y poplars and willows, drain the land and render the
movement off the roads of any troops but infantry quite impracticable.

On the northern boundary of the valley of the Haine, a belt of sand
gives rise to a tract of rough uncultivated land which is in many
places covered with woods. On its southern boundary the ground rises
steeply on the east, and more gently on the west, to the
Franco-Belgian frontier, over a rocky subsoil in which the affluents
of the river have cut deep valleys.

The Mons-Conde Canal has a length of 16-1/4 miles, 12-1/4 of which are
in Belgian territory. It has a surface width of 64 feet and its
maximum depth is 7 feet. The canal is crossed by 18 bridges, all of
which, with the exception of the railway bridge east of St. Ghislain
and the railway bridge at Les Herbieres, are swing bridges. A metalled
towing-path runs along each bank.

The principal passages across the valley of the Haine are at Mons from
Brussels, at St. Ghislain from Ath, and near Pommeroeul from
Tournai.

The Scheldt, rising near Le Catelet at an altitude of 360 feet above
the sea, soon approaches the St. Quentin Canal and runs alongside it
as far as Cambrai, where the river and canal flow in one channel and
form a navigable connection between the Scheldt and the Somme. Below
Cambrai, the now canalised river flows on to Valenciennes,
receiving on the way on its left bank the Sensee river and canal, and
on its right bank the Ereclin, Selle, Ecaillon, and Rhonelle streams,
which flow down in parallel courses from the watershed close to the
left bank of the Sambre. From Valenciennes the Scheldt runs to Conde,
where, as stated above, it is joined by the Mons-Conde Canal and the
River Haine. Immediately afterwards it enters Belgian territory, where
it becomes the great river of the Flemish part of the country, just as
the Meuse may be said to be the great river of the Walloon portion.

There are 14 locks between Cambrai and Conde, each providing a means
of passage over the river. The general breadth of the canalised river
is 55 feet and its maximum depth 7 feet. The towing-path follows
sometimes one bank and sometimes another. The principal points of
crossing of the Scheldt between Cambrai and Conde are at Cambrai,
Bouchain, Lourches, Denain, Bouvignies, Thiant, Trith, St. Legers,
Valenciennes, and Conde.

While the Scheldt as it grows older flows through country which is for
the most part little above sea level, in its upper r