it was therefore determined by the East India Company to guarantee, for a term of ninety-nine years, a certain rate of interest (five per cent. per annum) upon the capital subscribed for their respective undertakings, in addition to a free grant of all the land required for their railways and subsidiary works. As a rule all the Indian railroads are constructed, in the first instance, for a single line of railway, the bridges, tunnels, and cuttings being made suitable for a second line. The gauge in all cases is five feet six inches.

The works on the East Indian Railway were commenced in January, 1851; and in February, 1855, the whole line to Raneegunge, a distance of 121 miles, was completed. In the meantime, however, a general system of trunk railways for India had been determined upon, and the construction of a line from Calcutta to Agra and Delhi was conceded to the East Indian Railway Company.

Starting from Howrah, on the right bank of the Hooghly, opposite to Calcutta, this colossal line proceeds in a north-westerly direction to Burdwan, whence a branch to Raneegunge strikes off to the west through a district abounding in coal and other mineral resources, while the main line runs due north to Rajmahal, thus connecting Calcutta with the Ganges, and enabling traders to avoid the navigation of 250 miles of one of the most dangerous portions of the river. At Rajmahal the railway turns westward and follows the course of the Ganges, in some places touching its right bank, and in others running at a distance of seven or eight miles from it. Near Monghyr the line is driven through the only tunnel in its course, a length of 900 feet, through a hill of clay, slate, and hard quartz rock, and thence proceeds onwards to Patna, Benares, and Allahabad. Soon after leaving Patna, it is conveyed across the river Soane by a magnificent bridge, consisting of twenty-seven iron girders of 150 feet each, supported on brick foundations, and which, it is believed, is exceeded in magnitude by only one other in the world. At Allahabad the railway crosses the river Jumna by another very fine bridge, which was opened for traffic on the 15th August, 1865; it has fourteen spans of 205 feet each, the rails being laid upon the top of the girders, and the space beneath made available for an ordinary carriage road 11 feet in width. The line then takes a north-westerly course through Cawnpore, into the heart of the Upper Provinces, and at a point 20 miles from Agra (with which it is connected by a branch) it strikes northward, past Allyghur, to Ghazeeabad, where it meets the Punjab Railway, and whence a short junction line of 12 miles unites it with the City of Delhi.

The whole of this great undertaking has now been finished, and there is thus a continuous length of upwards of 1,000 miles opened for public traffic. In addition to the above, considerable progress has been made on a very important line of 225 miles, which,

starting from Allahabad in a south-westerly direction, penetrates the cotton-growing districts of Jubbulpore, where it will join the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, and form the connecting link in the communication between Calcutta and Bombay. Moreover, the branch which was opened in 1855 to Raneegunge, and which has since been extended to Barrakur, is to be further carried over the Nargoonjoo Pass to Luckieserai, by which the distance between Calcutta and the north-west will be shortened by 71 miles; and a branch of 26 miles will at the same time be constructed to open up the Kurhurbalee coal-fields. The total length of the East Indian Railway with all its branches is about 1,500 miles, of which 1,127 have been opened. The line of rail is at present single throughout its course, except for the first 67 miles from Calcutta; but the cord line to Luckieserai will be made double, as will also the portion from thence to Allahabad.

The main object of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway is to establish means of communication between the three Presidency towns, and to connect the great cotton-growing districts of Central India with the seaport of Bombay. The line first commenced by this company starting from Bombay passed through the Island of Salsette and across the Tannah estuary to Callian, a distance of 33 miles, together with a short branch to Mahim, at the northern extremity of Bombay Island. The works were commenced in October, 1850, and finished in May, 1854. At the end of that year the company undertook the extension of their line into the interior, to unite with the East Indian and Madras Railways. At Callian, the line is divided into two great branches, the one going to the north-east, the other taking a south-easterly direction. The great physical difficulty in either case was to surmount the Ghauts, a lofty range which runs parallel to the sea along the whole west coast of the peninsula, and forms a barrier to the conveyance of the rich produce of the Deccan to the port of Bombay. The northern line is carried over the Thull Ghaut by an incline nine miles and a quarter in length, in the course of which it attains an elevation of 972 feet. It then proceeds by Nassick and Chalisgaum, to Bhosawul, at which point an important branch runs eastward through the great cotton district of Oomrawuttee to Nagpore. The main line, shortly after leaving Bhosawul, crosses the river Taptee, and continues its course to the north-east up the valley of the Nerbudda to Jubbulpore, where it meets the East Indian Railway. The southern of the two great branches is taken through the mountains at the Bhore Ghaut by an incline nearly sixteen miles in length, with a total elevation of 1831 feet, the difficulties of the course being overcome by such a series of cuttings, tunnels, viaducts, and embankments, as can hardly be rivalled in any other part of the world, except on the sister incline over the Thull Ghaut. The railroad is then continued

to Poona, Sholapoor, and Kulburga, at which place it has been proposed that a line should branch off eastward to Hyderabad, the capital of the Nizam's territories, while the main line proceeds across the river Kistna to Raichore, where it forms a junction with the railway from Madras.

The distance from Bombay to Jubbulpore is 615 miles, that to Raichore, 441; and the operations of the company extend over a length, including branches, of 1,266 miles. It has been decided to construct the line double as far as Bhasawul, in the direction of Jubbulpore, and also to Lanowlie, at the top of the Bhore Ghaut incline.

The Madras Railway Company was established in the year 1852, with the view of constructing a railway from the city of Madras to the western coast. Operations were commenced in June, 1853, and on the 1st July, 1856, the first section, as far as Arcot, a distance of 65 miles, was opened to the public. In 1858, a further contract was entered into for a line towards the north-west, to meet the south-western branch of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, and thus form a direct communication between the Presidency towns of Madras and Bombay.

The country through which the line to the western coast passes presented few obstacles to its progress, the only engineering difficulties being to convey the line across the several rivers which traverse its path. Leaving Arcot and Vellore a short distance on the left, and throwing out a branch on the right to the important military station of Bangalore, it turns southward through the Shevaroy hills to Salem, beyond which point it resumes a westerly direction, and, passing through the cotton fields of Coimbatore, finds its way by a break in the Ghauts, to the port of Beypoor on the coast of Malabar. The whole of this line from Madras to Beypoor, 406 miles in length, was opened for traffic in May, 1862, and on the 1st August, 1864, passengers were conveyed on the Bangalore branch, which is 86 miles long, and which attains a height of 3,000 feet on the Mysore table-land.

The north-west line, leaving the other at Arconum, 42 miles from Madras, proceeds through Cuddapah and across the river Pennar to Gooty near which point a branch strikes off on the left to the town of Bellary, while the main line crosses the Tongabuddra, and at Raichore joins the main line from Bombay. This portion of the railway is 338 miles in length; and as its path is crossed by twelve rivers, requiring upwards of three miles of bridging, and two ranges of hills, the works in some parts are very heavy. It has already been opened to Cuddapah, a distance of 119 miles, and it was expected that a further section of 32 miles would be ready by last Midsummer.

The Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway Company

was formed to connect Bombay with the cotton districts of Guzerat and Central India. It was incorporated in July, 1855, and the cutting of the first sod took place in May, 1856. Starting northwards from Bombay, through the Island of Salsette, and crossing the Bassein Channel and the Veturnee River, the railway follows the line of the coast, passing Damaun and Surat, at which latter place it is carried over the Taptee River by an iron bridge of 2,003 feet in length. A still more serious obstacle to its progress presented itself in the river Nerbudda, which the railway crosses by another iron bridge 3,800 feet long. Continuing in a northerly direction it proceeds through Broach to Baroda, at which point it turns to the north-west over the Mhye river, and termi-. nates its course at Ahmedabad, 310 miles from Bombay. The whole line is open, except a section of four miles within Bombay Island, from Grant Road to Colaba, which is to be conducted over land now in course of being reclaimed from the sea at Back Bay.

The Sind Railway Company was incorporated by an Act of Parliament passed on the 2nd July, 1855, and was reconstituted in August, 1857. Although its affairs are under a single board, the operations of the company in reality embrace four separate concerns; viz. the Sind Railway, the Indus Steam Flotilla (above described), the Punjab Railway, and the Delhi Railway. The object of the combined undertakings is to establish communication between the port of Kurrachee and the Punjab, and to connect the chief cities of that province with the East Indian Railway at Delhi.

The first portion, or Sind Railway proper, proceeds from the harbour of Kurrachee, across the rivers Bahrum and Mulleer, and through the Karatolla Hills, to Kotree on the Indus, opposite Hydrabad, and thereby enables traders to avoid the delay attendant on the navigation of the delta of the river. The length of the line is 109 miles; it was commenced in April, 1858, and was opened for traffic on the 11th May, 1861, with the immediate effect of developing a considerable trade in cotton, which had not been previously seen on the Indus, as well as in indigo, grain, wool, and other products.

The Punjab Railway, starting from Sher Shah on the banks of the Chenaub, about 12 miles below Mooltan, passes through that city, and thence follows a nearly straight course up the left bank of the Ravee, as far as Lahore, at which place it turns directly to the east, until it reaches Umritsur. This line, which is 253 miles long, was commenced in February, 1859, and on the 24th April, 1865, the complete line was opened to the public.

The Delhi Railway, running from Umritsur to Delhi, follows a south-easterly direction through the Punjab, and, crossing the Beas at Wuzeer Ghaut, proceeds by Jullunder to Phillour, at

which place it is conveyed over the Sutlej. Continuing its course through Loodiana, Sirhind, and Umballa, it crosses the Jumna shortly before reaching Seharunpore, where it turns southward, and passing through Mozuffernugger and Meerut, arrives at Ghazeeabad, whence the trains will run into Delhi over the branch constructed by the East Indian Railway Company. The length of the whole line is 320 miles; the contractors commenced work in 1864; and although no portion has yet been opened, it was anticipated that the section between Ghazeeabad and Meerut would have been ready for traffic by the end of last year.

In 1857, the Eastern Bengal Railway Company was formed for the purpose of affording railway accommodation to the thickly populated districts lying north and east of Calcutta, which are richly cultivated with indigo, sugar, oilseeds, rice, and other grain. Starting from the Calcutta side of the Hooghly, it proceeds up the right bank of the Matabanga to Kooshtee on the Ganges opposite Pubna, thus enabling merchants to send their goods direct to or from Calcutta without undergoing the delay and danger of the navigation of the Soonderbuns. The works were commenced in April, 1859, and the line was opened through its entire length of 114 miles in November, 1862. Arrangements have been made for conveying passengers and goods by steamboats from Kooshtee to Dacca, and also to Assam. In August, 1865, it was determined to extend the line a distance of 45 miles to Goalundo, at the confluence of the Brahmapootra and the Ganges, with the view of intercepting the traffic from the countries on the north-east; and the railway company have agreed to construct it as a part of their original undertaking.

The necessity for increased accommodation for ships trading to Calcutta, and the dangers of navigating the Hooghly led to the formation, in 1857, of the Calcutta and South-eastern Railway Company, with the object of constructing a short line of 29 miles from Calcutta, in a south-easterly direction, to the harbour and town which it was contemplated to establish on the Mutlah estuary. The whole railway was opened for traffic in March, 1862, with the exception of the bridge over the Piallee, which was not finished till a later date; but it was not until the beginning of 1865 that a company was formed to build the necessary jetties and wharves required to make Canning Town a trading port.

The Great Southern of India Railway Company was constituted in 1857, its object being to construct railways in the southern provinces of India. The line at first sanctioned runs due west from Negapatam on the east coast, by Tanjore to Trichinopoly, through a country extensively cultivated with rice and cotton. Operations were commenced in May, 1859, and the whole line of 79 miles was thrown open for traffic in March, 1862. An extension of 87 miles