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LÉKES, a market-town of Hungary, formerly a royal free city, and the capital of the county of the same name, situated at the confluence of the White and Black Körös, 14 miles N.N.W. of Gyula, which is now the capital. The inhabitants, principally Calvinists, amount to 22,500, and are chiefly engaged in agriculture and the rearing of cattle. Count Wenkheim has a fine castle in the town, which was at one time strongly fortified. Long. 20° 41' 37" E, lat. 46° 46' 16" N.

BEKKER, BALTHAZAR, a celebrated Dutch divine, was born in Friesland in 1634. He was the author of several works in philosophy and theology, which from their freedom of thought and critical rationalism excited considerable enmity against him. His most celebrated production was the work entitled Die Betooverde Wereld, or The World Bewitched, in which he examined critically the phenomena generally ascribed to spiritual agency, and exposed with much force the many absurdities regarding the power of Satan that had become articles of Christian faith. The odium theologicum was fiercely roused by this book, and Bekker was deposed from the office of the ministry. He resided at Amsterdam till his death in 1698.

BEKKER, or WOLFF, ELIZABETH, a Dutch novelist, was born in 1738. She was married to Adrian Wolff, a Reformed clergyman, but is always known under her maiden name. After the death of her husband in 1777, she resided for some time in France, with her close friend, Agatha Deken. She was exposed to some of the dangers of the French Revolution, and, it is said, escaped the guillotine only by her great presence of mind. In 1795 she returned to Holland, and resided at the Hague till her death in 1804. Her novels were written in conjunction with Agatha Deken, and it is somewhat difficult to determine the exact qualities contributed by each. The Historie van William Levend (1785), Historie van Sara Burgerhart (1790), Abraham Blankaart (1787), Cornelie Wildschut (1793-96), have been extremely popular. Some of them have been translated into German and French.

BEKKER, IMMANUEL, a distinguished philologist, was born at Berlin in 1785, and died 7th June 1871. He completed his classical education at the university of Halle under the famous F. A. Wolf, who was accustomed to speak of him as his most promising pupil. In 1810 he was appointed to a professorship in the university of Berlin. For several years, between 1810 and 1821, he travelled in France, Italy, England, and parts of Germany, examining classical manuscripts and gathering materials for his great editorial labours. Some detached fruits of his researches were given in the Anecdota Græca, 3 .vols., 1814-21; but the full result of his unwearied industry and ability is to be found in the enormous array of classical works edited by him. The most famous are Plato, 10 vols.,1814-21; Oratores Attici, 7 vols., 1823; Aristoteles (the Berlin edition), 4 vols., 1831-36; Thucydides, 3 vols., 1821; Aristophanes, 3 vols., 1825; Sextus Empiricus, 1842. He also edited 24 volumes of the Byzantine historians. Bekker confined himself entirely to textual recension and criticism, and contributed little to the extension of general scholarship. He was well read in the old French literature, particularly that of Provence, and contributed many papers on it to the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy. BEL. See BAAL.

BEL, or BELIUS, MATTHIAS, an Hungarian divine and historian, was born in 1684, and was educated partly at Halle. In 1719 he was made rector of the evangelical Lyceum at Presburg, where he remained till his death in 1749. His great work was the History of Hungary (Notitia Hungaria nova historico-geographica), 4 vols., 1735-42, which was not completed. Other works devoted to the

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history of his native country are-Hungariæ antiquæ et nova prodromus, 1723; Adparatus ad Historiam Hungaria, 1735-46. He also wrote on the literature of the Hungarians. BEL AND THE DRAGON, one of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament. See APOCRYPHA.

BELA, or BEYLA, a town of Baluchistan, capital of the province of Lus, on the north-eastern bank of the River Poorally, 293 miles N. of Khelat. Long. 66° 4' E., lat. 26° 1' N. About one-third of the town in the western quarter is encompassed by a mud wall. The streets are narrow; but from the elevated situation of the town, and its rocky site, they are always clean, even in wet weather. The bazaar is very neat. The governor's residence is surrounded by a castellated mud-wall, which also encloses a dome-covered mosque. Population about 5000.

BELBEIS, or BELBEYS, a town of Upper Egypt, in the province of Kelyubieh, on the eastern arm of the Nile, 28 miles N.N.E. of Cairo. It was formerly considered the bulwark of the kingdom on that side, and was defended by strong fortifications, but these were suffered to fall into decay till 1798, when Napoleon ordered them to be put in repair. In 1163-4 it was besieged for three months by the Crusaders under Amalric, who at length, in 1168, captured and pillaged it. The present population is not supposed to exceed 5000.

BELEM, a town of Portugal, now regarded as a suburb of Lisbon. See LISBON.

BELFAST, the chief manufacturing and commercial town of Ireland, a municipal and parliamentary borough, the capital of Ulster, and, since 1850, the county town of Antrim, in which, with the exception of the large suburb of Ballymacarret on the other side of the river, it is

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1. Prince's Dock. 2. Clarendon Dock.

3. Queen's Bridge. 4. Albert Bridge. 5. Trinity Church.

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6. St Ann's Church. 7. St George's Church. 8. Christ Church.

11. Linen Hall. 12. Commercial Bdgs. 13. Custom House. 14. Town-Hall.

9. St Malachi's Cathed. 10. Academical Institute. 15. Central Rail. Sta

mainly comprised. It is situated in lat. 54° 36′ 8.5′′ N., and long. 5° 55' 53.7" W., at the mouth of the Lagan, which flows into Belfast Lough (Carrickfergus Bay), and is built on an alluvial deposit and land reclaimed from the sea, the greater portion of which is not more than 6 feet above high-water mark. It was thus for a long period exposed to occas onal inundations, and was somewhat subject to epidemics; but its situation, improved by drainage, has become more healthy, while the environs are agreeable and picturesque,

The etymology of the name and the origin of the town extension as by immigration from the rural districts. At are equally uncertain, and there is not a single monument the close of last century there were about 20,000 inhabi of antiquarian interest upon which to found a conjecture. tants in the borough, and this total had risen in 1821 to About the beginning of the 16th century Belfast is described 37,277, in 1831 to 53,287, in 1841 to 70,447, in 1851 as a "town and fortress," but it was in reality a mere to 87,062, in 1861 to 121,602, and in 1871 to 174,412fishing-village in the hands of the house of O'Neil. This males 79,815, and females 94,597. In 1875 the popula sept had all along been opposed to the English, and had tion is estimated at 200,000. At the last census the fol forfeited every baronial right; but in 1552 Hugh O'Neil lowing were the religious professions of the population, of Clandeboye promised allegiance to the reigning monarch, viz., Presbyterian, 60,249; Catholic, 55,675; Episcopal, and obtained the castle of Carrickfergus, the town and 46,423; Methodist, 6775; Unitarian, 1498; and various, fortress of Belfast, and all the surrounding lands. His 3892. The number of persons who could read and write turbulent successors having been routed by the English, at the same date was 95,986; who could read, only 71,700; the town and fortress fell into the hands of Sir Thomas and who were illiterate, 46,726, or about 27 per cent. of Smyth, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth, but were afterwards the whole. The number of houses in 1871 amounted to forfeited by him to the Lord-Deputy Sir Arthur Chichester, 29,918, viz., inhabited, 27,961; uninhabited, 1761; and who, in 1612, was created Baron Chichester. At this time building 196. the town consisted of about 120 houses, mostly built of mud and covered with thatch, while the castle, a twostoried building, was roofed with shingles. In 1632 Thomas Wentworth, Earl Stafford, was appointed first lord-deputy of Ireland, and Belfast soon shared largely in the benefits of his enlightened policy, receiving, among other favours, certain fiscal rights which his lordship had purchased from the corporation of Carrickfergus. Two years after the rebellion of 1641 a rampart was raised round the town, pierced by four gates on the land side. In 1662, as appears by a map still extant, there were 150 houses within the wall, forming five streets and as many lanes; and the upland districts around were one dense forest of giant oaks and sycamores, yielding an unfailing supply of timber to the woodmen of Carrickfergus.

Throughout the succeeding fifty years the progress of Belfast surpassed that of most other towns in Ireland. Its merchants, in 1686, owned forty ships, of a total carrying power of 3300 tons, and the customs collected were close upon £20,000. When King William arrived at Belfast in 1690 there were only two places of worship in the town, the old corporation church in the High Street, and the Presbyterian meeting-house in Rosemary Lane, -the Roman Catholics not being permitted to build their chapels within the walls of corporate towns.

At the commencement of the 18th century Belfast had become known as a place of considerable trade, and what was then thought a handsome, thriving, and well-peopled town, with many new houses and good shops. During the civil commotions which so long afflicted the country, it suffered less than most other places; and it soon afterwards attained the rank of the "greatest town for trade in the north of Ireland." James Blow and Co. introduced letterpress printing in 1696, and in 1704 issued the first copy of the Bible produced in the island. In September 1737, Henry and Robert Joy started the Belfast News Letter, which not only still maintains its existence, but has long been at the head of the Irish Conservative press. Twenty years afterwards the town contained 1800 houses and 8549 inhabitants, 556 of the latter being members of the Church of Rome. It was not, however, till 1789 that Belfast obtained the regular communication, which towns of less importance already enjoyed, with Dublin by stage coach, a fact which is to be explained by the badness of the roads and the steepness of the hills between Newry and Belfast.

The increased freedom of trade with which Ireland was favoured, the introduction of the cotton manufacture by Robert Joy in 1777, the establishment in 1791 of shipbuilding on an extensive scale by William Ritchie, an energetic Scotchman, combined with the rope and canvas manufacture already existing, supplied the inhabitants with employment, and increased the demand for skilled labour. The population now made rapid strides as well by ordinary

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Belfast Lough is exceedingly picturesque, whether entered by the Antrim or by the Down side of the channel. The outer harbour is one of the safest in the kingdom, great improvements having been made within the last thirty years on the more immediate entrance to the port. The course of the Lagan, which runs past the quays and down to Gramoyle, was originally most tortuous and somewhat difficult to navigate; but, about 1840, the late William Dargan was employed to make a straight cut from the lower part of the harbour and to deepen the channel, so that ships of large draught can be brought to the quays, which extend for about a mile below Queen's Bridge on both sides of the river. There are also seven extensive docks and tidal basins supplied with the necessary conveniencies for the shipping. The following table of vessels entered inwards shows the increase of shipping frequenting the port:

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The exports from Belfast being largely conveyed by steamer to London, Liverpool, and Glasgow, and thence trans-shipped to their destinations, do not appear in the Board of Trade returns, as only the direct business with foreign countries, which does not reach any considerable amount, is registered in those tables. Thus other ports get credit for business which really belongs to Belfast. The best illustration of this is afforded by the Board of Trade returns for 1858. Belfast is there stated to have exported goods that year to the amount of £9,344, while the actual sum was £8,569,504. In 1810 the total value of exports was £2,904,820, and in 1835 £4,341,791: in 1852 the amount was £6,573,198, and for 1866 it ran up to £11,915,000. For some years past no official data have been published on this subject, but it may be safely estimated that the gross value of the exports from Belfast exceeds £20,000,000 annually.

The amount of customs and excise collected at the port in 1762 was £32,900, and in 1810 the sum was £428,174. As trade increased with London and Liverpool, a large share of the duties on goods disposed of in Belfast was paid to the merchants of those ports. In 1821 the customs amounted to £306,243, and in 1848 to £376,767. Tho customs paid in Belfast in 1851 reached £369,415, which, added to that paid in London and Liverpool (£184,750), made a total of £554,165. During the year 1874 the duty paid in Belfast on tea, wine, spirits, and tobacco, amounted to £1,215,191.

For nearly a century past the flax manufacture of Ulster

has been gradually concentrating itself in Belfast. The in- | dom is better supplied with educational appliances than troduction there in 1830, by T. and A. Mulholland, of Belfast. machinery for the spinning of linen yarn, was followed by a rapid extension of the industry, and in 1841 there were 240,000 spindles at work. The succeeding ten years showed still greater increase. In 1851 there were 561,000 spindles in operation throughout Ireland, 630,000 in 1861, and 903,000 in 1871, of which about four-fifths had been set up in Belfast. Linen yarns from Belfast form a considerable item in the total export of manufactures. For some time after the trade was started, the average annual export was only about 1,000,000 b weight; but in 1850 five times that quantity was despatched; in 1862, 15,685,600 I, and in 1864, 24,075,520 ib.

The weaving of linen by means of power-looms, though long carried on in Dundee, Leeds, and other great seats of manufacture, is of comparatively recent introduction into Belfast,-being hardly known there five-and-twenty years ago. In 1859, however, there were 3000 looms engaged; in 1866 there were 10,500, and that number has now (1875) increased to about 12.500. A number of these have been fitted up for the damask trade, but the great proportion are used for plain linens, "sets" of which of great fineness are worked. The extent of the linen trade may be indicated by the number of persons employed, which amounted in 1871 to 8507, or about 5 per cent. of the population.

Belfast is governed by a corporation of 40 membersa mayor, 10 aldermen, and 29 councillors; and all matters connected with the docks and shipping are under the harbour commissioners, an important body elected by the ratepayers. The borough returns two members to parliament, and the county assizes are held there, as well as the quarter sessions, recorder's court, and petty sessions. BELFORT, BEFORT, or BEDFORT, a second-class fortified town of France, was formerly in the department of Upper Rhine, and capital of an arrondissement; but since the peace of 1871, it has given name to a separate territory not as yet incorporated with any department. It is situated on the left bank of the Sauvoureuse, 38 miles S.S.W. of Colmar, at the intersection of several important roads and railways, by which it maintains a considerable trade with Germany and Switzerland. It contains a handsome church, -St Cristophe, erected in the 18th century,-a college, a large public library, a synagogue, a theatre, and an hospital. There are several iron foundries, and iron-wire and tin-plate factories; and the manufacture of hats and leather is also carried on. Belfort, however, derives its chief importance from the citadel and entrenched camp, which render it one of the most valuable military posts on the French frontier, defending as they do the entrance into the country through the opening between the Vosges and the Jura. The citadel dates from the 13th century, and the town itself was first regularly fortified in 1688 by Vauban. In November 1870 siege was laid to the place by the German forces, but the French garrison managed to hold out till the 16th of February 1871, when they capitulated with the sanction of the Government, and marched out with the honours of war. The conquerors finally evacuated the place in July 1871. At the census of 1872 the population of the town was found to be 8014.

Cotton-spinning, which at one period formed a most extensive industry in Belfast, has greatly fallen off,-nearly all the mills having been converted to the spinning of flax. The enterprise of the citizens of Belfast was well supported by the liberal system of tenure for building purposes granted by the late Lord Donegall and his predecessors. Sites for mills, factories, and other public works were obtained on very reasonable terms, and for all religious and charitable objects those lords of the soil bestowed ground free of rent. In 1851 the places of worship in Belfast open for service belonged-11 to the Episcopalians, 21 to BELGAM [BELGAUM], a district of British India in the Presbyterians, 8 to Wesleyans, and 4 to Roman Catholics. Bombay Presidency, extending from 15° 30′ to 16° 15' N. Since then there has been a large increase in the number; lat., and 74° to 76° 30′ E. long. It is bounded on the N. and there are now 19 Episcopalian churches, 28 Presby-by the state of Miraj, on the N.E. by the Raládgi collectoterian, 16 Wesleyan Methodist, 6 Roman Catholic, 3 rate, on the E. by the states of Jámkhandi and Mudhol, Unitarian, and 7 or 8 belonging to various other sects. on the S. by the collectorates of Dharwár and Kánará, on The River Lagan is crossed by three bridges, of which the S. W. by the Portuguese territory of Goa, and on the the principal is the Queen's Bridge, opened in January W. by the states of Sawantwári and Kolhápur. The 1813, and built on the site of the Old Long Bridge, which principal rivers, none of which are navigable, are the Krishna, dated from 1686. Like most modern towns which have flowing through the northern; the Ghátaprabhá, through rapidly risen through commerce and manufactures, Belfast the centre; and the Máláprabhá, through the southern cannot boast of many architectural beauties. It would portion of the collectorate. To the N. and E. the country seem as if its people had been too deeply absorbed in the is open and well cultivated, but to the S. it is intersected bustle of business to think of asthetic superfluities. More by spurs of the Sahyadri range, thickly covered in some recently, however, a higher style of building has been places with forest. Area, 4591 square miles. Population, adopted; and some of the warehouses and shops show 938,750 souls, or 204 to the square mile; 57 per cent. great taste in design and finish of workmanship. Hindus, 7.5 per cent. Mahometans, 5 per cent. Buddhists, 5 Christians, and '01 Parsis. Maráthi and Kanarese are both spoken, the former chiefly in the W. and S. of the district, and the latter in the N. and E. The chief occupation of the people is agriculture, the other industries being spinning and weaving, manufactures in wood and metals, pottery, and shoemaking. There is also a considerable trade in cloth and silk. The principal agricultural products are rice, tawári, rági, wheat, bájra, sugar-cane, barley, and pulses. Tobacco is cultivated to a small extent. The entire revenue of the district amounts to £233,371, of which £179,321 is derived from the land revenue, and Of the remainder £17,597 from the local fund cess. £15,444 is derived from stamps, £14,996 from excise, assessed taxes yield £2344, and forests £3669. area of 4591 square miles, 1894 63 square miles are returned as cultivable, and 1729-7, or 37 per cent. of the III. 65

The public buildings most worthy of notice are the White and Brown Linen Halls, the Corn Exchange, the Commercial Buildings, the Museum, the Albert memorial monument, the Northern, Belfast, Ulster, and Provincial Banks, the new theatre, the town-hall, and the range of buildings containing the offices for the customs, the inland revenue, and the postal departments. The county lunatic asylum is in the suburbs of the town; and in the neighbourhood of Queen's College there is an extensive and wellkept botanic garden.

The chief educational establishments are the Royal Academical Institution, the Queen's College (built of brick in the Tudor style and opened in 1849), the Government School of Design, the General Assembly's College, the Catholic Institute, and the Wesleyan Institute; and altogether, in proportion to its extent, no town in the king

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total area, are actually under cultivation. The last settlement of the land revenue was made for a period of thirty years at various times between 1848 and 1864. The total imperial expenditure in the district amounts to £98,097. The following towns have a population of more than 5000 inhabitants:-Belgaum, 26,947; Gohak, 12,612; Athani, 11,588; Nipáni, 9371; Temkanmardi, 5296; Hougal, 9001; Sankeshwar, 8905; Sawadáti, 8180; Murgod, 7181; Ketur, 7166; Sádalgi, 6863; Mánoli, 6232; Chikadi, 6184; Nandighar, 5748; Hukéri, 5364; and Konganoli, 5143. Municipalities have been established in the first five of these towns, the necessary revenue being raised by octroi dues, except in the case of Temkanmardi,

where a house tax has been levied. The district contains 113 schools, with an attendance of 7624 pupils, or 0-8 of the entire population. Of the total number of schools, 2, with an attendance of 198 pupils, are private institutions, receiving Government aid. There is a stipendiary police of 684 men. The Kurirs, a wandering and thieving tribe, the Kamais, professional burglars, and the Báruds, cattle stealers and highwaymen, are special criminal classes. Of these the Báruds are the most troublesome. The district of Belgám was ceded to the East India Company by the Peshwa, under the treaty of June 1817, for the maintenance of a subsidiary force to be provided by the British Government.

BELGIUM

BELGIUM (F. Belgique, Ger. Belgien), is one of the Budo Tim; and is bounded on the N. by Holland, E by

smaller of the European states, among which it ranks 16th in point of area and 8th according to population. It lies between lat. 49° 30′ and 51° 30' N., and long. 2° 32′

Dutch Limbourg, Luxembourg, and Rhenish Prussia. S and S.W. by France, and N.W. by the North Sea. It is somewhat triangular in form, the longest side-that which

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adjoins France-being 384 miles in length. The length of its other boundaries aré,-towards Holland 268 miles, Germany 59, Luxembourg 80, and the North Sea 41. Its greatest length from N.W. to S.E. (from Ostend to Arlon) is 174 miles, and its greatest breadth from N. to S. 105. It has an area of 2,945,593 hectares, equal to 7,278,968 English acres, or 11,373 square miles,-being about one-eighth of the area of Great Britain. This country is divided into nine provinces,-Antwerp in the N., West and East

Flanders and Hainault in the W., Namur in the S., Luxembourg in the S.E., Liége and Limbourg in the E., and Brabant in the centre.

Belgium is in general a very flat country having few elevations, and these rarely exceeding 2000 feet in height. They are principally to be found in the E. and S.E, while the N. and N.W. parts of the country bear a considerable resemblance to Holland. The elevations of Belgium take their rise in France, and extend generally in a N.E. direo

ticn. A chain proceeding from the neighbourhood of the sources of the Saone separates the waters of the Meuse from those of the Moselle, passes Arlon and Neufchateau, then extends in a north-eastern direction towards Bastogne, and finally enters Prussia. A branch of this chain goes off at Neufchateau, proceeds northward towards Liége, passes St Hubert, and separates the Ourthe from the Meuse. A part of the Ardennes also extends into Belgium, and separates the basin of the Meuse from that of the Scheldt. It proceeds in a north-eastern direction, passing Fontaine l'Evêque, Gembloux, Ramillies, and Tongres, then, gradually decreasing in height, it turns northward to Asch, and afterwards N.W. to Hechtal, Lommel, and Turnhout. A series of heights on the frontier of France, near Chimay, extends in a N.W. direction towards Namur, and separates the Meuse from the Sambre.

The provinces of Liége, Luxembourg, and Namur present the greatest irregularities of surface. This part of the country is intersected by numerous ravines and streams with steep and rocky banks, by deep valleys, and by ridges of hills, which often have precipitous and rocky escarpments. The vegetation here is of a very poor and languid character. The greater part of the region is covered with dense forests, marshy and uncultivated plateaus or poor pasture land, and corn is very rarely cultivated. Descending towards the coast the forests become less extensive; and rye, oats, and potatoes take the place of the pasture land. In the western and north-western provinces are extensive and well-watered plains, which, from their great fertility and the high state of their cultivation, are the boast of the Belgians and the admiration of strangers.

In the provinces bordering on the sea the land is in some places so low as to require to be protected from inundation by dikes. These parts are called polders. Numerous places along the banks of the rivers are also protected by embankments; these are called interior polders. About a sixtieth part of the kingdom (50,000 hectares, or 193 square miles) is thus artificially gained from the sea and rivers.

The coast of Belgium is said to be undergoing a change similar to that of Scandinavia,-in some parts a gradual elevation, and in others a gradual depression. Nieuport is said to be on the axis of this change, from which, northward to the mouth of the Scheldt, the sea is continually gaining upon the land, while southward to Pas de Calais it is losing. The principal rivers are the Scheldt, Meuse, and Yzer, with their tributaries. The Scheldt is navigable during its entire course through Belgium, and has a general direction from S.W. to N.E., passing through the province of Hainault, along the eastern boundary of West Flanders, traversing East Flanders, and finally forming the boundary between the provinces of East Flanders and Antwerp. Its entire length through Belgium is 108 miles. The Meuse has a course nearly parallel to that of the Scheldt, traversing the provinces of Namur, Liége, and Limbourg. It is 115 miles in length, during the whole of which it is navigable. The small river of Yzer, which enters the sea at Nieuport, is navigable for about 26 miles. The navigable rivers connected with the Scheldt are, the Dyle, which after receiving the Nethe at the village of Rumpst, takes the name of Ruppel, and joins the Scheldt nearly opposite to Ruppelsmonde; the Great and Little Nethe, which after their junction take the name of Nethe, and fall into the Dyle; the Demer, also an affluent of the Dyle; the Dender, which enters the Scheldt at Dendermonde; the Durme, which joins it near Thielrode; and the Lys at Ghent. The entire navigable length of these streams is 230 English miles. The navigable rivers of the Meuse are the Amblere and the Vesdre, affluents of the Ourthe; the Ourthe, which joins, the Meuse at Liége; and the Sambre, which joins it

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at Namur. The navigable length of these is 142 miles. The small river of Yperlee, which joins the Yzer, is navigable for about 9 miles. The other streams are the Senne, the Haine, the Semoy, and the Lesse.

Besides these navigable rivers, Belgium has a number of canals for inland navigation, some of which are used also for irrigation. They are twenty-nine in number, and their entire length is 605,440 metres, or 376 English miles. The principal of these are the canals-from Bruges to Ostend, from Brussels to Charleroi, from Bocholt to Herenthal, from Brussels to Willebroeck, from Ghent to Bruges, from Liége to Maestricht, from Maestricht to Bois-le-Duc, from Pommeroeul to Antoing, from Plasschendaele to Nieuport, the Louvain canal, the Lieve, and the Moevaert. Each of these canals is upwards of 12 miles in length, and the longest, that from Brussels to Charleroi, upwards of 46 miles. The entire length of the river and canal navigation of Belgium is 1006 English miles.

Belgium possesses a number of mineral springs, the principal of which are the hot springs of Chaudfontaine, situated about five miles from Liége, and the mineral spring of Tongres; but the most celebrated waters are those of Spa. The ferruginous springs of Huy were formerly in considerable repute, but are now little used.

The climate of Belgien is similar to that of England, but is a little colder in winter and hotter in summer. In the south-eastern parts the atmosphere is more pure and bracing than in the lower parts towards the N.W., where it is frequently damp and hazy. Frost rarely appears before the middle of October or after the middle of April. Observations made at Brussels from 1833 to 1872 give the mean annual temperature as 50°6 Fahr.,-the mean maximum being 57°2, and the mean minimum 44°·1 Fahr. During that period there were no frosts in the five months from May to September inclusive, and snow fell only eight times in May and four times in October. The average number of foggy days annually, from 1833 to 1862, was 60, and with thunder 15. The annual average of days on which rain fell was 197, and the quantity of rain 28.04 inches, or 3 inches less than the rainfall at London.

The population of Belgium in 1831 was 3,785,814; in 1840, 4,073,162; in 1850, 4,426,202; in 1860, 4,731,957, and in 1873, 5,253,821, being 2,645,147 males and 2,608,674 females. The following table shows the popula tion of the different provinces in each of the years 1831, 1850, and 1873 (31st December) :—

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8,785,814 4,426,202 5,258,821 The principal towns are- -Brussels, with 180,172 inhabi tants; Antwerp, 141,910; Ghent, 128,424; Liége, 113,774; Bruges, 48,113; Verviers, 38,875; Tournay, 31,923; Malines, 38,540; Louvain, 32,314.

Belgium is the most densely populated country of Europe, having on an average 178 inhabitants to the square kilometre, which is in the several provinces, being as high as 285 per square kilometre equivalent to 461 to the square mile. The density differs greatly in East Flanders, 281 in Brabant, and 250 in Hainault; and as low as 86 in Namur, 84 in Limbourg, and 47 in Luxembourg. The general census of 1866 gives 134,001 as under one year of age; 549,077 between one and five years, and 494,332 between five and ten; while 299,711 were from sixty to seventy, 115,216 from seventy to eighty, 23,890 from eighty to ninety, 1992 from ninety to a hundred, and 12 a hundred and upwards.

The number of

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