"Manchester" of France.

The Seine has been deepened to admit sea-going vessels, and steamers of 2,000 tons burden now unload at Rouen instead of Liverpool" of France, at the mouth of the river. at HAVRE (130), the " Havre is the chief emporium of foreign trade on the French side of the channel, and constitutes the principal outport of Paris.

Among the other places of note within the valley of the Seine and its tributaries are Troyes, the ancient capital of Champagne (on the Upper Seine), and Reims (108), formerly the ecclesiastical metropolis of France, and in the Reims is in the plain between cathedral of which its monarchs were crowned.

the Marne and the A'sne, two of the tributaries of the Seine.

To the northward of the Seine valley are the following:

Amiens (go), the former capital of Picardy, an ancient city on the River Below Amiens, on the same river, is Somme, which enters the Channel. Abbeville. At the mouth of the Somme is St. Valery, the port whence To the north of the William of Normandy finally sailed for the shores of England in 1066. Dieppe, a flourishing seaport, is to the westward of the Somme. Somme is the small town of Crecy, and still farther north, the village of Agincourt-names which recall the triumphs of the English arms in 1346 and 1415. Boulogne and Calais are seaports on the French side of the narrow strait which divides the adjacent shores of France and England. Dunkirk, a rising port and an important fishing station, and a place formerly of great name in history, is to the east of Calais. The traffic between France and England is mainly carried on by the fast steamers which run daily between Dieppe and Newhaven, Boulogne and Folkestone, and Calais and Dover, the latter being the shortest and most frequented route between England and Lille (211), a great cotton and woollen manufacturing cenite, the Continent. and also a strong fortress; Roubaix (142), the "Bradford". of France; Valenciennes, famous for its lace and muslin manufactures; and Arras, formerly celebrated for its manufacture of tapestry, are inland towns, the three former near the Belgian frontier.

The following towns are situated within the basin of the Loire :— Orleans (68), an ancient city in the heart of the country, on the north bark of the Loire; Tours (64), also on the Loire, lower down, distinguished as a sent of the silk manufacture; Nantes (133), a flourishing port on the Loire, 40 miles above its outport, St. Nazaire, at the mouth of the river; Poictiers, on a small tributary of the Vienne (which joins the Loire), noted in history for the victory gained by the Black Prince in 1356; St. Etienne (147), to the east Birmingham" of the Upper Loire, surrounded by collieries and ironworks, the chief seat of the hardware industry of the country, and hence called the " of France.

Within the tract of country lying between the Lower Seine and Loire-bordering partly on the Channel and partly on the Bay of Biscay-are the following places :

Rennes (74), the ancient capital of Brittany, on the River Vilaine, which enters the Bay of Biscay; Caen (on the River Orne, which flows into the Channel), the favourite residence and burial-place of William the Conqueror; Cherbourg, a strongly fortified seaport and naval arsenal and the chief station of the French navy, on the coast of the Channel nearly opposite Portsmouth, the chief station of the British navy; St. Malo, a port on the coast of Brittany,

with regular steam communication with Southampton; and Erest (84), a great naval station, at the western extremity of Brittany, on a fine harbour formed by an inlet of the Atlantic.

The following are within the valley of the Garonne :

Toulouse (150), the former capital of Languedoc, an inland manufacturing city of the Upper Garonne; BORDEAUX (257), the great port of the wine trade, near the mouth of the river, at the head of the estuary called the Gironde. Bordeaux was for nearly three centuries (1154 to 1450) in the possession of the English, and was the birthplace of our King Richard II. The largest vessels load and unload at Pauillac, an outport nearer the sea on the left bank of the Gironde.

In the tract of country lying between the mouths of the Garonne and the Loire are :

La Rochelle, a fortified seaport on the Bay of Biscay, famous in history for its prolonged siege in 1627-28, when it formed the stronghold of the French Protestants; Rochefort, a strongly fortified naval station, near the mouth of the River Charente; Cognac, also on the Charente, higher up the river, the centre of one of the principal brandy-producing districts.

To the south of the Garonne, towards the foot of the Pyrenees, is the valley of the River Adour.

Bayonne, at the mouth of the Adour, is a commercial port; the bayonet received its name from this town, in which this weapon was first made. Pau, an inland town on a tributary of the same river, was the birthplace of Henry IV. of France; it is much resorted to by invalids.

The following towns are within the basin of the Rhone :Dijon (70), the former capital of Burgundy, to the west of the Saône; Besançon (56), an ancient and strongly fortified city (the former capital of Franche-Comté), on the River Doubs, towards the Swiss border: LYONS (459), at the junction of the Saône and the Rhone, the great seat of the sick manufacture and the second city of France in point of population; Avignon, important in ecclesiastical history as the residence of the Popes from 1305 to 1378, situated on the left bank of the Rhone, within its lower course; and Nismes (80), in the plain west of the river, a seat of the silk manufacture,

To the south-west of the Rhone valley, along the shore of the Gulf of Lions, are:

Montpellier (76), a popular winter resort, Cette and Narbonne. Cette, which is on the coast, is an important commercial town, the eastern outlet of the great Canal du Midi (or Canal of Languedoc), which connects the River Garonne with the Mediterranean.

On the coast, to the eastward of the Rhone, are:

MARSEILLES (491), the principal port of France and the centre of French commerce in the Mediterranean, is a place of early historic fame, having been founded in the 6th century before the Christian era; Toulon (101), farther to the east, a great naval station and arsenal; Nice (105), on the Mediterranean coast, near the Italian border, is a popular winter resort, as also are the adjoining pleasure resorts of Cannes, Grasse, Mentone, Monaco, and Monte Carlo.

In the north-east of France, within the valleys of the Moselle and Meuse (Rhine basin), are the following :

Nancy (102), the former capital of Lorraine, on the River Meurthe, an affluent of the Moselle; Verdun, a fortified town on the Meuse. At Sedan, 40 miles north of Verdun, the Emperor Napoleon III. surrendered to the Germans, after a crushing defeat of his army, in 1870.

The chief part of Lorraine and the whole of Alsace were transferred from France to Germany by the conditions of peace exacted after the disastrous war of 1870 71.

The island of CORSICA contains the small towns of Bastia and Ajaccio, the latter celebrated as the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.

COLONIES: The Foreign Possessions of France, including Protectorates and Spheres of Influence, have a total area of over 4 million square miles, and a population of about 56 millions.

The Colonial Empire of France is thus about one third that of Britain in extent, but the desert region between Algeria and the Senegal and the Niger alone has an area of 1 million square miles, while of the total population (one-seventh of that of the British Colonial Empire) not half-a-million, are French.

The entire trade of the French Colonies with France, exports and imports, amounts to about 31%1⁄2 millions a year, while the exports to Great Britain, and imports therefrom, together amount to little more than 3 millions a year,

The principal French Possessions are

IN AFRICA: The Colony of Algeria, and the Protectorate of Tunis, in North Africa; the Senegal and French Guinea, D. homey and Ivory Coast, and the French Congo, in West Africa; a Sphere of Influence extending north of British Nigeria over the Sahara, eastwards as far as the southern boundary of Tripoli and the western borders of Egypt; the settlement of Obok, and the whole Gulf of Tajura, opposite Aden; the Isle of Réunion or Bourbon, and Mayotte, with the rest of the Comoro Islands, off the eastern coast of Africa; and the Protectorate of Madagascar.

The African Fossessions and Dependencies of France have altogether an area of nearly 34 million square miles, with over 30 million inhabitants.

Algeria is not regarded as a colony, but as an integral part of France. The other colonies are also considered to form, politically, a part of France, and both Algeria and the Colonies are represented in the French Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

In ASIA, France still retains Pondicherry, Chandarnagar, and three other towns in India, with a total area of 200 square miles, and a population of 280,000; while in French Indo-China, the five States of ANNAM, CAMBODIA, COCHIN CHINA, TONG-KING, and the territory of KWANG-CHAU, leased from China, have an area of over 250,000 miles, and a population of about 18 millions.

IN AMERICA, France possesses two excellent fishing-stations in the small islands of St. P erre and Miquelon, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, close to the coast of Newfoundland; two fertile West India islands-Martinique and Guad loupe-besides the tropical colony of Cayenne or French Guiana, in

South America. The American territories of France have an area of 48,000 square miles, with a population of less than half-a-million.

IN OCEANIA, the French Colonies include the penal colony of New Caledonia, with the Loya'ty Islands in the west, and the Tahiti or Society Islands, the M:rquesas, the Low Archipelago, and the Austral Islands in the east. The French islands in Oceania have a total area of 9,,000 square miles, and a population of less than 100,000.

BELGIUM.

BELGIUM,' one of the smallest but the most densely peopled country in Europe, is most advantageously situated for trade on the western side of the Continent. It is bounded on the north by Holland; on the east, by Germany; on the south, by France; and on the west, by the North Sea.

EXTENT: Its area is 11,373 square miles, which is about one-fifth the size of England and Wales.

Its greatest extent, from east to west, is about 160 miles, and from north to south about 115 miles. The northern, or Dutch frontier, measures 268 miles; the southern, or French boundary, 360 miles; and the eastern, or German frontier, 100 miles.

COAST: Its sea-coast is only 42 miles in length, and is nowhere broken by capes or inlets. Like that of Holland, it is uniformly flat, but is skirted with natural sand-hills or dunes, which protect the land from being inundated by the sea.

SURFACE: The greater part of Belgium is level; but in its eastern division the ground becomes hilly, and includes the wooded region of the Ardennes.

Belgium is, physically, a continuation of Holland, and the "polders" near the coast are protected by dykes as in Holland. The Ardennes have an average elevation of about 1,000 feet, but a few points near Spa exceed 2,000 feet. The mean elevation of Belgium does not exceed 536 feet.

RIVERS: The Meuse (or Maas) and the Scheldt (or Escaut) are the two chief rivers of Belgium, but both of them pass thence into Holland, and have their lower courses in that country.

These rivers have numerous tributaries, as the Rupel and Lys, which join the Scheldt, and the Ourthe and Sambre, which unite their waters with the Meuse.

Helgium, the country of the Briga, the old settled along the banks of the Volga or baga Inhabitants of the country, who were originally hence their name.

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The winding Meuse" has a total course of 550 miles, only 115 of which are in Belgium. The total length of the Scheldt is about 250 miles, about one-half of which is in France. Both are deep and navigable for large vessels, and are connected by canals with each other, and with the river and canal systems of the adjoining countries.

PRODUCTIONS: Belgium is rich in minerals, containing extensive coalfields and abundant deposits of iron ore, which are very largely worked.1

In the production of coal and pig iron, Belgium, notwithstanding its small area, ranks fifth among the countries of the world, the quantities produced being exceeded only by the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and France.

CLIMATE: The climate resembles in most respects that of England. It is moist in the western, but drier in the eastern, provinces. The mean annual temperature is about 50° F.-summer 63°, winter 37. The annual rainfall amounts to 28 inches.

INHABITANTS: Comparatively to its size, Belgium is more populous than any other country in Europe, and is probably the most populous country in the world. It had, in 1900, 6,815,000 inhabitants-equal to an average of 599 persons to the square mile. The density of population in England and Wales is 558 per square mile.

Race and Language: Rather more than half of the Belgian people are Flemings, the rest are Walloons and French. The language of the upper classes is French; the peasants in the north of Belgium speak Flemish, and those in the south, Walloon and French. About 21⁄2 millions speak French or Walloon only, and 21⁄2 millions, Flemish only; the rest are bi-lingual. The use of the Flemish language, which is akin to Dutch and German, as Walloon is to French, is extending rapidly, and is now used in the courts, &c., equally with French, which was, until recently, the only official language.

Education: Rather backward. The Primary Schools are supported partly by the State and partly by the provinces and communes. There are four universities-Brussels, Ghent, Liège, and Louvain-and numerous schools of engineering, manufactures, mining, &c., and Academies of Art and Music, &c. Religion: Nearly all the Belgians belong to the Roman Catholic Church. There are only about 15,coo Protestants, while the Jews number about 3,000. INDUSTRIES: The Belgians are highly distinguished for their industry. Nearly three-fifths of the country are under cultivation, and the metal and textile manufactures rank next in importance to those of England, Germany, and France.

AGRICULTURE.-Although the soil consists mainly of clay and sand, nearly every part of the country is cultivated with the greatest care and diligence. Corn, flax, hemp, madder, tobacco, beetroot, and clover are grown. "Of the total area, 58 per cent. is under cultivation, 13 per cent. consists of meadows and pastures, and 17 per cent. of forest." As in France, the land is much subdivided; out of a population of about 7 millions, over 1 million are proprietors

1. The two principal coalfields are those of annually produce about 23 milion tons, one-fifth Hainault and Liège. The coalfields of Belgium of which is exported,