Inaugural Lecture 1889 n 



it either carries a sufficient population of its own, or by means 

 of its communications is in a position to support a similar 

 population elsewhere. 



The length of coast and navigable river line was, before 

 the introduction of railways, the most determining physical 

 feature of a country's development and importance. The 

 greater the extent of this line the greater was the available 



rking face" if I may use a mining term. By means of it 

 the more advanced inhabitants of crowded nations and great 

 cities introduced the developments of science and art and 

 removed the natural products of the countries whether food 

 for the population or raw material for its industries: and the 

 contact of the two classes of people was promotive of civilisa- 

 tion. The great wealth and importance of ancient Egypt 



given by its unique position in what must be considered 

 the centre of the old world, with the shortest water communica- 

 tion from every part of the East and West to its door and the 

 noblest of rivers carrying it into its very heart. The decadence 

 of Egypt and the rise of Athens and Rome with their subsequent 

 decay show that geographical position alone neither makes 

 nor preserves a great nation. 



With the fall of the Roman Empire and the disappearance 

 of a recognised centre, life in Europe lost much of its artificiality 



every part of the continent pursued its own local interests, 

 md population spread slowly over the parts capable of per- 

 manently supporting the settlers. In the same way, after 

 the discovery of America, the settling of it by Europeans 

 took place very gradually and was confined to the sea coast 

 and the margins of the great rivers such as the St Lawrence, 



issippi and the Parana. 



In North America the Atlantic coast was colonised priiui- 

 from England, while tin margins of the Si Lawrence 

 .m<l the Mississippi were peopled principally by the French 

 immigration. In South America the colonisation, when it 

 left the sea coast, followed the streams of the Parana and the 

 Uruguay. The State of iy which is more than 1200 



B from the estuarv settlement 



Jesuit missionaries in the if.th < nturv; 



