GENEEAL FEATURES, ETC. 



387 



Flanders to Walclieren, and opened itself a passage to the Schelde. Until that 

 time the river took its course through the Eastern Schelde, past Bergen-op-Zoom 

 and Tholen, and joined the Lower Meuse. In 1867 that old channel had become 



Fig. 218.— The Inundation of the Polders during the Siege of Antwerp in 1585. 

 According to Stessels. Scale 1 : 260,000. 



E.ofParis 



rso 



E.of G. 



4.° IQ- 



4*?0- 



5 Miles. 



silted up to such an extent that it was possible to throw a railway bridge across it, 

 and at present it is definitely choked up with sand. 



As long as the sea was permitted freely to invade the estuary of the Schelde, 

 that river, below Antwerp, resembled a gulf, abounding in sand-banks, or scJiorren, 

 which uncovered with each receding tide. Even above Antwerp the Schelde was 

 sufficiently wide to admit hostile fleets, and in 1302 the mariners of Malines, then 



