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 PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.

material from which this little work has been drawn has necessarily been exceedingly various.

I had at one time thought of indicating the many authorities to whose works I am indebted for information, and as far as possible this has been done in the footnotes to the text.

So extensive, however, have been the sources from which my information has been derived, that it will hardly be surprising if some have been left unacknowledged. May I therefore express my indebtedness to all upon whose experience I have based my argument—or from whom I have obtained facts and figures, either by direct communication or by a consultation of their works.

The object of this account of our Canal System has been, not so much to discuss each individual waterway, but to set forth in order the facts relating to our inland navigations as a whole, and to give some idea of the possibilities which lie before the method of transport.

November 15th, 1902.