[82] The sum total of these amounts was 17,141,640 francs, or 685,666_l._, of which more than one-half was paid by Great Britain, and fully one-sixth by the United States. [83] The figures are so remarkable that it will probably be interesting to put them on record in a tabulated form:— ────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────┬────────────────── Year. │ Importations │ Exportations │ Tonnage of Ships │ by Sea. │ by Sea. │ entering Antwerp. ────────┼──────────────────┼──────────────────┼────────────────── │ tons │ tons │ tons 1862 │ 568,871 │ 177,702 │ 599,899 1886 │ 2,438,178 │ 821,753 │ 3,658,900 ────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────┴────────────────── [84] Minutes of Proc. Inst. C. E., vol. 68, p. 484. [85] Subject, of course, to the charge for interest, which, however, will be very trifling. [86] Mr. F. R. Conder maintains that the London coal traffic is carried at a loss to the railways of 822,000_l._ per annum, or 40 per cent. on the traffic. CHAPTER X. THE WATERWAYS OF HOLLAND. “Jupiter, surveying earth from high Beheld it in a lake of water lie.” —OVID. Holland, the land of dykes and ditches, is completely cut up into small islands by its extensive system of canals, which cross and interlace each other like the threads of some large fishing net. Owing to the level condition of the country, the construction of a canal involves but comparatively little labour and expense, and many of them are used as substitutes for public highways, while in the winter, their frozen surfaces offer convenient roads for skaters. The North Holland canal was, until recently, the finest work of its kind in Europe, and was built during the years 1819-23, at a cost of 950,000_l._ Since not only the surface, but the beds of many of these canals are above the level of the land, drainage is a matter of great importance, and is effected by means of windmills working pumps.