confusion has only recently
reached its height when every scrap of space left by the old way of
building has been filled up and patched over until not a foot of land is
left to be further occupied.

The south bank of the Irk is here very steep and between fifteen and
thirty feet high. On this declivitous hillside there are planted three
rows of houses, of which the lowest rise directly out of the river, while
the front walls of the highest stand on the crest of the hill in Long
Millgate. Among them are mills on the river, in short, the method of
construction is as crowded and disorderly here as in the lower part of
Long Millgate. Right and left a multitude of covered passages lead from
the main street into numerous courts, and he who turns in thither gets
into a filth and disgusting grime, the equal of which is not to be
found--especially in the courts which lead down to the Irk, and which
contain unqualifiedly the most horrible dwellings which I have yet
beheld. In one of these courts there stands directly at the entrance, at
the end of the covered passage, a privy without a door, so dirty that the
inhabitants can pass into and out of the court only by passing through
foul pools of stagnant urine and excrement. This is the first court on
the Irk above Ducie Bridge--in case any one should care to look into it.
Below it on the river there are several tanneries which fill the whole
neighbourhood with the stench of animal putrefaction. Below Ducie Bridge
the only entrance to most of the houses is by means of narrow, dirty
stairs and over heaps of refuse and filth. The first court below Ducie
Bridge, known as Allen's Court, was in such a state at the time of the
cholera that the sanitary police ordered it evacuated, swept, and
disinfected with chloride of lime. Dr. Kay gives a terrible description
of the state of this court at that time. {49} Since then, it seems to
have been partially torn away and rebuilt; at least looking down from
Ducie Bridge, the passer-by sees several ruined walls and heaps of debris
with some newer houses. The view from this bridge, mercifully concealed
from mortals of small stature by a parapet as high as a man, is
characteristic for the whole district. At the bottom flows, or rather
stagnates, the Irk, a narrow, coal-black, foul-smelling stream, full of
debris and refuse, which it deposits on the shallower right bank. In dry
weather, a long string of the most disgusting, blackish-green,