382 BELGIUM. 



iron. There is reason to believe that certain parts of the Campine were formerly 

 more extensively cultivated. The trunks of large trees, weapons, and remains of 

 buildino-s have been discovered beneath the sand, and it is well known that in 

 the Middle Ages there existed abbeys surrounded by extensive fields. The wars 

 of the sixteenth century, however, drove away the inhabitants, and nature resumed 

 possession of the deserted fields. 



Flandetîs. 



Geologically Flanders forms a continuation of the Campine. It too is 

 covered with marine sand, overlying a great thickness of rocks of recent forma- 

 tion. The boring of an artesian well at Ostend has led to the discovery of what 

 are believed to be Silurian rocks at a depth of 980 feet, and beneath a bed of 

 chalk. Excavations made at Antwerp have brought to light fossil whales and 

 seals, reptiles, fish, and birds of extinct species. The sterile sand of Flanders 

 would never have yielded remunerative harvests if the cultivators had not raised 

 the clay which underlies it to the surface. By doing so they have converted a 

 naturally barren soil into one of great fecundity. Flanders is now what the 

 Campine may become if the same amount of labour is bestowed upon it. A con- 

 siderable portion of Flanders formerly consisted of peat bogs, but these, too, have 

 been transformed into fertile land. The whole of Waes was at one time a bog, but 

 its fields now vie in fertility with those of any other part of Flanders, The fields, 

 enclosed with hedges and shaded by large trees, are for the most part of regular 

 shape. A small but comfortable house rises in the centre of each farm, orna- 

 mented with flowers, and surrounded by stables and barns. There are few villages, 

 and from a distance the country almost looks like a forest, each house being 

 concealed behind a screen of verdure. 



Polders and Dunes. 



The mocrcs, or lakes, which formerly extended at the back of the dunes have 

 been drained in the same manner as the bogs of Waes, and converted into polders. 

 As in Holland, these polders lie beneath the mean level of the sea, are defended 

 by dykes, and intersected by navigable canals. Formerly this region was very 

 insalubrious, and even now the mortality in the towns of Western Flanders is 

 greatly increased by paludal miasmata rising from the bottom-lands. Yet 

 close to these old marshes, and only separated from them by the dunes, rise 

 the favourite health resorts of Belgium, crowded in summer for the sake of their 

 sea baths. 



The maritime dunes, which form the outer rampart of the country, are of 

 such small extent, and in many parts so narrow, that they appear almost insigni- 

 ficant if compared with the inland dunes of the Campine. A careful examina- 

 tion of ancient maps bears out the tradition of their having formerly been very 

 much more formidable. There can be no doubt that this natural defensive 



