of the holdings on which most of them live and which they cultivate with such assiduity and success.

MANUFACTURES: The manufacture of woollen, linen, lace, cotton, and silk goods, is largely carried on. The fine lace of Belgium (produced at Brussels, Mechlin, and Bruges) is unrivalled in quality, Ironworks are numerous in the eastern part of the kingdom, towards the banks of the Meuse, and firearms, machinery, iron and steel goods and glass are produced on a large scale at Liège, Seraing, and Charleroi.. Woollen goods are produced chiefly at Verviers, cotton and liren at Ghent. The manufacture of beet sugar is also important.

COMMERCE: The Foreign Trade of Belgium is very large, amounting in value to no less than £54 per head of the population.

The total Imports, which consist mainly of cereals, raw materials for textile manufactures, timber, hides and skins, live animals, coffee and other colonial produce, are valued at 122 millions sterling a year; while the total Exports, which include yarns and textile fabrics, coal, cereals, iron and steel, machinery, sugar, glass, zinc, &c., amount to about 93 millions sterling a year. There is also a very large transit trade (annual value 77 millions sterling) chiefly between England and Germany, most of the goods passing through Antwerp and Ostend. Most of the trade is done with France, the United Kingdom, Holland, and Germany. The imports from the United Kingdom amounted, in 1905, to 14 millions, and the exports to 27 millions sterling. The chief ports are ANTWERP, on the Scheldt; OSTEND, on the coast; GHENT, an important river and canal port in East Flanders. NIEUPORT and BLANKENBERG also carry on a considerable trade. The mercantile marine of Belgium is very small, and the over-sea trade is mostly carried on in foreign, chiefly English, vessels. Communications: Excellent macadamised 1oads, numerous canals and navi· gable rivers, and an extensive and complete system of railways, radiating from Mechlin (Malines), facilitate the interchange of goods and produce.

GOVERNMENT: Belgium is a "constitutional, representative and hereditary monarchy."

The Public Revenue and Expenditure each amount to about 27 millions sterling, while the National Debt is over 128 millions, most of it incurred in the construction of railways and other public works.

The standing Army numbers about 50,000 men, besides which there are about 35,000 National Guards, and the Reserves, which bring up the total war strength to 150,000 men. Many of the towns of Belgium are very strongly forti fied. Antwerp is the chief fortress and military arsenal. Belgium has no navy. DIVISIONS and TOWNS: Belgium is divided into nine Provinces, the names of which, with their chief towns, are as follows:

BRUSSELS (with suburbs, 612) is the capital of Belgium. It stands on the River Senne, in the centre of the kingdom, and is a well-built and attractive city. Among many interesting places in its neighbourhood, the most noteworthy is the battlefield of Waterloo, ten miles to the southward. Belgium formed part of the region known in former ages as the Low Countries, and was the frequent theatre of war. The destinies of rival nations have often been decided on its plains. The sites of numerous battlefields are hence found within its limits-among them, Steinkirk (1692), Landen (1693), Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde (1708), Fontenoy (1745), Jenappes (1792), Quatrebras, Ligny, and Waterloo (1815).

ANTWERP, or Anvers (297), a strongly fortified city on the River Scheldt, 's the principal port of Belgium, and the chief emporium of its foreign trade. Mechlin, or Malines (58), situated nearly midway between Brussels and Antwerp, is noted for its lace manufactures, and is the centre of the Belgian railway system. GHENT (161) an ancient city on the Scheldt, is the principal seat of the cotton manufacture. A canal, deep enough to admit seagoing vessels, connects the city with the estuary of the Scheldt. Bruges (53), further to the westward, has both manufactures and trade. But all these cities were more populous at a former period-during the 13th and 14th centuries-than they are at the present day. Verviers (52), which lies 14 miles east of Liège, has important woollen manufactures. Ostend (40), on the coast, is a fashion able watering-place, and an important link in the through traffic between England and Central Europe,

Mons (25), the chief town of Hainault, and Namur (32), at the junction of the rivers Sambre and Meuse, are within the coal district of Belgium. LIEGE (122), in the eastern part of the kingdom, is a flourishing manufacturing city, situated on the Meuse, in the midst of coalfields and ironworks. At Seraing (40), near Liège, is the "Etablissement Cockerill," founded by two Englishmen in 1819, and now one of the largest machinery works in the world.1

COLONIES: Belgium has no colonies in the proper sense of the term, but the Congo Free St te (Etat Independant du Congo) in Central Africa, with an area of 800,000 square miles and a population of perhaps 8,000,000, and of which the King of Belgium is Sovereign, is virtually a Belgian Crown Colony, and is likely soon to be actually proclaimed one.

HOLLAND, OR THE NETHERLANDS.

HOLLAND, a small country of Western Europe, borders on the North Sea, which forms its boundary on the west and north. On the east it is bounded by Germany, and on the south by Belgium. EXTENT: The area of Holland is 12,680 square miles, which is somewhat less than one-fourth the size of England and Wales. Its greatest length is 196 miles; its greatest breadth, 109 miles.

1. The special characteristic of the chief towns 2. Holland, from ellant, marshy ground, origi in Belgium may perhaps be remembered best if nally the name of the principal province. Netherassociated with similar industrial centres in Eng-lands, nether or lower countries, in allusion to its land, thus Lège is the "Birmingham;" Verviers, depressed surface. Also called the Low Countries. the "Leeds," Ghent, the Manchester;" and From 1814 to 1830 Belgium was politically united to Antwerp, the "Liverpool" of Belgium. Holland,.

COASTS: Holland has an extensive and varied line of sea-coast, which is low everywhere, and in some places actually below the sea-level, but it is protected by natural sand-hills or by enormous dykes, which alone prevent the sea from inundating the land.

The principal Inlets are the Zuyder Zee, the Dollart Zee, and the estuaries of the Scheldt, the Maas, and the Rhine.

The Zuyder Zee was formed by an irruption of the sea in 1282. Before that year the centre of its bed was occupied by a small lake which was drained into the North Sea by a river 50 miles long. The Dollart Zee was formed by two inundations of the sea, in 1277 and 1287. Among later irruptions may be noticed that of 1421, when the waters of the Rhine burst through a dyke and overwhelmed a large and populous district. Reclus says that " on retiring, the tide left, instead of fields and houses, only an archipelago of marshy islands.” This district is now known as the Bies Bosch. In 1825, another fearful irruption in Waterland destroyed forty villages with their inhabitants.

ISLANDS: There are two groups of islands, one in the north-west (Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland, &c.), and another in the south-west (Walcheren, North and South Beveland, &c.)

A glance at the map of Holland will show that the north-western group of islands is evidently the remains of the old coast-line, the surrounding land having been submerged by successive inundations, chiefly that of 1282, when the Zuyder Zee was formed. Walcheren and the other south-western islands were most probably insulated by the overflowing of the Rhine, Maas, and Scheldt. These islands are in many places below sea-level, and are only preserved from inundation by artificial embankments.

SURFACE: Holland is a flat country, and large parts of it are naturally marshy. Along the coasts, the land is in some places even lower than the waters of the adjoining sea, and it is only by means of dykes that it is preserved from inundation.*

A large portion of the country, indeed, has been actually gained from the sea by the persevering industry of the Dutch people. Many of the shallow lakes or meers have been drained of their waters and converted into rich pasture-grounds.

The expense of constructing and maintaining the dykes is enormous-the whole of the wood and granite required being imported from other countries. These dykes are vast embankments of earth, 30 feet high and from 70 to 300 feet broad, strengthened by massive timber-work and masonry; the submerged piles are occasionally protected by iron plates.

RIVERS: Holland abounds in inland waters. The Rhine, the Maas, and the Scheldt are the principal rivers; the two former of these are connected, towards their mouths, by numerous channels, both natural and artificial.

There are many smaller streams-the Yssel, Vecht, Amstel, and others; and the towns are traversed by numerous canals, so that the whole country

1. Called dunes.

2. Known to the Romans as Lacus Flevo. 3. Bies, rush; bosch, a forest, .. a forest of rushes or reeds. In this catastrophe 72 villages were destroyed and 100,000 people perished.

4. On the coat of arms of one of the provinces is the figure of a lion swimming, underneath which is the motto, "I strive, and keep my head above water."

exhibits a network of water-courses. of the three great rivers named above that are within the Netherlands--their middle and upper courses belong to other countries.

It is, however, only the lower portions

The Rhine, Meuse or Maas, and Scheldt enter the North Sea; the Yssel, Vecht, and Amstel fall into the Zuyder Zee, i.e., South Sea. The Delta of the Rhine has an area of 4,000 square miles, or one-third that of Holland.

There are numerous lakes, but none of any considerable extent, in Friesland an 1 North and South Holland. Portions of the larger and many of the smaller meers or shallow lakes have been reclaimed, and now form rich and fertile "polders."

CLIMATE: Holland is rather colder than England, and the winters are of much greater severity. The air is generally moist, especially in the neighbourhood of the coast.

PRODUCTIONS: There are no metals and but few minerals in Holland, Both building stone and timber are scarce; the former is imported from Norway, and the latter from Norway and Germany. The animals are similar to those of England. Water-fowl, swans, and storks are very numerous.

INHABITANTS: Holland has about 51

million inhabitants,

or an average of 413 persons to the square mile.

Race and Language: The Dutch belong to the Teutonic or Germanic race, and nearly two-thirds of the people were born in the communes where they live. There are only about 70,coo foreigners in Holland; 32,000 of them are Germans, the rest are Belgians, English, and Jews. The common language is Dutch. The Frisian language is spoken in Friesland.

Education is in an advanced condition, one in eight of the entire population being in attendance at the elementary schools established and partly supported by the State. Higher education is given in the middle and Latin schools, and in the universities of Leyden, Groningen, Amsterdam, and Utrecht.2

Religion: About three-fifths of the inhabitants are Protestants, the rest are chiefly Roman Catholics. There are a large number of Jews in the larger towns (Amsterdam, &c.)

INDUSTRY: The Dutch (as the people of Holland are called) are distinguished for their industry, frugality, and cleanliness, and also for their devotion to maritime pursuits. They are among the best farmers and the most successful traders in the world.

AGRICULTURE: In Holland, most of the land is devoted to grazing, but large areas are under rye (the chief cereal grown), potatoes, oats, wheat, and barley. Vast nun.bers of cattle are reared, and the produce of the farm and dairy-cheese, butter, &c.-is of the finest description. Though so small a country, there are no less than 15 million cattle (Great Britain and Ireland, with ten times the area, have less than 11 million cattle), 24 million horses, 8 million sheep, and 9 million pigs.

FISHERIES: Extensive fisheries, in the North Sea and elsewhere, were formerly carried on by the Dutch; but these, though still considerable, are less important now than they once were.

1. The stork is particularly venerated by the Dutch, and carefully protected. Frogs and other reptiles, which form its principal food, abound in the meers and marshes.

2. At Delft is a most valuable school for instruc

tion in hydrographic engineering, such as the making and repairing of dykes, canals, &c., a subject of vital importance in a country like Hol Land, in which, as the author of "Hudibra," 57. ys "men live as in the vid of nature."

MANUFACTURES: There are important manufactures of textile fabrics-cotton, woollen and linen-and many shipbuilding yards at the chief ports. The sugar-refineries and beet-sugar factories are not so numerous as the distilleries and breweries. Great quantities of Hollands (gin) and Liqueurs are made and exported to all parts of the world. Diamond-cutting is a special industry of the Jews of Amsterdam.

COMMERCE: The possession of the mouths of several great rivers enables the Dutch people to command a large share in the transit of commodities to and from the countries of Central Europe.

The Dutch have for centuries past been the masters of a great carrying trade. In the 16th and 17th centuries, they were, in this respect, the carriers of the world. Though now less in amount than at a former time, the shipping and commerce of the Dutch nation are still very large.

The exports (annual value 166 millions sterling) consist principally of butter, cheese, cattle, sheep, colonial produce, and the imports (annual value, 215 millions sterling) are manufactured goods, colonial produce, timber, &c. The principal articles of export to the United Kingdom are butter, butterine, live animals, and cheese, The total imports from the United Kingdom, in 1905, amounted in value to 8 millions sterling, and the exports to 35 millions. The mercantile navy of Holland consists of over 500 sailing vessels and 271 steamers, employing about 17,000 men. The principal ports are Amsterdam, Rot erdam, Helder, Middelburg, and Flushing.

The internal trade of Holland is carried on almost entirely by the canals and rivers, which traverse the country in all directions, forming a close network of navigable water-courses. There are good roads along the tops of the dykes, with 1,850 miles of railway, and 4 200 miles of telegraph lines.

Of the canals of Holland, the most noted are the North Hol'an Canal (50 miles long, 125 feet broad, and 21 feet deep), from the Helder to the Y; and the deeper North Sea Canal, 14 miles long, from Amsterdam to the North Sea. The latter admits vessels drawing 23 feet.

GOVERNMENT: The kingdom of the Netherlands is an hereditary monarchy, under con titutional forms.

The executive power is vested in the Sovereign and a Council of Ministers. The legislative power is vested in the States-General, as the two Houses of Parliament are called. The Revenue is nearly 15 millions sterling, and the Expenditure over 15 millions. The National Debt amounts to 96 millions.

The Army consists of about 41,000 men, besides the colonial army of 35,000, and about 118,000 men enrolled in the militi. The Navy is considerable, and consists of 150 steam vessels, of which 23 are ironclads.

TOWNS: One-third of the people of Holland live in towns, of which there are 24 with a population of more than 20,000. In 1905, the urban or town population numbered 2 millions, or 37 p.c., and the iura' population 311⁄2 milions, or 6217 p.c. of the entire population. The Dutch towns in genal have many features in common. They are clean and well-built, with cana's running through the principal streets, bordered by rows of trees on either han i Canal, serve in Holland many of the purpose; of roads in other countries.