Inaugural Lecture 1889 I 5 



The American type of steamer prevails exclusively on 

 North American rivers, but on South American and Eastern 

 rivers, as for instance the Parana and the Irrawady, the 

 European type has been introduced. Inhabitants of savage 

 and uncivilised countries who are accustomed to ocean ships 

 and steamers have no difficulty in recognising a Clyde or even 

 a Rhine river steamer, but they would be at a loss to know, 

 at first sight, what purpose one of the magnificent Mississippi 

 or Fall river steamers was intended to serve. 



At first no immediate need was felt for steam communica- 

 tion across the ocean. All the traffic was adequately met 

 by the sailing tonnage, which was capable of almost indefinite 



ision. Moreover steamships mean coal depots, and it was 

 a long time before they were to be found in distant regions. 



Steamers have been running now for eighty years. During 

 the first forty they were almost exclusively used for inland 



Cation, the second forty years has been the period of the 



lopment of the ocean steamer, and every day we witness 



fresh triumphs of the shipbuilder and the engineer in providing 



for the ever-growing traffic between the new and the old 



Ms. 



paramount importance of rivers as a means of dis- 

 tributing inland traffic was only short-lived. The application 

 of steam to propulsion on land broke the monopoly, and with 



: mention of railways the existence and development of 



:is and cities far from the sea or any navigable waterway 

 became possible. At first railways were made only in populou- 



ricta and between places where then- \v;is known to be 

 large traffic; and of course, both in Europe and America, 

 the ground where traffic was assured and financial success, 

 : asonable direction, a certainty was so large that 

 outlying districts obtained no attention from the railway 

 con< or contractor of the earlier inod. No one 



cared to run the risk of making railway on the chance of 

 developing a traffic as long as populous districts remain. -d 

 unprovided. Att \vas however called to the existence 



of enormous tracts of country, presumably inhabitable, t. itih 

 and rich, but <ithn uninhabited or peopled by wandering 



