82 OF CLOUDS. CHAP. 2. 15- 



The peculiarities of Rain seem principally to 

 consist in the size, and close or distant arrange- 



edulis vended in the markets as an article of food. I made 

 few observations on Natural History here, being taken up 

 with the numerous antiquities and pictures with which this 

 town abounds; but one thing I noticed (which shows the 

 greater dampness of English air even compared with Dutch 

 marshes), was, that the bells in the tower of the cathedral, 

 and even those of the carillon, which are exposed in the open 

 part of the steeple, were free from rust, though bells of much 

 more recent date in England become quite green with it. 



At the Tele de la Flandre, on the West side of the Scheldt, 

 they keep the Yellow Wagtail (Motacillaflavaj domesticated 

 in the rooms to catch the flies, which are very troublesome. 



In the marshes East of Antwerp, and in Holland, grows 

 the Senecio palitdosus. 



8th About Lookeren the country is marshy and flat, and 

 abounds with windmills ; but they are not so plentiful here 

 as at Lille, where several hundred mills are employed to drain 

 the suburbs of that city. 



Near Courtray, where we slept, Papaver Rhceas begins 

 again to be common ; the road about Ghent, and all the way 

 to Courtray, is lined with trees, and the country much 

 enclosed. About Ghent I also noticed Oaks and a sandy 

 soil. 



9th. At Ypres : The Martins (H. urbica) very nume- 

 rous, and evidently congregating to depart. 



10th. Weather fine and warm ; we passed last night at 

 Dunkerque. The POMONA seems very luxuriant this year 

 throughout Flanders, particularly in Pears and Grapes. 



In crossing the channel this evening from Calais to Dover, 



