A LAND OF WATERWAYS n 



Canadians themselves forget, as they are very 

 apt to do, the indispensable naval side of sea- 

 power, they can account for most kinds of 

 nauticality by their economic history, which all 

 depended, directly or indirectly, down to the 

 smallest detail, on the mercantile marine — 

 especially if we give the name of mercantile 

 marine its justifiable extension so as to cover 

 all the craft that ply on inland waterways as 

 well as those that cross the sea. It is cal- 

 culated at the present day that it is as easy to 

 move a hundred tons by water as ten tons by 

 rail or one ton by road ; and this rule, in spite 

 of many local exceptions, is fairly correct in 

 practice, especially as distances increase. Now, 

 Canada is a country of great distances ; and 

 by land she once was in nearly every part, and 

 she still is in a few parts, a country of ob- 

 structive wilds. What, then, must have been 

 the advantage of water carriage over land 

 carriage when there was neither road nor rail ? 

 As even pack-horses were not available in the 

 early days, and good roads were few and only 

 established by very slow degrees, it is well 

 within the mark to say that the sum-total of 

 advantage in favour of water over land carriage, 

 up to a time which old men can remember, 

 must have been at least a thousand to one. 



