34

HISTORY AND PROGRESS

the road, might tend to the introduction ofwooden rails the whole distance. Such is thepractice in Russia , and it appears to have beenas ancient as civilization in that country.

At the coal-works in the neighbourhood ofNewcastle-upon-Tyne , the expence of con-veying the coals from the pits to the placeswhere they were to be shipped by sea, wouldbe very great. Down to the year 1600, theonly mode appears to have been by carts, onthe ordinary roads ; and in some instances by" panniers” on horseback. A record in thebooks of one of the free companies in New­ castle , dated 1602, states, “ That from tymeout of mynd yt hath been accustomed that allcole-waynes did usually carry and bring eightbaulls of coles to all the staythes upon theryver of Tyne , but of late several hath broughtonly, or scarce, seven baulls.” The cost oftransporting such a heavy article as coal alongcommon roads, which may be supposed wouldnot be of the best description, in carts con-taining seven or eight bolls, would operatevery powerfully in accelerating the introduc-tion of some improvement in the mode of con-veyance, to lessen the ex pence.

In a work published at Newcastle , in theyear 1649, by a Mr. Gray, called “ A Cho-rographia,” a survey of Newcastle-upon-Tyne ,