HAINAULT, is a very fertile, busy, and prosperous province of Belgium. The chief crops are wheat, rye, oats, barley, beans, rape, flax, hops, and potatoes; tobacco and chicory are also grown. Much of the land near the rivers is laid out in meadow ; in other parts trefoil, lucern, and sainfoin are cultivated. Horned cattle, horses and sheep of excellent breed are numerous; poultry, game, and bees abound. The province is traversed by several good roads and numerous canals, by which communication was much facilitated, even be fore the making of railways ; and, like every other part of Belgium, it is well supplied with this new and rapid means of transit. The commerce of the province is composed of its varied industrial products—glass, porcelain, pottery, salt, spirits distilled from grain, beer, machinery, woollen stuffs, linen, lace, Brussels carpets (the great manufacture of which is in Tourney), &c. The most considerable articles of export are coal, iron, and lime, which are transported by canals and rail roads to France and the neighbouring coun tries. Slates, marble, and building stone are
quarried.
Charleroi is one of the manufacturing towns ; glass, salt, sugar, leather, nails, woollen yarn, &c., are among its products. The town stands in a most extensive coal field, which gives employment to 10,000 men, and yields annually 3,000,000 tons of coal. The number of smelting furnaces, iron foun dries, and nail factories in the surrounding district is very great. At Chimay are numerous breweries, iron works, and coal mines. Les sines is a place of much trade ; the neigh bouring quarries furnish large quantities of paving and building stone. There are salt refineries, distilleries, and chicory-factories ; and there is much trade in coal, wood, and oil. There aro many other large manufac turing towns in the province, several of which are on the list of those who will contribute to the Industrial Exhibition.