428 BELGIUM. 



The fisheries, too, yield less from year to year. In 1876 they employed 139 sloops, 

 for the most part the property of the shipwrights, sail-makers, chandlers, and 

 others engaged in their construction and equipment. There are oyster and 

 lobster parks ; the breeding of rabbits is carried on upon a large scale ; but a far 

 better source of income are the 15,000 or 20,000 strangers who annually visit 

 Ostend for the sake of its sea baths. Blanhenherghe (2,150 inhabitants) and Ileyst 

 (5,740 inhabitants) to some extent compete with Ostend in the entertainment of 

 these welcome guests. 



Ypres, or Yperen (15,515 inhabitants), is the principal town in the small basin 

 of the Yser. In the fourteenth century Ypres is said to have numbered 200,000 

 inhabitants, and although this may be an exaggeration, an ancient cloth hall, the 

 most extensive building of that kind in Belgium, eloquently proclaims its bygone 

 glories. Ypres, like most decayed towns of Flanders, carries on the manu- 

 facture of lace. Jansen, the founder of the Jansenists, lies buried in the Gothic 

 cathedral. 



Poperiughc (1 1,300 inhabitants), near the French frontier, is a lively town 

 surrounded by hop gardens. Oostcamp (5,500 inhabitants), Thourout (8,700 

 inhabitants), Wmghoie (8,100 inhabitants), Langemavk (6,700 inhabitants), Staden 

 (5,150 inhabitants), Sicevezeeie (5,000 inhabitants), and Lichfervelde (6,500 inhabit- 

 ants) are the centres of agricultural districts ; but, upon the whole, this corner of 

 Belgium may be described as " a region of dead cities and swamp fevers." The 

 castle of Wyucndaelc, where Crestien of Troyes wrote most of his poems, has fallen 

 from its high estate, and is used as a manufactory. Dixmude, or Dixmugdcn 

 (3,900 inhabitants), probably an old seaport, but now far inland, on the Yser, 

 is a pretty little place, with a fine Gothic church. Fumes, or Veurne (4,440 

 inhabitants), is hardly more than a large village. . The country around is noted for 

 its fertility, and the fat meadow lands of Veurne- Ambacht support large herds 

 of cattle and horses. Nieuport (2,900 inhabitants), now that its fortifications have 

 been razed, might be expected to grow into importance as a maritime town, for it 

 lies near the mouth of a navigable river, and canals and railways converge upon it. 

 For the present, however, there are no signs of a revival. What Nieuport wants 

 is a canal placing it in direct communication with the coal-field of Hainaut. 

 Such a canal was proposed by Yauban, but has not yet been constructed. It 

 would immensely facilitate communication in South-western Belgium, for barges 

 proceeding from Mens to Ypres are obliged now to travel by way of Ghent, and 

 a voyage which might be accomplished in a fortnight usually takes between two 

 and five months. 



