France, like Germany, is well supplied with navigable rivers, and
these, with its canals, constitute a complete network of navigable
waterways that cover all the country and greatly promote the internal
commerce of the nation. These navigable rivers aggregate 5500 miles,
and the navigable canals over 3100 miles. The tonnage of goods carried
on these waterways compares quite favourably with that carried by the
railways. The railways aggregate 25,000 miles.