270 REPORT—1858. 
the necessity of turning to the most natural and preliminary means of inter- 
course, which ought to precede and pave the way for more improved and 
costly means of traffic. Because we cannot do all, we are disposed to do no- 
thing ; because we cannot have railways, we neglect to make the roads by 
which the railways might be fed and supported; and, lastly, because in such 
a poor country we cannot afford to construct public roads, we refuse, unless 
in a very imperfect and limited way, to turn to account the existing facilities 
for water transport afforded by the numerous upper branches and minor afflu- 
ents of the great Indian rivers which traverse the country in every direction. 
10. Available Shallow-water Navigation.—Of all conceivable means of 
transport from one place to another, that by water (where a smooth and level 
highway is provided by nature) is at once the most universal, simple, and 
least expensive. It is very certain that the coracle and the canoe were in use 
long before the existence of wheeled carriages and roads adapted to them, 
for the very obvious reason, that carriages even of the rudest description 
require a road to be prepared for them. The ground requires, to a certain 
extent, to be levelled and freed from obstructions along the whole route which 
the vehicle has to traverse; whereas, in water transport, the route is made 
and levelled to hand; all that was required was a hollow tree, or a raft of 
loose branches tied together. There was, moreover, this additional advan- 
tage, that such a mode of conveyance required less labour for traction, and 
at the same time admitted of the application of other than human or animal 
labour, by turning to account the propulsive power of the winds, tides, and 
other currents. 
11. Ofall the different modes by which it is proposed to increase the means 
of internal communication in India,—roads, tram-roads, and railroads, river 
navigation, canal navigation, and the utilisation of the shallow water chan- 
nels—there is not one but what is under certain local and commercial con- 
ditions, good and expedient ; but it ought to be borne in mind that they have 
each and all a certain natural and inevitable relation to each other; that is, 
the most improved and expensive means of communication (as regards the 
first outlay) must be preceded and aided by the next lowest, or rather the 
next more simple and less expensive mode. 
12. Pathways are feeders to turnpikes, and these to railroads; and as a 
multiplicity of small streams unite to form even a small river, so do these 
latter in turn unite to form the main current of the principal rivers. 
13. As before stated, the most universal, the simplest, and least expensive 
means of transport is that afforded by the natural water channels already 
existing in the country, and which constitute the general basis from which 
all the other and more improved means have been derived and rendered 
practicable. But with our usual tendency to expensive and ponderous modes 
of procedure, the system of most of the water transport organized by English- 
men in India has been encumbered by the extended scale upon which it has 
hitherto been attempted. Nothing short of steamers of the same construc- 
tion and dimensions as those in use in England and America have been 
thought eligible for the requirements of river navigation in India. 
14. Now, viewing the main channels of the principal rivers as trunk-lines 
of traffic, there cannot be a doubt that vessels of considerable dimensions 
are desirable for the conveyance of the large and regular amount of traffic 
which is to be anticipated on a trunk-line of communication ; but this advau- 
tage of using vessels of large dimensions is limited by the disadvantage of 
the greater draft of water which they require, owing to the increased weight 
of the vessels themselves. This increase in the draught of water precludes 
