The international geography . pitious. The general schemehas now been nearly com-pleted, except in Burma,Assam and Sindh. where linksof considerable length arestill under construction. Themileage open for traffic inMarch, 1901, was 25, number of men em-ployed in 1897 was 283,000,of whom 4,660 were was once held that forlight traffic in thinly peopleddistricts, or where the ex-ports of produce are notlikely to be heavy, or con-centrated into a few months of the year, a narrow gauge, lighter andcheaper than the standard, would be sufficient; certain spheres or tractswere accord
The international geography . pitious. The general schemehas now been nearly com-pleted, except in Burma,Assam and Sindh. where linksof considerable length arestill under construction. Themileage open for traffic inMarch, 1901, was 25, number of men em-ployed in 1897 was 283,000,of whom 4,660 were was once held that forlight traffic in thinly peopleddistricts, or where the ex-ports of produce are notlikely to be heavy, or con-centrated into a few months of the year, a narrow gauge, lighter andcheaper than the standard, would be sufficient; certain spheres or tractswere accordingly assigned to be served by the narrow gauge, whilst themain arteries of foreign commerce, ending at the principal seaports, areon the broader gauge. The development of through traffic, however, hasled to the linking up of several of the narrow-gauge systems, and in spite ofthe inconvenience and expense of transferring goods, at the junctions withthe other lines, the use made of the lighter system is growing with the Fig 250.—The Railways of India ami Ceylon. 486 The International Geography Finally, whilst the course of the Ganges and Indus is closely followed byvarious lines of rail, the same rivalry does not yet exist in the case of theBrahmaputra and Irawadi, on each of which, accordingly, passenger andgoods steam-vessels ply throughout the year for many hundred miles. Simi-larly, the rugged coast between Bombay and Goa precludes access other-wise than by coasting steamer. Orissa, till recently in the same inconvenientposition, has now a railway approaching completion which crosses theswamps which formerly interrupted its land communication with Calcutta. Political Divisions.—To understand the political subdivisions ofIndia, one must remember that the Empire has been built up by successiveaccretions, and that in all territorial demarcation the independent exist-ence of numerous protected States scattered over the country had to beregarded. The boundaries, there
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectgeography, bookyear19
