SCHELDT, Tit (pron. Skeit; Lat. Scaldiq, Fr. l'Escaut) rises in the French dep. of Aisne, flows northerly to Cambrai, 'Valenciennes, Bonchain, and Conde, when, entering Belgium, it passes i)oornik, Oudenarde, Ghent, Dendermonde, Rupehnontle, and Ant werp, having received, among other tributaries, the Lys, Dender, and Repel. Navigable from its entrance into Belgium, the Scheldt at Antwerp becomes a noble river, of suf ficient depth for large ships. From Antwerp the course is n.w., to fort Bath, in the Netherlands, where, coming in contact with the island of South Beveland, it divides into two arms. The left or southern, called the }Tonto or Western Scheldt, takes a westerly direction, s. of the islands of Zealand, and meets the North sea at Flushing; the northern or right arm, called the Kreekerak, flows between Zealand and North Bra bant, near Bergen-op zoom, dividing again into two branches, the left, called the Easter Sellehlt, passing between the islands of Tholen and Schonwen on the right, and the Bevelands on 'the left, reaches the sea through the Roompot (Romanorom portus); the other branch, flowing between North Brabant and Zealand, dischanses itself by several passages. These several mouths of the Scheldt, forming various isitinds are called the
Zealand streams.
The Dutch had long monopolized the navigation of the lower Scheldt; and by the treaty signed in London (April 19, 1839). the Netherlands secured the right of levying 2s. 6d. per ton on all vessels. By a treaty signed at Brussels, July 16, 1868, this toll has been Lought up, nominally by Belgium, but in reality from a sum of k;c50,000 paid to that country by the powers whose ships navigate the Scheldt, the proportion falling to Great Britain being lolly E350,0U0.