THE CAM PINES 



31 



"Braekels,"' it will be remembered, 

 are the low-land relatives of the 

 Campines. 



These low meadows in the remem- 

 brance of the older men were very 

 much flooded in wet seasons, but 

 now skirting nearly every field next 

 to the row of trees bordering, runs 

 a narrow ditch three to five feet in 

 width, mirroring the blue of the sky 

 or the green of the borderins hedge, 

 the low branching trees or the ricli 

 grasses that hang trailing into their 

 brink. 



Soon after we left Sottegem our 

 friend remarked, "Now wo will be, 

 all day, five hundred years behind — 

 yes, all that you will see" and all but 

 the fresh young pullets and crow- 

 ing cockerels seemed to bear out his 

 words. This was in the ^'alley of 

 the Schelde. 



At Audenarde we made our way to 

 what proved one of the most inter- 

 esting little poultry and egg mar- 

 kets we have visited. Punctuality and 

 consideration for others were ap- 

 parent even to a stranger. 



At the far end of the open rectan- 

 gle of marketers can be observed the 

 dignified Gendarme who enforces 

 order when necessary. While we 

 looked on, order was perfect. 



The photograph shows the poultry 

 market at about eight-thirty o'clock. 

 At precisely a quarter before nine, 

 when the clock chimes the quarter 

 hour, the buyers have their first look 

 into the baskets. The marketers up 

 to that instant are not allowed to 

 open their baskets or to do any sell- 

 ing. From that moment the buyers 

 pass rapidly from one basket to an- 

 other examining its contents — pur- 

 chasing the eggs. Twelve to fifteen 

 thousand eggs were offered in the 

 market that morning. The splendid 

 sized, white eggs easily come up to 

 the required 62 grammes each. There 

 were also brown eggs in the market 

 from the Malines and Huttegem. 



The buyers arranged with the mar- 

 keters to carry their eggs in the 

 marketer's baskets over to the 

 "Pomme de Orr" Inn opposite the 

 left side of the large church that 

 faces the square. In a large public 

 room of this hotel the eggs were 

 changed to the big hampers of the 

 buyers that hold 1500 eggs each — the 

 eggs arranged in layers with straw 

 between and at sides. 



The 62 gramme eggs brought IS 

 centimes (3 cents) each by the 1,000. 

 These eggs are purchased to be sold 

 to merchants over in France, who 

 pay 20 centimes (four cents) each 



The top picture shows the poultry market at Audenarde, Belgium. At a 

 certain hour, the poultry buyers enter the open space, the peasants open their 

 hampers and the poultry sale begins. The center picture shows a cargo of 

 eggs in hampers ready to be carried acoss the frontier to the French mar- 

 kets. The bottom picture is typically Belgian, The peasants drive to market 

 with dogs and ponies. 



