_The Proposed Black Sea and Azov Canal._—During the summer of 1888 the Russian Government complied with a demand for a concession, made by the Black Sea and Azov Canal Company, for the right to construct a canal intended to connect the Don basin and the Sea of Azov with the Dneiper basin and the Black Sea. The length of the proposed canal is stated to be a little over 26 English miles, and the cost is estimated at 3½ millions sterling. The mean depth proposed is about 14 feet. The work of construction is expected to occupy about four years. It has been remarked as a singular phenomenon that whereas the canal traffic of England has relatively diminished, that of other countries has been maintained. This has been explained by the fact that in other countries the distances are generally greater, and the canals are more like rivers than the narrow waters usual in our own country. On Russian canals, for example, barges range in length from 100 to 300 feet, and, instead of being mere lighters, they are to all intents and purposes the counterparts of ocean-going steamships. Large-sized steamers can proceed from the Neva through the canal system to the Volga, and descend thence to the Caspian Sea. Again, it is no unusual thing for barges of 500 or 1000 tons burden to start from some stream in the Ural Mountains with the floods of spring, and reach the river Neva in the autumn—a journey of nearly 1000 miles. The canals of Russia were for a long time, and are still to a considerable extent, largely navigated by flat-bottomed barques, of considerable length, but seldom more than 4 feet in depth, and drawing from 20 to 30 inches of water. “Their rudder,” it is said, “is a long tree like an oar. In case of leakage, instead of a pump they put up a rough cross-bar, from which is slung, by means of a rope, a wooden scoop, with which they throw out the water. These vessels are rudely constructed, purposely for conveying only one cargo. They cost from 100 to 300 roubles each (20_l._ to 60_l._), and when they arrive at Archangel, Petersburg, or Riga, and their cargoes are discharged, they are sold or broken up for firewood or other purposes, seldom fetching more than from 20 to 50 roubles.”[107]