84 



BELGIUM. 



four inches in diameter, and weighing alto- 

 gether eleven pounds. 



Many varieties of camp-heds are manufact- 

 ured which fold much more compactly thau 

 those here described, some of them within the 

 dimensions of a moderate sized valise. These 

 may all be classed as were modifications of the 

 cots described. Taking Fig. 5, for instance, 

 cutting the side-rails into four pieces, and fur- 



FIG. 5. CAMP-BED. 



nishing each section with independent sets of 

 legs, it is evident that the whole could be 

 rolled up in a more compact form than that 

 shown. The weight, however, is naturally in- 

 creased, and the trouble of taking apart and 

 putting together is considerably greater. Where 

 space for transportation is to be considered, 

 some of these more compact devices are very 

 convenient. 



BELGIUM, a monarchy in western Europe. 

 It was formerly a part of the Netherlands, but 

 seceded and formed itself into an independent 

 state in 1830. Prince Leopold of Saxe-Co- 

 burg-Gotha was elected king by a National 

 Congress in the following year. His son, 

 Leopold II, the present King of the Belgians, 

 succeeded to the throne on Dec. 10, 1865, at the 

 age of thirty. The law-making power is vested 

 in two chambers, called the Senate and the 

 Chamber of Representatives, both of which 

 are elective. The members of the Cabinet, 

 who assumed office on Oct. 26, 1884, are as 

 follow : President of the Council and Minis- 

 ter of Finance, A. Beernaert ; Minister of Jus- 

 tice, J. Lejeune ; Minister of the Interior and 

 of Public Instruction, J. Devolder; Minister 

 of War, Gen. C. Pontus; Minister of Rail- 

 ways, Posts, and -Telegraphs, J. H. P. Vanden- 

 peereboom ; Minister for Foreign Affairs, 

 Prince de Chimay; Minister of Agriculture, 

 Industry, and Public Works, the Chevalier A. 

 de Moreau. 



Area and Population. The area of the king- 

 dom is 29,455 square kilometres, or 11,873 

 square miles. The estimated population on 

 Dec. 31, 1886, was 5,909,975, comprising 2,- 

 951,300 males and 2,958,675 females. Be- 

 tween 1880 and 1886 the rate of increase was 

 1 '14 per cent, per annum. According to the 

 census of 1880 there were 2,237,867 Belgians 

 speaking French only, and 2,479,747 speaking 

 Flemish only, while 41,046 could speak only 



German, and 471,872 spoke at least two of 

 these languages. 



All the people of the kingdom are professing 

 Catholics except some 15,000 who are Protest- 

 ants and 3,000 Jews. Education is backward, 

 but is gradually becoming diffused under a law 

 making elementary education more general 

 than it formerly was. Universal education is 

 one of the demands of the Liberals, but the 

 party in power opposes it, and is sustained by 

 a decided majority of the electors, composed 

 of the wealthy class and constituting only one 

 tenth of the adult male population. The budg- 

 et of 1888 allots 1,613,620 francs for superior 

 education, 3,747,490 francs for intermediate 

 education, and 10,167,774 francs for primary 

 education. Of the total population over fifteen 

 years of age in 1880 the proportion who could 

 not read nor write was 42 per cent., whereas 

 between the ages of seven and fifteen it was 

 only 29'4 per cent. 



The number of births in 1886 was 166,451 ; 

 of deaths, 116,264; of marriages, 39,642; ex- 

 cess of births over deaths, 50,187. The num- 

 ber of emigrants in 1886 was 17,029, which 

 was less by 2,775 than the number of immi- 

 grants. The population of the principal cities 

 on Jan. 1, 1887, was as follows: Brussels, with 

 suburbs, 425,204; Antwerp, 204,498; Ghent, 

 145,424; Liege, 137,559. 



Revenue and Expenditure. The ordinary budg- 

 et for many years has almost invariably shown 

 a deficit. In 1885, when an extraordinary ex- 

 penditure of 44,974,750 francs was contem- 

 plated in the estimates, with an estimated ex- 

 traordinary revenue of only 6,159,884 francs, 

 the ordinary budget was revised so that there 

 remained a small surplus. In the following 

 year, instead of the expected surplus of 3,000,- 

 000 francs, there was an actual deficit of more 

 than that amount. In 1887 the revenue fell 

 below the expenditure nearly 2,500,000 francs. 

 The estimates for 1888 make the total ordinary 

 revenue 313,641,559 francs, and the ordinary 

 expenditure 307,743,123 francs. The income 

 from property taxes is estimated at 23,883,100 

 francs ; from personal taxes, 19,232,000 francs ; 

 from trade licenses, 6,580,000 francs ; from 

 customs, 24,682,600 francs; from excise, 39,- 

 775,500 francs; from registration duties, 23,- 

 860,000 francs ; from succession duties, 19,- 

 420,000 francs; from stamp duties, 6,820,000 

 francs; from railways, 114,500,000 francs; 

 from telegraphs, 3,103,700 francs ; from the 

 post-office, 9,421,300 francs; from navigation 

 dues, 4,280,000 francs ; from the national bank 

 and amortization funds, 11,493,100 francs; 

 from domains and forests, 1,300,000 francs; 

 from other sources, 5,290,259 francs. 



The expenditure for interest on the public 

 debt amounts to 96.102,231 francs; civil list 

 and dotations, 4,568,675 francs; for expenses 

 of the Ministry of Justice, 15,426,361 francs : of 

 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2,377,020 

 francs ; of the Ministry of the Interior and 

 Public Instruction, 21,829,764 francs; of the 



