Chap. VI L] Navigation. 87 



From the concuiTin^ influence of all the consi- 

 deralions above stated, enterprising men liave learn- 

 ed, within the eighteenth century, to traverse tlic 

 most distant seas, with a degree of ease, confidence, 

 and expedition, wholly unknown in any former 

 age. A voyage irom Europe or America to India, 

 is no:.v perfcnned in lialf the time that it cost a 

 hundred years ago; and even a voyage round tlie 

 world is considered at present as an undertaking 

 scarcely more formidable than a voyage from Ame- 

 rica to Europe at the beginning of the century in 

 question. 



But few things distinguish the eighteenth cen- 

 tury more than the extension and the improve- 

 ments of the system of Inland Navigation. Canals, 

 for the conveyance of small vessels through districts 

 of country not favoured with rivers adequate to the 

 purpose, have been more or less in use for many 

 ages. But, during the last age, the number of 

 these canals has been astonishingly multiplied ; 

 various improvements in the construction of them 

 have been adopted ; and they have been an in- 

 calculable source of convenience, comfort, and 

 wealth. 



Very early in the eighteenth centurj' the cutting 

 canals in the empire of Russia was undertaken by 

 pommand of Peter the Great, and prosecuted oa 

 a scale of wonderful extent. That celebrated mo- 

 narch was led to this undertaking by observing 

 the great utility of canals in Holland, by means 

 of which a low and marshy tract of comitry was 

 converted into a rich, populous, and fruitful terri- 

 tory. Though the emperor did not live to see the 

 completion of his plans, yet, under his auspices. 



