There are no detailed returns at command of the amount of expenditure at which the traffic on the waterways of France has been carried on. In the nature of the case, indeed, there could hardly be such information, seeing that the rivers, and to a large extent the canals as well, are free of tolls, and the expenses of haulage will vary in every case, according to the means employed, and other determining circumstances. On the French railway system, however, the average rate charged for the transport of goods per ton per mile amounted in 1887 to less than 0·9_d._, taking the eight great companies as a whole.[60] Roughly, therefore, the average distance over which each ton was transported on the waterways and railways of France was almost exactly the same, but the railways carried almost four times as much traffic as the waterways. This difference applied almost as much to heavy as to light traffic. The total quantity of coal and coke carried on the waterways was 5,964,000 tons, while on the railways it amounted to 22,395,000 tons, being again nearly four times as much. The total length of the canals of France in 1887 was 4759 kilometres, or 2998 miles. The average number of tons carried for each mile of canal constructed was, therefore, 4005. The railways of France had, at the same time, a length of 28,922 kilometres, or 18,095 miles, and the average number of tons carried per mile was about 4400. The French waterways, therefore, had a somewhat less density of traffic than the railways. Many of the canals of France, however, have almost ceased to be used, and their traffic has become so small that it is hardly worth reckoning. In the case of Paris, the second largest city in Europe, the total quantity of traffic brought within the municipal bounds for the use of the inhabitants amounted, in 1886, to 9,412,589 tons, of which 60 per cent. was received by railway and 40 per cent. by waterways. Of the traffic sent out from Paris, amounting to 2,989,000 tons, 80 per cent. was despatched by rail, and 20 per cent. by water.[61] In reference to the traffic entering Paris, it would seem as if the waterways competed with some measure of success with the railways, but as regards the traffic sent out from Paris, the railway is by no means so successful. The waterways that give access to Paris are mainly the High Seine, the Low Seine, and the Canal de l’Ourcq. The Seine carried 1,979,000 tons to Paris in 1886, as compared with 1,791,000 tons carried on the canals as a whole.