No nation has probably opposed the introduction of the railway as stubbornly as the Chinese. The first railroad, scarcely seven miles long, was built by an English company near Kaiping to facilitate the transportation of coal from the mines in that vicinity. In 1886 a Chinese company purchased this line and has since extended it to Tientsin, making its present length about eighty-four miles. The Chinese government has recently authorized the further extension of this line to Yangchou, a place but a few miles distant from Pekin. Of the Asiatic islands Java has the largest and oldest railroad system. On the 10th of August, 1867, the first line was opened between Samarang and Tangveng. Other coast lines have since been constructed, but communication is still sadly neglected in the interior. In 1889 there were operated on the island nearly 800 miles of road, the greater part being the property of private companies. A road was opened upon the island of Ceylon between Colombo and Kandy in 1867, to which several branch lines and extensions have since been added. The total system comprises at present about 180 miles. Short lines have also been built in Burmah (1889); in the Malay Peninsula (1885), in Sumatra (1876), and in Cochin China (1885). A line from Bangkok to Bianghsen, in Siam, is being projected at the present time. In Africa, if we except its northern coast, the construction of railroads has only kept pace with the slow development of the resources of that continent. Its European colonies are still but thinly inhabited, and their industrial and commercial life still resembles much that of the American colonies of the seventeenth century. There can be little doubt, however, that with the increasing immigration the growing demand for better transportation facilities will speedily be met by European capital. The first railroad upon African soil was built by the Egyptian government from Alexandria to Cairo, and from there through the desert to Suez. A part of this line, 130 miles long, was opened to traffic in 1856, and the remaining ninety miles the year following. Nothing further was done until after Ismail Pasha ascended the throne, in 1863. The railroad system of Lower Egypt, between Alexandria in the west, Cairo in the south, and Ismaila in the east, was then greatly extended and the service materially improved. After the opening of the Suez Canal the line through the desert to Suez was abandoned. The railroad system of Egypt comprises at present about 1,250 miles, all of which belongs to the government except two short lines which are private property.