of roads

But although the railway system now occupies the first place, both for military and commercial purposes, the actual importance of roads has increased rather than diminished. They Extension do not figure in the imperial balance-sheet, nor do they strike the popular imagination; but their construction and repair constitute one of the most important duties of the District official. They promote that regularity of local communication upon which the progress of civilisation so largely depends. The substitution of the post-cart for the naked runner, and of wheeled traffic for the pack-bullock, is one of the silent revolutions effected by British rule.

boats.

The more important roads are all carefully metalled, the Road material almost everywhere employed being kankar or cal- metal. careous limestone. In Lower Bengal and other deltaic tracts, where nɔ 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 Bridges of have temporary bridges of boats thrown across them during the dry season, which give place to ferries in time of flood. Avenues of trees along the roads afford shade, and material for timber. The main lines are under the charge of the Public Works Department. The maintenance of the minor roads has, by a recent administrative reform, been thrown upon the shoulders of the local authorities, who depend for their pecuniary resources upon District committees, and are often compelled to act as their own engineers. Complete statistics are not available to show the total mileage of roads in British India, or the total sum expended on their maintenance.

Inland navigation is almost confined to the four great rivers, Rivers. the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Indus, and the Irawadi. These 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 Indian river which can be called navigable. Most of the South Indian streams, although mighty torrents in the rainy season, dwindle away to mere threads of water and stagnant pools during the rest of the year. The Godávari and the The GodáNarbadá, 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 million sterling has been almost in vain expended upon the former river, with a view to improving it as a navigable highway. It is doubtful

vari works.

The
Ganges.

The Brahmaputra.

Minor

streams

River trade.

The Nadiyá rivers.

whether water carriage is able to compete, as regards the more valuable staples, with communication by rail. But for cheap and bulky staples, or for slow subsidiary traffic, it is difficult to overrate the economic importance of the Indian rivers.

After the East Indian Railway was fairly opened, through steamers ceased to ply upon the Ganges; and the steam flotilla on the Indus shrank to insignificance when through communication by rail became possible between Múltán and Karachi. On the Brahmaputra and its tributary the Bárak, and on the Irawadi, steamers still run secure from railway competition. But it is in the Gangetic delta that river navigation attains its highest development. There the poɔulation 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 3rahmaputra, and their larger tributaries, are navigable throughout the year. During the rainy months, road carriage is altogether 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 accumulated 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 in Bengal in the year 1877-78 was 401,729. These formed but a fraction of the real total. Boat-racing forms a favourite native sport in the deltaic and eastern Districts. It is conducted with great spirit and rivalry by the villagers. In some places, the day concludes with an illuminated boat procession by torchlight.

The great majority of the Bengal rivers require no attention from Government, but the network known as the three Nadiyá rivers is kept open for traffic only by close supervision. These three rivers, the Bhágiráthí, Jalangí, and Mátábhángá, are all offshoots of the Ganges, which unite to make up the headwaters of the Húglí.2 In former times, the main volume of the Ganges was carried to the sea by one or other of these channels. But they now receive so little water as to be navigable only in the rainy season, and then with difficulty. Since the beginning of the present century, Government has undertaken the task of preventing these Húglí head-waters from

Dealt with in next chapter.

* See article HUGLI RIVER, The Imperial Gazetteer, for an account of the engineering history of these rivers. It is also given in greater detail in Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. ii. pp. 19-32.

further deterioration. A staff of engineers is constantly employed to watch the shifting bed, to assist the scouring action of the current, and to advertise the trading community of the depth of water from time to time. In the year 1882-83, a total sum of £11,667 was expended on this account, while an income of £18,296 was derived from tolls.

waters.

The artificial water channels of India may be divided into Navigable two classes. (1) Those confined to navigation; (2) those canals. constructed primarily for purposes of irrigation. Of the former class, the most important examples are to be found in the south of the peninsula. On both the Malabar and the Coromandel coasts, the strip of low land 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 so Malabar prominent a feature in the local geography, merely required to backbe 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 BuckingMadras city as far as the delta of the Kistna, has recently hamCanal. been completed without 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 Calcutta Eastern Canals, which consist for the most part of natural canals. channels artificially deepened, in order to afford a safe boat route through the Sundarbans.. Up to the close of the year 1877-78, a capital of £360,332 had been expended by Government on the Calcutta Canals; the gross income in 1877-78 was £44,120; after deducting cost of repairs, etc., charged to revenue account, and interest at the rate of 41 per cent., a net profit was left amounting to £8748. In 1882-83, the tolls on the Calcutta Canals realized £53,372. The Hijili Tidal Canal in Midnapur District, which cuts off a difficult corner of the Húglí river, yielded a net revenue of £3171 in the same year. In 1882-83, this canal only yielded Hijili a net profit of £446, owing to the cost of dredging operations, Canal. and the consequent closing of the canal for a portion of the

year.

Most of the great irrigation works, both in Northern and Southern India, have been so constructed as to be available Naviga also for navigation. The general features of these works have tion on been already described. So far as regards Bengal, navigation canals;

Bengal

on the Orissa Canals in 1877-78 yielded £3384, and in 1882-83, £10,847; on the Midnapur Canal, £10,692 in 1877-78, and £10,642 in 1882-83; and on the Son Canals, £5965 in 1877-78, and £3906 in 1882-83; the aggregate being considerably larger than was derived from irrigation. In on Madras Madras, boat tolls in the Godávari delta brought in £4496 in 1877-78, and £6295 in 1882-83. In the Kistna delta, tolls realized £1718 in 1877-78, and £3956 in 1882-83. The works of the Madras Irrigation Company on the Tungabhadra were not made available for navigation until 1879, and they were taken over by Government in 1882. Their navigation receipts in that year amounted to 1068.

canals.

[ 555 ]

CHAPTER XIX.

COMMERCE AND TRADE.

FROM the earliest days, India has been a trading country. Trade of The industrial genius of her inhabitants, even more than her India. natural wealth and her extensive seaboard, distinguished her from other Asiatic lands. In contrast with the Arabian peninsula on the west, with the Malayan peninsula on Ancient. the east, or with the equally fertile empire of China, India has always maintained an active intercourse with Europe. Philology proves that the precious cargoes of Solomon's merchant ships came from the ancient coast of Malabar. The brilliant mediaval republics of Italy drew no small share of their wealth from their Indian trade. It was the hope of participating in this trade that stimulated Columbus to the discovery of America, and Da Gama to the circumnavigation of the Cape of Good Hope. Spices, drugs, dyes, and rare Mediæval. woods; fabrics of silk and cotton; jewels, and gold and silver, -these were the temptations which allured the first adventurers from Europe.

The East and the West were then separated by a twelvemonth's voyage, full of hardships and perils. A successful venture made the fortune of all concerned, but trade was a lottery, and not far removed from piracy. Gradually, as the native kingdoms fell, and the proud cities of mediæval India sank into ruin, the legendary wealth of India was found to rest upon an unstable basis. It has been reserved for our own day to discover, by the touchstone of open trade, the real Modern. source of her natural riches, and to substitute bales of raw produce for boxes of curiosities. The cotton, grain, oil-seeds, and jute of India now support a large population in England. Before entering on the statistics of Indian trade, it is well to The apprehend the function which commerce has now to perform function of in India. The people have in some Provinces outgrown the trade in food-producing powers of the soil; in many others, they are pressing heavily upon these powers. Agriculture, almost their sole industry, no longer suffices for their support. New

modern

India.