TRANSPORT. 309 



about 4,000 miles long, for British commerce. I 

 am afraid I have advocated it in vain. 



From this main line the Victoria Nyanza can be 

 easily reached. 



The Congo river with an enormous expenditure 

 of money and life may eventually serve the vast 

 basin of that river. This does not concern us, for 

 it will be reserved as a useful outlet for French 

 enthusiasm ; and it is very fortunate that this is 

 the case, as I understand people throughout that 

 vast area are sent down to recruit to Banana 

 Point ; which last spot has a bad reputation even 

 on the West Coast of Africa, which has again 

 the worst climate in the world. 



Now let us turn to the relative advantages of 

 other forms of transport. 



They may be roughly divided into two : — 



Roads or railways and pack animals. 



There can be no doubt that pack animals are a 

 makeshift and economically to be condemned if 

 compared with wheel traffic along made roads. It 

 is, however, very difficult to get at all an approxi- 

 mate estimate of the cost of carriage by draught 

 animals or railways, as in this case we must 

 include the cost of road-making, which varies 

 according to the country and the price of labour, 

 and also the cost of maintaining and repairing 

 roads, all of which vary. 



The amount of traffic on the road when made 

 has also a most important bearing on the question; 



