New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-11-10
THE, TRIB UN 4.
e. No. VIII.

r,o,, Ireland to BELGIUM is WIDE leap, bal
,,;.b ~ set before yon only the most salient
of interest induces me to pass over Tor the
n,..ent the magnificent buildings and whole
s,.,l.a inhabitants of Dublin, as well az the
beautiful environs and Cove OF Cork, and TO
carry you through Bristol, Bath and London to
Ostend.
Imagine Yourself arriving at midnight, IN a
dirty British steamer, (which would be hooted
out of any Of our waters at the desolate-looking'
but strongly fortified port of OsTEsD. You OF
couse hasten to walk ashore but are stopped on
the gangway plank-not as on the Hudson, by
the clerk for your ticket-but by tierce-lookmg
mustachioed soldier, with gruff demand Tor
YOUR "passport" Such requisltion may seem
as absurd to you on entering a country where you
intend to dispense part Of the contents OF your
purse, as if the keeper of the Astor House should
try to hinder customers from entering his hotel
But if you are not provided with this first essen
tial in continental travelling, you may content
yourself with returning to England Surprising
you to have had more foresight, you deliver your
passport to the officer, and receive from him
printed receipt.
Passing on, you are next surrounded by
mob of hotel agents, porters, and their help
ers, male and female, who deafen you with their
shouts and vociferatons and eulogies on their
rival hotels One cries out, {" Me speaks Anglish,
Monsieur" and then, proving his knowledge OF
the language by pushing off another with the
exclamation, "Get out-Got-tam, he tines to
Al l. l,)l e tho
other side of YOU, and between the two, each no.
tel seems likely to get at least fragment OF you
or your coat You call out the name OF the no.
tel where you intend to go, and its agent relieves
you from the clutches of your other assailants,
for there seems here to be so much honor among
thieves" 1t is very necessary to decide in ad-
vance on this point, but those inns bearing the
name of America" f" England or &C London"
should be scrupulously avoided, if you wish to
learn the language, the habits, and the pecuhar-
ties of the people among whom you travel, and
do not 90 abroad to mix with only your own
countrymen.
Your next step is to order your luggage to be
brought ashore, but before that is done, your
mustachoed friend will express his curiosity to
see what you have in your trunks You make
virtue of necessity, and cheerfuly open them
for him, and he will then do you the favor to ex
anime if they are well packed, lifting up various
articles, and thrusting his hand under the rest
and expressing a particular interest in any new
articles of dress. AT length he is satisfied, and
it is the most philosophical course for you to do
so too0 and he chalks a hieroglyphic on your
luggage which allows you to send it to your no.
tel, and to follow it yourself, glad to escape the
Babels of language and dialect, which is shl
raging in the crowds on the pier.
b Ostend is very uninterestng, except for the re.
@ miniscences of its famous siege of three years
q and aquarter and you may soon enter the railroad
cars for Bruges The rate of travelling is very
slow, and the regulations show at once that they
were never framed by "goahead" Americans.
You are required to arrive at the station half an
hour, and to be in your seat fifteen minutes before
starting You must not open the windows on
the windward side, and must sit still FIVE minutes
after stopping. The door is locked upon you,
and duplicate key deposited in pocket in the
car, with seal 'to be broken only in case of
imminent danger" These rules would never do
in America, but we might adopt with advantage
their custom of pasting numbered ticket on
trunks, &c. and giving the owner correspond
ing one. He can then reclaim ii at any time af-
ter his arrival, without fear of Its being appro-
priated by fellow traveller. If it be lost, it is
paid for by the Company, though at the low rate
of only six francs per kilogramm equivalent to
fifty cents per pound9 but ii may be insured at
No or
ton is displayed even here, for at starting, in
stead of the usual All right" of England, the
conductor plays a short tune on a horn. The
guard answers with mother air on a similar IN
strunent then the engine whistles shrl note,
and at last you start, after wasting more time IN
waiting than is sometimes occupied on the road
between the two stations.
The country between Ostend and Bruges
ia, like nearly all Belgium, a perfect para
disc for farmers. 1t is level as floor,
and is most laboriously cultivated till every
inch of ground is compelled TO produce its
utmost 1t Is one vast garden, and the tulips of
the Dutch ianciers do not receive more unceas-
ing attention and nursing than the turnips and
cabbages of the Belgian farmers The fields are
covered with men and women, digging and weed
ing, and well they may, for in one district (St.
Nicholas) there are $40 inhabitants to every
square league. The superficial farmers of Amer
lea, who imperfectly turn up the soil of thou
sand acres, might take profitable lesson from
the care and skill which here enable every acre
to support more than it's man.
The sixteen miles to Bruges is soon passed