THE INDIAN OCEAN NAVIGATION AND COMMEROE Before the introduction of steam as a motive power the navigation of the northern parts of the Indian Ocean was especially hazardous—the complicated and uncertain cur rents, the monsoons and hurricanes, the deficiency of sheltered ports and roadsteads, frequently combined to imperil the old " Indiamen," laden with the valuable products of India, China, and Malaysia. The construction of the Suez Canal has ren dered the Red Sea a most important commercial highway, which is now regularly navigated by steamers, with mails and passengers, transports with troops and stores for India, and other vessels to and from the East Indies, China, and Japan. The route round the Cape of Good Hope to India (Calcutta) is much longer, being nearly 12,000 nautical miles, while the route by Gibraltar, Malta, Suez, and Aden is a little over 7,500 nautical miles. From Cape Town, on the south, four main lines of navigation radiate to India, along the African coast through Mozambique Channel, or east of Madagascar by way of the Mauritius ; to Java, and other islands of Malaysia ; and by the China Sea to China and Japan ; and to Australia and New Zealand, due east,—the course being generally within the limits of the great counter-current of the Indian Ocean. Next to the Red Sea and Suez Canal,
the Straits of Malacca and Sunda are the most important and frequented channels, communicating as they do with the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal on one side, and the China Sea and the West Pacific on the other. The Portuguese were the first of the great maritime nations of Europe to navigate the Indian Ocean, and were soon followed by the Spaniards, Dutch, French, and, lastly, the English. In course of time the latter, by the conquest of India, made themselves supreme in this ocean, and at present by far the greatest proportion of its commerce is in their hands. The Dutch have also important trade relations with their East Indian possessions. The following table shows the principal articles of export and import of the countries bordering on the shores of the Indian Ocean. The extent of the direct trade with the United Kingdom may be inferred by compar ing the amounts in the two last columns with the value of the total exports and imports of each country. •