'I shall also notice the pretty condition
of the river Aire, which runs through Leeds. Instead of being
an ornament to the town, and a minister of pleasures to its citizens,
by boating, swimming and fishing, its banks are crowded and shut
up with buildings, and its waters are like a reservoir of poison,
carefully kept for the purpose of breeding a pestilence in the
town.
In that part of the river, extending from Armley mills to the
king's Mills, it is charged with the drainage and contents of
about two hundred water-closets, cesspools, and privies, a great
number of common drains, the drainings from dung-hills, the infirmary,
(dead leeches, poultices for patients etc), slaughter houses,
chemical soap, gas, drug, dye-houses, and manufacturers, spent
blue and black dye, pig manure, old urine wash, with all sorts
of dead animal and vegetable substances, and now and then a decomposed
human body; forming an annual mass of filth equal to thirty millions
of gallons! This was, until lately, the delicious nectar, the
delectable water that went to make tea, to be carried to the
lips of the beautiful young ladies of Leeds, (and they are the
loveliest girls in the world) and to cook the victuals for the
inhabitants'. |
