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206 Route 14. ZEELAND. From Antwerp
mainly for goods traffic, are provided with excellent restaurants (D. 1}/, fl.).
Tickets are purchased on board. Agents at Antwerp, Ruys & Co., Quai
Van Dyck 9; at Rotterdam, H. Braakman & Co., Boompjes (Pl. F, 3). —
The Dutch custom-house is at Hansweert, the Belgian at Lillo. The voyage
is interesting, though a delay of several hours often takes place at the
locks. In stormy weather the voyage is rough at places.
Immediately after the departure of the steamboat the passenger ob-
tains a final view of Antwerp, extending in a wide curvealong the bank
of the Scheldt. To the W. of the docks lies the village of Austruweel
or Oosterweel. Fort St. Philippe rises on the right, and Fort Ste.
Marie and Fort La Perle on the left. In this vicinity Duke Alex-
ander Farnese (p. xxv) constructed his celebrated bridge across the
Scheldt, in 1585, to cut off communication between the besieged
citizens of Antwerp and their confederates in Zeeland. After many
fruitless attempts the fireship of the Italian engineer Giambelli at
length set the bridge on fire, and blew up a portion of it. Neither
the besieged, however, nor their auxiliary fleet anchored below Fort
Lillo, were in a position to derive any advantage from this signal
success. — On the left lies Fort Liefkenshoek, on the right Fort Lillo.
Then, on the left bank, Doel, just short of the Dutch frontier.
The wide channel of the lower Scheldt, known as the Hont or
Wester-Schelde, belongs to the Dutch province of Zeeland, which
embraces the narrow coast-strip of Zeeuwsch Vlaanderen, or Flemish
Zeeland, and seyen islands, and is well characterized by its heraldic
emblem of a swimming lion, with the motto: Luctor et Emergo. The
greater part of the province is protected against the encroachment of
the sea by vast embankments (pp. xxxvii, xxxviii). The great inun-
dations of the years 1424 (see p. 452) and 1532 submerged a con-
siderable part of the province (the ‘Verdronken Lana’, or ‘drowned
land’). To the right is the Dutch Fort Bath, where the Engli
landed in 1809, at the E. end of the island of Zuid-Beveland. From
Walsoorden, the landing-place for Ossenisse, the boat steers to the
N. through the Zuidersluis, and at Hansweert (station) it enters the
Zuid-Beveland Canal, which intersects the island. At the N. end of
the canal, which is about 5 M. in length and is crossed by the rail-
way to Flushing, lies Wemeldingen, the landing-place for Goes. At
Yerseke (p. 299), 3 M. to the B., oyster-breeding is carried on with
success.
The steamer (to Zype / hr.) now traverses the proad expanse of
the Ooster-Schelde in a N. direction, and enters the narrow Canal
de Keeten, between the islands of Tholen and Duiveland. The old
church of Stavenisse, at the entrance of the canal, contains the marble
monument of Jerome van Tuyll (1669; by Verhulst). Between the
islands of Duiveland and St. Philipsland (z.) is (1.) the station of Zype,
also a station on the steam-tramway from Rosendaal via Steenbergen
(p. 300), Zype, and Zierikzee to Brouwershaven (see p. 300).
We now enter the ramifications of the Meuse, the first of which is
the Krammer, and the next the Volkerak. These separate N. Brabant |
