Produced by Chris Curnow, Paul Marshall and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber’s Notes: Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_ in the original text. Equal signs “=” before and after a word or phrase indicate =bold= in the original text. Carat symbol “^” designates a superscript. Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals. Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs. Antiquated spellings have been preserved. Typographical errors have been silently corrected but other variations in spelling and punctuation remain unaltered. Footnotes have been moved from the bottom of the page where they are referenced to the end of the chapter. [Illustration: _E & F N Spon London & New York_ “INK-PHOTO.” SPRAGUE & CO. LONDON. NEWTON CUTTING ON THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL (TAME VALLEY).] WATERWAYS AND WATER TRANSPORT IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES: WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE PANAMA, SUEZ, MANCHESTER, NICARAGUAN, AND OTHER CANALS. BY J. STEPHEN JEANS, M.R.I., F.S.S., AUTHOR OF ‘ENGLAND’S SUPREMACY’; ‘RAILWAY PROBLEMS,’ ETC. [Illustration] E. & F. N. SPON, 125, STRAND, LONDON. NEW YORK: 12, CORTLANDT STREET. 1890. INTRODUCTION AND OUTLINE. It would probably be difficult to name any subject that is of more importance to the material interests of a country than adequate means of transport. Without such means, nations possessed of the most abundant natural resources in many other respects would be likely to decay. With ample facilities of transport, however, the most limited natural resources may be made to go a long way, and nations that are not possessed of great natural endowments may even rise to a high place in the economy of human industry. Transportation facilities naturally divide themselves into the two categories of facilities by land and facilities by water. The former category embraces highways and railroads; the latter includes the navigation of seas, lakes, rivers, and canals. It is the purpose of this volume to deal with water transport only, and more particularly that part of water transport which is carried on by means of artificial waterways. Railway transport, therefore, will only be incidentally referred to. Nor do we propose to expatiate to any extent upon the navigation of seas and lakes, which is a matter quite apart from canal and river navigation, and is usually carried on under very different conditions.