Geologib—The geological formations of B. are closely associated with those of France and Britain. The greater portion of the country is covered with tertiary deposits. A line drawn across the course of the Scheldt, by Mechlin, along the Demer and Maas. will have on its northern and north-western aspect a tract of tertiary deposits, bounded northwards by the sea. In these tertiary strata the different geological periods are fully represented; but only the second, containing the plciocene deposits, is rich in fossils. The secondary deposits occupy an extensive tract in the center of B., between the Scheldt and the Demer. The most important district, economically, is the south-western, consisting of palerowic rocks—Silurian, Devonian, and carboniferous. These beds have a very complicated structure, from the numerous and extensive flexures and folds they have undergone, and these are often accompanied with great upward shifts, by which beds of many different ages are brought to the same level.
Minerva Products.—B. is rich in minerals, which, next to its abundant agriculture, constitute the chief source of its national prosperity. The four provinces in which they are found are liainault, Namur, Liege. • and Luxemburg. They include lead, copper, zinc. peat, marble, limestone, slate, iron, and coal. Lead is wrought. but only to a small extent, in Liege; copper in Ilainnult and Liege; manganese in Liege and Namur; black marble at Dinant; slates at Ilerbeniont; and calamine principally at Liege. But these products are insignificant compared to the superabundance of coal— from anthracite to the richest gas coal—and iron, in which B. ranks next to England. In 1873, B. had 285 coal-mines, employing 107,902 persons, and producing 15,778,401 tons, the total value of which was £13,505,495. In the same year the metallic mines produced about 1,000,000 tons of iron ore, 73,000 of pyrites, 60,000 of calamine, of Wade, 23,000 of lead, and 450 of manganese. These mines gave employment to 13,122 workmen. In the same year there were 437 iron-works, producing manufactured iron to the value of £10,000,000.
The modern industrial character of the Belgians may be traced back to a very early period, even to the time of the Romans,,who noticed the love of traffic prevailing in the Celtic districts of Gallia Belgica. This characteristic has remained steadfast to the pres ent time. It is impossible not to recognize in the cloth-weaving Atrcbake the ancestors of the industrious race who gradually extended themselves towards the e. and n. of Belgium. During the early commerce of Europe, when trade was secure only within walled towns, Flanders was the principal seat of productive industry; and its recent separation from Holland has also been indirectly favorable to the development of its internal resources. A state which, like B., begins its career under a burden of debt, which is shut in between nations who possess important ports and colonies, and which is peopled by races not yet sufficiently blended to constitute a perfect nationality, must, before all other things, develop its internal, material resources. This has been well understood in Belgium. Since the commencement of its independent career, it has devoted its attention almost exclusively to those branches of industry and commerce by which its future greatness must be supported.
Manufactures.—The chief manufactures are linen, woolen, cotton, silk, lace, leather, and metals. The great seats of the linen manufacture—recently revived after a long depression—are Courtray and Bruges, in West Flanders; Ghent, in East Flanders; Brussels, in Brabant; 3lechlin, or Mantles, in Antwerp; and Tourney, in Hainault. The number of linen pieces annually produced is about The lawn and damask fabrics of Bruges are celebrated, as well as the lace made in and near Brussels, Malines, Louvain, and Bruges, which sometimes commands a price of .-C40 per yard. But the Belgian hand-spun yarn, though superior in quality, cannot maintain its ground against machinery. Verviers, Liege, Hamill, Ypres, Doperinghe, Limburg, Bruges, Mons, Thuin, and Hodiniout are centers of the woolen manufacture. Ypres alone employs 50,000 workmen in this branch of industry. Brussels and Tourney have large carpet manufactures, and Hainault supplies a considerable amount of hosiery. The principal manufactures of cotton are at Ghent and Lokeren, in East Flanders; Bruges and Cour tray, in West Flanders; Mantles, Louvain, and Anderlecht, in Brabant; Tourney and Mons, in Hainault; and also at Antwerp. The separation of B. from Holland had at first a prejudicial effect on this as on other trades; but the opening of the navigation of the Scheldt, the intersection of the country by railways and canals, and, in consequence, the rapid and extensive communication with other countries, have revived the activity of the cotton trade, which now gives employment to between one and two hundred thousand workmen. 3laestricht, which belongs to Holland, is one of the chief seats of manufactures of leather; hut this trade is also carried on at Limbourg, Liege, Stadelot, Namur, Dinant, and especially at Bruges and Ghent. The manufacture of gloves has made great progress in recent years. .11Ietallurgy also has rapidly increased in pro ductiveness since 1810, when Cockerill introduced into B. the English method of smelt ing iron with coke. The principal seats of the metal manufacture are Liege, Namur, Charleroi, Mons, and their neighborhoods. There are large ordnance foundries at Liege and Malines, and celebrated makers of fire-arms and machinery in Liege; nail-making at Charleroi; tin-ware, etc., at Liege and in Ilainault; wire and brass factories at Namur; zinc manufactures at Liege; lead and shot factories at Ghent; the gold and silver goods of Brussels and Ghent may also be noticed as important branches of Belgian industry. Flax is one of the most extensive and valuable products of B., no fewer than 400,090 persons being employed in its culture and preparation. Besides these, we may mention the straw-bonnet manufacture in the neighborhood of Liege; the paper fabrics of the provinces Liege, Namur, and Brabant; the glass-works of Ilainault, Namur, Val-St Lambert, and Brabant; the porcelain. etc., of Tourney, Brussels, Mons, and Ghent; and sugar-refineries at Antwerp, Bruges, Ostend, Ghent, etc. Steam-engines have been quite familiar objects in the several manufactories of B. for many years.