THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

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it would be impossible to dispose of one thousand, that is, ofone day’s work in the year.

As by means of water-carriage a more extensive market isopen to every sort of industry than what land-carriage aloneafford it, so it is upon the sea-coast, and along the banks of na-vigable rivers, that industry of every kind naturally begins tosubdivide and improve itself,and it is frequently not till a longtime after that those improvements extend themselves to the in-land parts of the country. A broad-wheeled waggon, attendedby two men, and drawn by eight horses, in about six weeks’timecarries and brings back between London and Edinburgh nearfour ton weight of goods. In about the same time a ship navi-gated by six or eight men, and sailing between the ports ofLondon and Leith, frequently carries and brings back twohundred ton weight of goods. Six or eight men, therefore,by the help of water-carriage, can carry and bring back inthe same time the same quantity of goods between London and Edinburgh as fifty broad-wheeled waggons, attended by ahundred men, and drawn by four hundred horses. Upon twohundred tons of goods therefore, carried by the cheapestland-carriage from London to Edinburgh , there must becharged the maintenance ofa hundred men for three weeks,and both the maintenance, and what is nearly equal to themaintenance, the wear and tear of four hundred horses aswell as of fifty great waggons. Whereas, upon the samequantity of goods carried by water, there is to be charged onlythe maintenance of six or eight men, and the wear and tearof a ship of tw'o hundred tons burthen, together with thevalue of the superior risk, or the difference of the insurancebetween land and water carriage. Were there no other com-munication between those two places, therefore, but by land-carriage, as no goods could be transported from the one tothe other, except such whose price was very considerable inproportion to their weight, they could carry on but a smallpart of thatcommerce which at present subsists between them,and consequently could give but a small part of that encou-ragement which they at present mutually afford to each other’sindustry. There could be little or no commerce of any kindbetween the distant parts of the world. What goods couldbear the expense of land-carriage between London and Cal-cutta? Or if there were any so precious as to be able to sup-port this expense, with what safety could they be transportedthrough the territories of so many barbarous nations ? Those

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