Delmar.] 



330 



[Jan. 15, 



Common Roabs in 1860. 



"Also in course of construction 4,276 kilometres or 2,651 miles. 

 Amount expended on roads in 1861 and 1862, $14,735,829." {Ibid.) 



Since the conclusion of the civil war, the Government has constructed 

 upwards of 10,000 miles of turnpike roads, exclusive of Biscay, where the 

 roads have been built by the local authorities. (Br. Con. Rep. 1865, p. 83.) 



A better view of the progress that has taken place is afforded by the 

 following : 



Table Showing the Length and Condition of the Vakious Classes 

 of Common Roads in Spain in the Year 1867. 



Classes, 



First class roads ■ 

 Second " " 

 Third " " 

 County " 



Total. 



Of the above roads 12,342 miles were built, 2,087 miles in course of 

 construction, and 9,882 miles projected in 1867. (Br. Stat. F. C. xii, 292.) 



Canals and Slack- Water Navigation. 



Since the destruction of the Spanish forests, such of the rivers of Spain 

 as were navigable before, were rendered unnavigable. Of these only the 

 Tagus and Guadalquiver had been rendered partly navigable up to the 

 year 1844. (M'Culloch.) 



In 1871, owing to recent improvements in the river channel, vessels 

 drawing from 16 to 18 feet of water could ascend the Guadalquiver to 

 Seville. (C. R. 71, 1028.) 



I have no other advices with respect to the progress of slack-water 

 navigation in Spain. Of the canals of Spain, glowing accounts in general 

 terms are to be found in many descriptions of the country {e.g. Appleton's 

 Cyc, xiv, 805, Old Ed.), but I cannot find sufficient basis for them. 

 There appear to be but three canals of any importance in Spain, and the 

 aggregate mileage qf the three is not over 300. These are 1. The Ebro 

 Canal, in Arragon, from Tudela to Santiago, 41 miles below Saragossa. 

 It was built in the reigns of Charles III, IV and V, is about 85 miles long 

 and is navigable by barges, and used also for irrigating purposes. 2. The 

 canal in Old Castile from Segovia, past Valladolid and Palencia, to 

 Aguilar del Campo, and thence to the Bay of Biscay, with a way branch 



