174
Antwerp, Belgium.
1897.
July 11.
  We reached Flushing at 6 A.M. and Antwerp at 11. The run
up the Sheldt was most interesting. The scenery is just what
I had pictured it - the first time I have ever had this ex-
perience with a country new to me. The land was perfectly
level as far as the eye could reach and bordered along the
river - as well as intersected everywhere - with dykes. Pop-
lars and willows extended in rows as far as the eye could
reach. Water birds swarmed along the muddy and sandy flats a-
long the edges of the river. The most numerous were Black-
headed Gulls and Terns of two sizes (the smaller S. hirundo I
think). I saw three Shags, two large Curlew and a solitary
Crow or Rook.
  E.R.S. awaiting me at wharf at Antwerp. C. ill and at
Rheims with Mrs. S.
  To Hotel du Courrier, Rempart du Lombard, a pretty lit-
tle inn with inner court open above and filled with shrubbery
(chiefly lilacs) and flowers. After lunch visited Cathedral
and "Zoo". The latter on a smaller scale than the London
"Zoo" but to my mind more attractive and effective, certainly
much more beautiful. The collection of birds and animals is
less extensive than at London but the enclosures are larger
and better planned. The Giraffes and Hippopotami especially
fine. A curious feature was the crowing together of immense
numbers of birds of the same species. In one large aviary we