438 



BELGIUM. 



amongst the imports there figure large quantities of corn, Belgium no longer 

 being able to supph^ the whole of its population with food. 



About two-thirds of the commerce are carried on across the land frontiers, 

 one-third by sea, and nearly all through Antwerp, one of the most important 

 ports of Central Europe. Belgian vessels, however, participate only to a small 

 extent in this maritime carrying trade,* England having secured more than 

 two-thirds of it. The Flemings were formerly the instructors of the Dutch in 



Fig. 243. — Canals and Navigakle Kiveiis of Belgium. 

 Scale 1 : 2,200,000. 



Navlijahli rivers <5- canaU 

 25 Miles. 



seamanship, but have hardly any ships of their own now. This is undoubtedly 

 due to fiscal mismanagement, for Belgium possesses all the materials requisite for 

 the construction of ships. The Belgian marine has only slightly increased in the 

 course of the last twenty years. Nor is the fleet of fishing-smacks very consider- 

 able, for the herring fisheries have been abandoned since 1863 as unprofitable, 



* In 1877 6,17'3 vessels, of 2,673,615 tons, entered, 16-6 per cent, of the tonnage being under the 

 Belgian flag. 



