WHEAT IN ASIA 301 



large elevators such as characterize the seaports 

 of eastern United States. The ocean steamers 

 must lie at anchor some distance out in the harbor. 

 The sacked wheat is carried in small boats, called 

 lighters, from the shore to the freight steamers, 

 and is there reloaded for its long journey. This 

 is quite different from the methods employed in 

 American seaports. There the harbors are suf- 

 ficiently deep for the great steamers to lie along- 

 side the elevators and to be loaded by letting the 

 grain slide through chutes into the hold of the vessel. 



The Export Routes. - - England furnishes the 

 principal market. Exports from India are sent 

 via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea to 

 the English seaports, Southampton, London, and 

 Liverpool. Freight steamers usually make this 

 trip in from thirty to forty days. 



The surplus wheat of India is exchanged for 

 the manufactured goods of Great Britain. India 

 thus serves as a market for the manufactures pro- 

 duced by English labor, and she is also an impor- 

 tant contributor to England's food supply. India, 

 Canada, and Australia are the great wheat-pro- 

 ducing colonies of Great Britain. 



QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 



1. Of what importance is Asia in the early history of 

 wheat ? 



2. Why are so few Asiatic countries important contrib- 

 utors of commercial wheat ? 



