toueurs: tow-boys

6. la pente des rampes : sloping ascents, Goods brought to Paris by water are landed on a paved, sloping shore, lying, in the ordinary condition of the river, between the water and the face-wall of the quay.

Paved ascents, rampes^ lead to the level of the quay. La pente des rampes is somewhat tautological.

7. les relâches des nuits sans lune: the enforced stoppage of the work on account ofmoonless nigkts.