocky base of the breakwater. The workmen have then much trouble in seeing clearly, and complain that ‘the water is muddy.’ Generally, however, the water is so transparent, that even a cloud passing across the sky is visible at the bottom of the sea. The workmen also can labour with nearly as much ease and quite as much energy as if they were on land. The movements they themselves make in conjunction with the circumstances which surround them occasionally cause something like a thick mist to rise before their eyes, hiding from them the nearest objects; they get quit of it by calling for an ‘air bath.’ The air‐pump redoubles its pace in working, and sends down to them through the pump an extra current of air, which soon blows away the mist. “I was very soon enabled to judge for myself as to their industry; sacks which they had filled with muddy sand, and buckets laden with stones, came up to the surface every moment, drawn by cords. One might have fancied it to be the mouth of a mine, to which invisible arms were constantly sending up fragments of rock; but here the mine was the sea. The nature of their digging did not allow them to work very long together in the same place. The divers had already requested by signal to have their position shifted on the bed of the sound. How would they manage to comply with their wish? As regards air and locomotion, the men shut up in the bell depend entirely on the apparatus working on the surface. The chief organ of movement is a sort of _traveller_ on four wheels, running over two tramways, allowing it to come and go in every direction. Immediately on the signal being given from below, the bell was raised from the bottom of the sea, like a heavy balloon. This operation was, of course, carried out by means of chains, and the diving‐bell remained for a minute or two motionless in mid‐water, like the pendulum of a stopped clock. But the traveller begins to move, and as it also acts as a crane, the pulley on the surface and the bell under water shift their position at the same time. The divers call this ‘travelling.’ They can thus move from north to south, from east to west, backwards and forwards. As they are in motion, if they come upon a piece of rock which encumbers the bed of the sound, they give the signal to