The stone bridge across the Coa at Almeida,having been destroyed by the French in theirretreat, and a passage across the river therebeing necessary for the operations of the alliedarmy, a communication was established in thefollowing manner:—Notches A, B, fig. 3, plate11, were made in the masonry, and two frames,A F, B E, eased down, vertically, from theedges of the gap, in the upright positions A F,B E, resting upon the notches A, B. Twotackles, applied to each frame, led to ring-boltsset in the masonry at about 30 feet from thegap. Fifty men being put to each tackle, theframes were lowered down to cross each otherat II. Gang boards were then shoved out, andmen sent to put in key-bolts, previously pre-pared: a ridge-piece was then fixed in thefork II, the beams laid, braces 12 3 put in,and the communication served, without shakeor failure.

The bridge fig. 4, plate 11, was constructedacross the Coa, in the neighbourhood of Puentede Pinhel, at a time when it became ex-tremely important to establish good communi-cations across that river.

It was found impracticable to restore a com-munication across the stone bridge, on accountof the shattered state of the piers, and the dif-