GENEEAL FEATUEES, ETC. 



381 



districts on tlie outskirts of this heath have been transformed into productive 

 land. One of these is the Hageland, or " Land of Hedges," in north-western 

 Brabant, where sterile sands and thickets have been replaced by fertile fields. In 

 the Curapine itself, the average elevation of which is 250 feet, fertile oases are 

 growing more numerous from year to year. Clay is frequently found there at a, 

 depth of less than a yard, and the cultivators, by mixing it with the sand, obtain 

 a soil which repays their labour. The tracts more deeply covered with sand. 



Fig. 21.5.— Hypsograpiiical Map of Belgivm. 

 According to Jenkins. Scale 1 : 2,500,000. 



Pclders£ Slims 



MH JI 



Death In Feet 



4ew Belffian AllMilim. theCimtiM 0U1&-* 16410338 a38to65S 65eu9S4 984 to 131 2 T31 2tlll 6401 640131 970 

 Uffittrj/ 



25 Miles. 



however, will retain their aspect for a long time to come. Dunes, similar in all 

 respects to those skirting the shores of the North Sea, rise upon them. They 

 are covered with the same species of plants, and, like them, are at the mercy 

 of the wind, except when consolidated by trees. The soil between these ridges 

 of blown sand is covered with heather, thyme, and aromatic herbs. The ram 

 which percolates through it is charged with tannic acid derived from the 

 heather, and compacts the grains of sand into a reddish tufa, similar in all 

 respects to the alios of the Landes or of Jutland. This alios sometimes contains 



