Beveren, a beautiful village, half way between St. Nicholas and Antwerp, is the residence almost exclusively of rich families and retired citizens, most of whom are the proprietors of the lands of the district. Amongst them, one house was pointed out as that of M. Borlut, a lineal descendant of one of the leaders of Ghent, who distinguished himself at the battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302. St. Nicholas, where we arrived for breakfast, is a long straggling town, with an immense market place, in which Napoleon once reviewed a division of his army. The prosperity of this little place is very remarkable and arises altogether from the flourishing condition of the flax trade. In 1788, the population was but eight thousand, and it is now upwards of eighteen. The country around is one of the most populous in the world, the inhabitants amounting, according to the statistical account of M. Van den Bogaerde, to no less than 5210 individuals to a square league, of whom sixty in every hundred are agriculturists, twenty-five tradesmen, and fourteen live by other means. It was market day and the town crowded by the peasantry, who were bringing in the flax to the “deliveries” of the several merchants, who attended from Ghent and Antwerp. M. Cools, who is member of the Chamber of Representatives for the district, did us the favour to accompany us over the town. The market place was filled with stalls and booths of dress, hardware and furniture, great piles of wooden shoes, were spread over the pavement, and amongst the agricultural produce, was a profusion of buck wheat (sarassin) which is made into a sort of soft, sodden cake, by no means unpalatable.