[60] This does not include the six small companies, whose united lines only make up 217 kilometres, nor the _reseau de l’Etat_, which has 2164 kilometres more. Over the latter system the number of tons carried one mile was 133 millions, and the receipts therefrom amounted to about 12 millions of francs, which corresponds to an average of 0·91_d._ per ton per mile, showing that the independent companies carry traffic cheaper than the State lines. [61] ‘Bulletin du Ministère des Travaux Publics,’ Tome xviii. p. 329. [62] The proportions of the total coal supply of 3,065,800 tons received by Paris in 1886 were contributed thus:— ─────────────┬───────────┬─────────── │ By Water. │ By Rail. ├───────────┼─────────── │ tons. │ tons. French coal │ 839,200 │ 889,700 Belgian ” │ 402,300 │ 557,200 English ” │ 26,700 │ 191,100 German ” │ 26,400 │ 133,200 ├───────────┼─────────── Totals │ 1,294,600 │ 1,771,200 ─────────────┴───────────┴─────────── [63] It is interesting to compare, or rather contrast, this with the traffic of the port of London, where, in 1888, the entrances of shipping amounted to close on 12½ millions of tons, carried in 49,213 vessels, the average tonnage being over 700 tons. [64] ‘Album de Statistique Graphique.’ [65] Traffic on French canals:—1883, 11,975,000 tons; 1884, 11,936,000 tons; 1885, 11,102,000 tons; 1886, 12,027,000 tons. [66] Traffic on French rivers:—1883, 8,873,000 tons; 1884, 8,936,000 tons; 1885, 8,353,000 tons; 1886, 8,950,000. [67] Lord Clarence Paget here refers, of course, to the Suez Canal, since the Panama Canal, which is dealt with elsewhere in this volume, is in quite a different category. [68] These details are abstracted from the ‘Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,’ vol. 86, p. 419, _et seq._ [69] Lord Alfred Paget’s paper, originally published in the ‘Journal of the Society of Arts,’ giving an account of a yacht voyage which he made over this canal, has already been referred to. [70] M. E. Couillard in ‘Annales Industrielles,’ June, 1887. CHAPTER VIII. THE WATERWAYS OF GERMANY. “How many spacious countries does the Rhine, In winding banks and mazes serpentine, Traverse, before he splits on Belgia’s plain, And, lost in sand, creeps to the German main.” _Sir R. Blackmore._