Peeps at Many Lands: Belgium | Page 4

else. If you want to see a real Kermesse you must go to
some village in Flanders, and there you will find it very amusing.

CHAPTER III
TRAVELLING IN BELGIUM
Travelling in Belgium is cheap and easy. The best way to see the
out-of-the-way parts of the country would be to journey about in a
barge on the canals. There are a great many canals. You could go all
the way from France to the other side of Belgium in a barge, threading
your way through fields, and meadow-lands, and villages, and stopping
every now and then at some of the big towns. If you read that charming
book "Vanity Fair," you will see that Mr. Thackeray, who wrote it, says
that once an Englishman, who went to Belgium for a week, found the
eating and drinking on these boats so good that he went backwards and
forwards on the canal between Bruges and Ghent perpetually till the
railways were invented, when he drowned himself on the last trip of the
boat!
But if that ever happened it was long ago. Nowadays, when travellers
are in such a hurry, the canals are only used for carrying coals, timber,
and other goods. They are largely used for that purpose. The Belgians
are very wise about their canals; they keep them in good order, and
send as many things as possible by water. It is not so quick, but it is
much less expensive, and a great deal safer, than sending them by
railway.
It is interesting to stand on the bank of a canal and watch a row of
barges moving slowly past. Sometimes a little steam-tug puffs along,
pulling three or four barges after it. Some are pulled by horses, and
often men or women labour along the towing-path dragging these
heavily laden vessels by a rope fastened to a short mast set up in the
bows.
This is hard work, but the barge-folk seem to think nothing of it. Whole
families are born, live, and die on their barges. You often see the wife
or daughter of the bargeman steering, while the children are playing on
the top of the hatches, and the husband is doing some work among the
cargo, or just sitting smoking his pipe. These floating homes are long

and broad, painted in bright colours, with a deck-cabin, the windows of
which are often hung with pretty curtains. The children run about, and
seem never to tumble overboard. If they did they would be easily
pulled out, for the barges are very low in the water.
As the country is so flat, bicycling is easy, and alongside most of the
roads there is a path made for this purpose, which is kept up by a tax
everyone who has a bicycle must pay. Always remember that if you
meet another person you keep to the right, and not, as in England, to
the left. The same rule applies to driving in a carriage or riding a horse.
The Belgians have an excellent system of light district railways, which
run in all directions, some worked by steam and some by electricity.
These are very useful, for the trains stop at every village, however
small, and the country people can easily go to market or to visit each
other. Outside each carriage there is a platform, on which you can stand
and see the country. The fares are low, and you can go a long way for a
few pence. The carriages are open from end to end, and if you travel in
one of them you will generally see a crowd of peasants in blue blouses,
old women in long black cloaks and white caps, priests, and soldiers
(who only pay half-price), the men all smoking, and the women talking
about what they have bought, or what they are going to buy. They are
always talking about that, and, indeed, seem never to speak about
anything else. A few hours' journey in one of these district railways,
which are called the Chemins-de-fer-Vicinaux, is a far better way of
getting a peep at the Belgian people than rushing along in an express
train from one big town to another.
The first railway on the Continent of Europe was in Belgium. It was
opened seventy-four years ago--in May, 1835--and ran from Brussels,
the capital of Belgium, to Malines, a town which you will see on the
map. There are now, of course, a great many railways, which belong to
the State and not, as in England, to private companies.
Season tickets are much used on Belgian railways. For instance, anyone
wishing to travel for five days on end has only to pay £1 4s. 7d. for a
first-class ticket, 16s. 5d. for a second-class, or 9s. 5d. for a third-class.
For