Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/780

756 756 INDIA [COMMERCE. Roads, diminishes. From a military point of view, rapid communi cation by rail has now superseded the old marching routes as completely as in any European country. Like Portsmouth in England, Bombay in India has become the national har bour for the embarkation and debarkation of troops. On landing at Bombay, all troops proceed for a short rest to the healthy station of Deolali on the plateau of the Deccan, whence they can reach their ultimate destinations, however remote, by easy railway stages. The Grand Trunk Road, running up the valley of the Ganges from Calcutta to the north-west frontier, which was first planned in the 16th century by the Afghdn emperor Sher Shdh and was brought to completion under the administration of Lord George Bentinck, is now for the most part untrodden by troops. But though the railway system occupies the first place for military and commercial purposes, the actual mileage and economic importance of roads have greatly increased. They do not figure in the imperial balance-sheet, nor do they strike the popular imagination, but their construction and repair constitute two of the most important duties of the district official. A few lines, such as the continuation of the Grand Trunk Eoad in the Punjab, are still substi tutes for the railways of the future. Others, which climb the passes of the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, or the Nilgiris, will probably never be superseded. The great majority, however, are works of local utility, serving to promote that ease and regularity of communication upon which the existsnce of civilization so largely depends. The substitution of the post-cart for the naked runner, and that of wheeled traffic for the pack-bullock, are silent revolutions effected under British rule. The more important roads are all carefully metalled, the material employed in most provinces being JcanJcar or calcareous limestone. In Lower Bengal and other deltaic tracts, where no kind of stone exists, bricks are roughly burnt and then broken up to supply metal for the roads. The minor streams are crossed by permanent bridges, with foundations of stone, and not unfrequently iron girders. The larger rivers have temporary bridges of boats thrown across them during the dry season, which give place to ferries in time of flood. Avenues of trees afford shade and material for timber. Most of these main lines are under the charge of the Public Works Department. The burden of maintaining the minor roads has, by a recent administrative reform, been thrown upon the local authorities, who depend for their pecuniary resources upon district committees and are often compelled to act as their own engineers. No statistics are available to show the total mileage of roads in British India, or the total sum expended on their maintenance. River Inland navigation is almost confined to the four great rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Indus, and the Irawadi. These all flow through broad valleys, and from time immemorial have been the chief means of conveying the produce of the interior to the sea. South of the Gangetic basin there is not a single river that can be called navigable. Most of the streams in that tract, though mighty torrents in the rainy season, dwindle away to mere threads of water and stagnant pools during the rest of the year. The Godavari and the Narbada, whose volume of water is ample, are both obstructed by rocky rapids which engineering skill has hitherto been unable to overcome. A total sum of 1 J millions sterling has been in vain expended upon the former river. Indeed, it may be doubted whether water carriage is able to compete, as regards the more valu able staples, with communication by rail. After the East Indian Railway was opened, steamers ceased to ply upon the Ganges; and the steam flotilla on the Indus simi larly shrank to insignificance when through communica tion by rail became possible between Multan and Karachi. naviga tion. On the Brahmaputra and its tributary the Barak, and on the Irawadi, steamers still run secure from competition. But it is in the Gangetic delta that river navigation attains its highest development. There the population may be regarded as half amphibious. Every village can be reached by water in the rainy season, and every family keeps its boat. The main channels of the Ganges and Brahmaputra and their larger tributaries are navigable all the year through. During&quot; the rainy months road-carriage is al together superseded. All the minor streams are swollen by the rainfall on the hills, and the local downpour ; while fleets of boats sail down with the produce that has accumu lated in warehouses on the river banks. The statistics of this subject belong rather to the department of internal trade, but it may be mentioned here that the number of laden boats registered at certain of the river-stations in Bengal in the year 1877-78 was 401,729. The great majority of .the Bengal rivers require no attention from Government, but the system known as the three Nadiyd rivers is only kept open for traffic by close supervision. A staff of engineers is constantly employed to watch the shifting bed, to assist the scouring action of the current, and to advertize the trading community of the depth of water from time to time. In the year 1877-78 a total sum of 9522 was expended on this account, while an income of 32,494 was derived from tolls. The artificial water channels of India may be divided into two ( classes (1) those confined to navigation, and (2) those primarily constructed for purposes of irrigation. Of the former class the most important examples are to be found in the south of the pen insula. On both the Malabar and the Coromandel coasts the strip of lowland lying between the mountains and the sea affords natural facilities for the construction of an inland canal running parallel to the shore. In Malabar the salt-water lagoons or lakes, which form such a prominent feature in the local geography, merely required to be supplemented by a few cuttings to supply continuous water communication from the port of Calicut to Cape Comorin. On the east coast, the Buckingham canal, running north from Madras city as far as the delta of the Kistna, has been completed with out any great engineering difficulties. In Bengal there are a few artificial canals of old date, but of no great magnitude, in the neighbourhood of Calcutta. The principal of these form the system known as the Calcutta and Eastern canals, which consist for the most part of natural channels, artificially deepened in order to afford a safe boat route through the Sundarbans. tip to the close of the year 1877-78 a capital sum of 360,332 had been expended by Government on these canals, and the gross income in that year was 44,120 ; after deducting cost of repairs, &c., charged to revenue account, and interest at the rate of 4^ per cent., a net profit was left amounting to 8748. The Hijili tidal canal in Midnapur district, which cuts off a difficult corner of the Hiigli (Hooghly) river, yielded a net revenue of 3171 in the same year. Most of the great irrigation works, both in northern and southern India, have been so constructed as to be available also for naviga tion. The general features of these works have been already de scribed. The works of the Madras Irrigation Company on the Tungabhadra were not made available for navigation until 1879. A scheme is now under the consideration of the Bengal Government for joining the Midnapur and Orissa canal systems, and extending the line of water communication farther southward through the Chilka Lake as far as Ganjam, 400 miles from Calcutta. COMMERCE. The trade of India may be considered under four heads : (1) sea-borne trade with foreign countries; (2) coasting trade; (3) frontier trade, chiefly across the northern moun tains ; (4) internal traffic within the limits of the empire. Sea-borne Trade. With an extensive seaboard, India &amp;lt; has but few ports. Calcutta monopolizes the commerce, not * 3 only of Lower Bengal, but of the entire basins of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Bombay is the sole outlet for the agricultural wealth of Guzerat, the Deccan, and the Central Provinces ; while Karachi (Kurrachee) performs a similar office for the Indus, and Rangoon for the Irawadi. The natural value of these four ports has been permanently confirmed by the construction of the main lines of railway communication. In the south of India only is sea-borne