BEL 



178 



BEL 



Dutch enclaves upon the said bank, united to those districts 

 of the said province upon the same bank which did not 

 belong to the Stat.-s General in 1790; in suchwisu that 

 the wnole of that part of the present province of Limbourg. 



.c right bank of the Mouse, and com] 



between that river on tin- wc-t, the fnintier of the Prussian 

 i In- present frontier of the province of 



.in tin- south, and Dutch Guelderland on the north, 

 shall henceforth belong to his majesty the kin;; of tl 

 therlands, either to be held by him in his character of 

 Or.uul l>uke of Luxembourg, or in order to be united to 

 Holland. 



On the left bank of the Mouse : commencing from 

 the southernmost point of the Dutch province of North 

 Brabant, there shall be drawn a line, which shall terminate 

 on the Meuse below Western, between that place and Ste- 

 rentiratrdt, at the point where the present Arrmdissement 

 of Ruremond and Maestricht meet, on the left bank of the 

 -e. ; in such manner that Hergcrot, Stamproy, Neer 

 Itteren, Itervoord and T/iorne, with their district, as well 

 as all the other places situated to the north of this line, 

 shall form part of the Dutch territory. 



' The old Dutch enr/arm in the province of Limbourg, 

 upon the left bank of the Meuse, shall belong to Belgium, 

 \viththeexceptionoftheto\vn of Maestricht, which toge- 

 ther with a radius of territory, extending 1200 toiscs from 

 the outer glacis of the fortress on the said hank of this 

 river, shall continue to be possessed in full sovereignty by 

 his majesty, the king of the Netherlands.' 



The exceptions thus described in Limbourg were as- 

 signed to the king of the Netherlands in return for cc 

 to be made by him to Belgium, of a part of the Grand 

 Dachy of Luxembourg, which arc thus described in the 



Commencing from the frontier of France between Ro- 

 dange, which shall remain to the Grand Duchy of Luxem- 

 bourg, and Athus, which shall belong to Belgium, there shall 

 be drawn a line, which leaving to Belgium the mail from 

 to ionffiry, the town ofAflon with its district, and the road 

 from Arlon to Bastogne, shall pass between M'^'inn/, which 

 shall be on the Belgian territory and Clemuncy, which shall 

 remain to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, terminating 

 at Stefnfort, which place shall also remain to the Grand 

 Duchy. From .SV<'//',r/ this line shall be continued in the 

 direction of l''.i^-ficn, IJi't-litx, Guirsch, (;, /mm!/. 



Paretle, and Per It. as i'.ir as Martelange ; Hecbits, Gu'irscfi, 

 Orende, Kothomb.-znAParelle, befng to belong to Belgium, 

 and Eischen, Oberpalen, PerU, and Miirti'titnge, to .the 

 Grand Duchy. From Martelange the said line shall follow 

 the course of the Sure, the water-way (Ihalweg) of which 

 river shall serve as the limit between the two states, as far 

 as opposite to Tintangc, from whence it shall he continued, 

 as directly as possible, towards the present frontier of the 

 .Irrnndissementof Dirhirch, and shall pass between Sitrrii, 

 Harlange, and Tare/lamps, which places jshall be lelt 1.1 

 the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ; and iJoni'ille, Li fur- 

 champ, and Loittremange, which places shall form part ol 

 the Belgian territory. Then having, in the vicinity ol 

 Doncolt and Soulez, which shall remain to the Grand 

 Duchy, reached the present boundary of the A rrnniliasfment 

 of Diekirch, the line in question shall follow the said boun- 

 dary to the frontier of the Prussian territory. All the ter- 

 ritories, towns, fortresses, and places situated to the 

 this line shall belong to Belgium : and all the territories. 

 towns, fortresses, and places situated to the east of this line 

 shall continue to belong to the Grand Duchy of Luxem- 

 bourg.' 



Boundaries. The kingdom, as thus described, is bounded 

 on the north by the Dutch part ol the provinceof Limbourg, 

 and by North Brabant, and Zeeland; on the norih-we-t 1>\ 

 the North Sea ; on the south-west and south by die Depart- 

 ments of the Pas de Calais, Nord, Ardennes, and Moselle, in 

 France ; and on the east by the Dutch portion of the Grand 

 Duchy of Luxembourg, and the Grand Duchy of the Lower 

 Rhine. 



Area and Population. This territory lies between r> 

 31' and 51 27' N. lot., and between 2 J 37' and 6 K 

 Its greatest length from south-east to north-wi -t i- ir.i 

 English miles, and its greatest breadth, measured in the di- 

 rection S.S.W. from the most northern part of the province 

 of Antwerp, to the most southern point of the prv 

 Ilainanlt, 112 miles. Its form approaches to that of a 

 triangle, the base of which is the French frontier, and its 



area is computed at 3,353,058 hectares, equal to 8,044,323 

 English acres, or 12569 En:ili-.h square miles. It is thus very 

 nearly one eighth of the area of Great Britain. The popula- 

 tion, accoul-.n^ to the census of 1830, mounted to 4,164,235 

 distributed through the different provinces as follows : 



The above numbers exhibit a population of 323 for every 

 square mile. The coast of Belgium, which is low and flat, 

 is not above forty miles in length. 



Mountains, 4V. The general character of Belgium is 

 that of a low anil level country. The high land of Belgium 

 is connected with the Vosges, the remote branches of which 

 stretch into the provinces of Luxembourg and Liege. From 

 the neighbourhood of the sources of the Saone and the 

 Moselle another branch runs north and divides the waters of 

 the Moselle from those of the Maese. Extending into the 

 southern part of Luxembourg, it gradually declines as it 

 approaches the banks of the Semoy and the Sure. The high 

 ground, which is interrupted by these rivers, rises again to a 

 greater elevation on their northern borders, encloses the 

 valley of the Ourthe, and terminates between the Ourthe and 

 the Km r, in the mountains of Hohe-veen, a wild tract situated 

 to the north of Malniedy. The greatest height of the moun- 

 tains in the tract described is . !>ove the sea, an 

 elevation greater than that of the Ardennes by 317 feet. 



Some high ground, which likewise forms pan of the Ar- 

 dennes, runs in a north direction between Cambray and 

 Mezieres, and extends into the provinces of Namur and 

 Hainault, and South Brabant, enclosing the valley of the 

 Sambre, and separating the waters of the Macse from those 

 of the Scheldt The northern termination of this high 

 ground is about Vilvoorde, between Brussels and Malines. 

 [See ARDENNES, HAINAULT, LIE'GE, LUXKMHOURG, and 

 NAMUR.] 



The coal-fields of Belgium are in the provinces of Lira- 

 bourg, Liege, Namur, and Hainault. The Limbourg coal- 

 field is in the environs of Kerkraede, about twelve miles 

 east of Maestricht, whence it extends into the Prussian 

 territory. The greatest length of this field from north 

 to south is about three miles and a half, and its greatest 

 breadth from east to west not quite two miles ; the surface 

 contains about live and a half square miles, one-half of 

 which is in the 1'russian territory. In I,n L.-C there are two 

 coal-fields. The largest of these is in the immediate vicinity 

 of the town of Liege, and on both sides of the Mai 



river. The field extends six and a quarter miles 

 N.N.K. from Liege to Oupeye, and seven and a half mill s 

 in the contrary direction to Yvot. Jemeppe, three and three- 

 quarter miles N.W. from Lirge, is the termination of the 

 bed in that direction, and Jupille, two and a half miles east 

 from Liege, is its limit in the opposite direction. Its extreme 

 length may therefore be stated ns thirteen and three quar- 

 ter miles, and its extreme breadth six and a quarter m 

 This field is worked in many places: the principal pit- 

 at Jemeppe, St. Nicholas, Glain, Ans, St. Marguerite 

 St. Walburir. Herstal, and Oupeye : these places are on the 

 letl bunk of the Maese. On the right hank there are pits 

 at \Vamlre, Yvot, Seraing, Ougree, La Chartreuse, Jupillu 

 and Cheratte. 



The second mnl- field of Liege is that of Battire and Cler- 

 mont : its length eleven and a quarter ini'.es K.S.I''., from 

 Housse to Clcrniont. and its greatest breadth six and a 

 quarter miles K.N.K. from Kleron to Battice. The places 

 here mentioned are those at which the principal workings 



MTieil on. 



.aull contains three extensive coal-fields. One it 

 tuatcd to the west of Mons, and extends nearlv twelve and a 

 half miles from Quicv rain on the 'west to Eugies on the 



