Thus the boundaries of early Bruges can easily be traced; but nothing remains of the ancient buildings, though we read of a warehouse, booths, and a prison besides the dwelling-houses of the townsfolk. The elements, at least, of civic life were there; and tradition says that in or near the village, for it was nothing more, some altars of the Christian faith were set up during the seventh and eighth centuries. Trade, too, soon began to flourish, and grew rapidly as the population of the place increased. The Roya, flowing eastwards, fell into the Zwijn, an arm of the sea, which then ran up close to the town, and on which stood Damme, now a small inland village, but once a busy port crowded with shipping. The commercial life of Bruges depended on the Zwijn; and that much business was done before the close of the ninth century is shown by the fact that Bruges had then a coinage of its own.[2] It was from such small beginnings that this famous 'Venice of the North' arose. [Illustration: BRUGES Porte d'Ostende.] FOOTNOTES. [Footnote 1: Gilliat-Smith, _The Story of Bruges_, p. 169 (Dent and Co., London, 1901). Mr. Gilliat-Smith's book is a picturesque account of Bruges in the Middle Ages. Of the English works relating to Bruges, there is nothing better than Mr. Wilfrid Robinson's _Bruges, an Historical Sketch_, a short and clear history, coming down to modern times (Louis de Plancke, Bruges, 1899).] [Footnote 2: Gilliodts van Severen, _Bruges Ancienne et Moderne_, pp. 7, 8, 9.] CHAPTER II BALDWIN BRAS-DE-FER--THE PLACE DU BOURG--MURDER OF CHARLES THE GOOD