Any One Of The English Boats Will Go Anywhere That Mortal Boat Can Go; And Their Captains' Local Knowledge Is A Thing England At Large Should Be Proud Of And The Rest Of The Civilised World Regard With Awe-Stricken Admiration.

That they leave no room for further development of ocean carriage has been several times demonstrated by the collapse of lines that have attempted to rival them - the Prince line and more recently the General Steam Navigation.

But although the West Coast trader has at his disposal these vessels, he has by no means an easy time, or cheap methods, of getting his stuff on board, save at Sierra Leone and in the Oil Rivers. Of the Gold Coast surf, and Lagos bar I have already spoken, and the Calemma as we call the South-west Coast surf is nearly, if not quite as bad as that on the Gold Coast. Indeed I hold it is worse, but then I have had more experience of it, and it has frequently to be worked in native dugouts, and not in the well- made surf boats used on the Gold Coast. But although these surf- boats are more safe they are also more expensive than canoes, as a fine 40 or 60 pounds surf-boat's average duration of life is only two years in the Gold Coast surf, so there is little to choose from a commercial standpoint between the two surfs when all is done.

As regards interior transport, the difficulty is greater, but in the majority of the West Coast possessions of European powers there exist great facilities for transport in the network of waterways near the coast and the great rivers running far into the interior.

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