the early part of the last century, but was not entirely completed until
1832. It is, inclusive of the lakes, 118 miles long, and its
construction cost $3,750,000, three-fifths of which was contributed by
the state. This canal connects the Baltic Sea with Lake Wener, as well
as, through the Goeta-Elf, with the North Sea.

Next to Turkey and Spain, no country of Europe has been as slow to
appreciate the advantages of a system of highways as Russia. At the
beginning of the nineteenth century the vast empire of the Czar had but
a few roads connecting its principal cities, and these were almost
impassable in the spring and fall. Much progress has, however, been made
since then, and at present Russia has over 75,000 miles of wagon-road
and artificial waterway, and 19,000 miles of railroad. A road has been
built through Siberia, extending from the Ural Mountains to the city of
Jakutsk on the Lena and sending out many branch roads north and south.
The development of Russia's resources has kept pace with that of her
system of highways, and the agricultural and mineral products of that
country are in the markets of the world constantly gaining ground in
their competition with the products of Western Europe and America.

Passing now to the Western Hemisphere, we find that in ancient Peru the
Incas built great roads, the remains of which still attest their
magnificence. Probably the most remarkable were the two which extended
from Quito to Cuzco, and thence on toward Chile, one passing over the
great Plateau, the other following the coast, Humboldt, in his "Aspects
of Nature," says of this mountain road: "But what above all things
relieves the severe aspect of the deserts of the Cordilleras are the
remains, as marvelous as unexpected, of a gigantic road, the work of the
Incas. In the pass of the Andes between Mausi and Loja we found on the
plain of Puttal much difficulty in making a way for the mules over a
marshy piece of ground, while for more than a German mile our sight
continually rested on the superb remains of a paved road of the Incas,
twenty feet wide, which we marked resting on its deep foundations, and
paved with well-cut, dark porphyritic stone. This road was wonderful and
does not fall behind the most imposing Roman ways which I have seen in
France, Spain and Italy. By barometrical observation I found that this
colossal work was at an elevation of 12,440 feet." The length of this
road, of which only parts remain, is