inhabitants,
and these were frequently architectural constructions worthy of their
importance,--the Fontaine des Innocents, that of the Birague--now
disappeared, that of the Arbre-Sec, of Gaillon and of Grenelle. The
_porteurs d'eau_ were robust young fellows, mostly from Auvergne, who
carried about the Seine water in two metal buckets by means of a neck
yoke, and delivered it in the loftiest houses. At night, the
water-casks, always filled, were stationed at various points, so as to
be available in case of fire;--the first water-carrier who reached the
scene of conflagration received a reward of twelve francs. The _eau de
Seine_, filtered, was retailed at ten centimes the _voie_, or two
pailfuls, of ten or fifteen litres, twenty times the price it is to-day;
the poor preferred to use the water just as it came from the river,
polluted as it was by the sewage.

As late as 1608, the only resource available outside the Seine water
and that of wells was that furnished by the two little aqueducts of
Belleville and the Pre-Saint-Gervais, constructed by Philippe-Auguste
about the beginning of the thirteenth century. This supply was called
_les Eaux du Roi_, and was dispensed graciously by the monarch to the
grand seigneurs and the rich monasteries. The aqueduct of Belleville,
which was falling into ruin, was partly reconstructed by the _prevot_ of
the merchants in 1457. Henri IV, in 1598, granted the first concession
for a fixed price, which was the origin of the custom of paying for the
municipal water-supply. At the end of the eighteenth century, the city
was furnished by the "Eaux du Roi," which included that brought by the
aqueduct of Arcueil and drawn from the _pompe de la Samaritaine_
(1606-1608); and by the "Eaux de la Ville," from the aqueduct of
Belleville and the pompes Notre-Dame. The Eaux du Roi were ceded
outright to the city in 1807; their administration is confided to the
Prefet of the Seine, under the authority of the Minister of the
Interior.

In 1802, the first attempt to seriously increase the volume of water
supplied the city was made by drawing on the little river Ourcq. This
canal brings a supply to the Bassin de la Villette, which serves as a
reservoir to distribute it through Paris by means of the aqueduct of the
Ceinture and large mains. The necessity of securing a larger supply, and
a much purer one, was strongly felt by Baron Haussmann, who did so much
for the embellishment of the city during the