From the flax grounds which lie close by Courtrai, on the right bank of the Lys, we crossed the river to the bleach-green on the opposite side of the river, and if we might judge from the extent of the buildings, which were not larger than a good barn, the process must be a very simple one in Flanders, or the employment very limited at Courtrai. The most important establishments of this kind, however, are at Antwerp, Brussels and Tournai. The cloth on the grass was principally diaper made on the spot and at Ypres (whence it derives its name, _d’Ypres_,) but it was coarse, and the designs ordinary and inartificial. The manufacture of the article in which Belgium formerly excelled so much as to supply the imperial household during the reign of Napoleon, was ruined by his fall and the breaking up of the continental system. At one time not less than 3000 workmen were employed in this branch alone, but the separation of Belgium from France in 1815, and the simultaneous imposition of an almost prohibitory duty on her damask has reduced the trade to a mere cypher, not above three hundred workmen being now employed at Courtrai, the great seat of the manufacture. Close by the bleach-green, we entered a windmill for grinding bark, and at a short distance from it, another of the same primitive edifices was at full work, crushing rape oil. I never saw such a miniature manufactory--in one little apartment, about ten feet square, the entire process was carried on to the extent of a ton of seed, yielding about thirty-six gallons of oil per day. In one corner, the seed was being ground between a pair of mill-stones; in another, pounded in mortars by heavy beams shod with iron, which were raised and fell by the motion of the wind; the material was then roasted in an iron pan over a charcoal fire, till the oil became disengaged by the heat, and was then crushed by being inclosed in canvas bags enveloped in leather cases, and placed in grooves, into which huge wooden wedges were driven by the force of the machinery; the last drop of oil was thus forced out by a repetition of the process, and the residue of the seed which came forth in cakes as flat and as hard as a stone, were laid on one side to be sold for manure and other purposes.