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238 The line of fine buildings on the shore makes an imposing appearance, as the steamer approaches Ostend. To the extreme south is the royal palace, where the king of the Belgians stops when he comes to this favorite seaside place. Further north is the magnificent casino (Kursaal) just where the land juts out into the sea, and further north is the mouth of the harbour with a lighthouse. The Digue, a stone Dyke or bulwark 33 yards broad and 33 feet high runs along the entire length of the coast and forms a favorite and busy promenade where visitors from all parts of Europe crowd in the season.

Leaving Ostend I came to the ancient town of Bruges which as noted before was once a prominent trade centre of Europe, and was long the seat of the independent Counts of Flanders. "In the 14th century the commerce of the world may be said to have been concentrated in it; factories or privileged companies of merchants from 17 kingdoms were settled here as agents; 20 foreign ministers had hotels within its walls, and natives of many distant countries of which little was then known but their names repaired hither annually." When the queen of France visited it in 1301 A.D. she was struck with the rich and stately dresses of the ladies of Bruges, and is said to have exclaimed, "I thought myself the only queen here, but I see a thousand about me!" The town continued thriving under the Counts of Flanders and then under the Dukes of Burgundy and in the latter