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BELFAST — BELFORT Belfort.—The territory of Belfort is, by the Francothe port has increased by 72 per cent which seems to German Treaty of 1871, all that is left to France of its Drove that Belfast is fast becoming, like Liverpool, a great former Department of Haut-Bhin, created m 1790 out of distributing port. The following table shows the number territories belonging to Alsace, then one of the provinces of vessels cleared from and registered at the port in various of France. A mere fragment of its former self, the years :— territory has been decreed resumption of the title ‘ DeparteRegistered. ment du Haut-Bhin.” It comprises 4 cantons and parts Cleared. Year. Vessels. of 2 others out of the 30 cantons composing m 1870 the Vessels. I Tonnage. Tonnage. Department of Haut-Bhin, and contains 106 communes. 76,386 399 1.616.908 7965 1880 It is bounded on the N.E. and E. by German Alsace, on 125,632 293 1,840,666 8050 1890 the S.E. and S. by Switzerland, on the S.W. by the Depart146,710 250 2,207,965 8737 1896 137,386 ment of Doubs, on the W. by that of Haute-Saone, on the 235 2,298,868 8763 1897 128,283 229 2.369.908 9049 N. by that of Vosges. Its greatest length from K to S. 1898 139,074 219 2,358,705 8454 1899 is 28 miles, greatest breadth from W. to E., 13-| miles. 147,575 210 2,325,936 8318 1900 With an area of only 235 square miles, it is, next to that of the Seine, the smallest Department of France. The northern part is by the southern offshoots of the A osges, the southern In 1880 the harbour receipts were £101,537, and in 1899 occupied part by the northern outposts of the Jura. Between these two the receipts were £158,772 and the expenditure £128,50 . highlands stretches the Depression of Belfort, 18^ miles broad, In 1880 the customs dues collected amounted to ioining the basins of the Rhine and the Rhone, traversed by the £1 , 492,875, in 1890 to £2,128,446, and in 1899 to Rhone canal and several railways. A part of the natural highway £2 832’,563, an increase of over 90 per cent, m twenty open from Frankfort to the Mediterranean, the Depression has from earliest times provided the route for the migration from N. years. The following were the amounts of the chief ex- to S., and is still of great commercial and strategical value, the ports'in 1900—linen, 38,142 tons; whisky, 30,782 tons; northern part, occupied by the Vosges, rises to 4124 feet in Ballon aerated waters, 10,552 tons; iron ore, 50,155 tons; linen d’Alsace, the northern termination and the culminating point of the to 3773 feet in the Planche des Bel es-Filles ; to 3345 yarn, 9087 tons; and 125,239 head of cattle. The Department; in Baerenkopf ; and to numerous other lesser heights bouth of Harbour Commissioners have obtained parliamentary feet the Trouee de Belfort, there rise near Delle limestone hills, m part powers to construct a graving dock capable of accommo- wooded, on the frontiers of France, Alsace, and Switzerland, dating the largest class of warships. The growth and attaining 1680 feet in the Foret de Florimont. The territory between development of the shipbuilding industry during recent Lachapelle-sous-Rougemont (in the N. E.), Belfort, and Delle, does not rise above 1300 feet. The line of lowest altitude follows the Years has been immense, the firm of Harland and Woltf being river St Nicolas and the Rhone canal. The chief rivers are the amongst the first in the trade. In 1895, 18 v^ls were Savoureuse, 24 miles long, running straight S. from the Ballon launched in Belfast of 101,816 tonnage; m 1896 -5 d’Alsace, and emptying into the Allame ; the Allauie, from Switzervessels of 119,756 tonnage; in 1897, 21 vessels of 108,863 land, entering the territory a little to the south of Delle, and leaving a little to the west of Morvillars ; the St Nicolas, ^24 miles tonnage; in 1898, 16 vessels of 121,380 tonnage; in it long, from Baerenkopf, running southwards into the Rhone canal 1899 17 vessels of 127,652 tonnage; and in 1900, 16 and then S.W. into the Allaine. The climate is divided between vessels of 136,226 tonnage. Amongst the most notable the “ Vosges climate ” to the north of the town of Belfort, maiked long and rigorous winters, sudden changes of temperature, and of the recent vessels built by Messrs Harland and Wolff are by annual rainfall of 80 centimetres to 1 metre (31 inches to 39 the Oceanic (1899) and Celtic (1901), for the White Star an inches), intensified by an impervious subsoil, against an average of Line the two largest vessels constructed up to those dates. 177 centimetres (30 inches) for the whole of France ; and the Trade and Manufactures.—Belfast is the centre of the “ Rhone climate,” milder and more equable, with a rainfall of 60 Irish linen industry; it contains within its boundaries to 80 centimetres (23 inches to 31 inches), quickly absorbed by soil or evaporated by the sun The higher levels of the mounabout 480,000 spindles for spinning flax and ib,UUU the tains are clothed with forests of pine, oak, beech, and chestnut. power-looms. It is also the headquarters and business At lower levels grow the elm, ash, poplar linden maple and wild cat place for the entire flax-spinning and weaving industry acacia. Of wild animals there are 74 of the country. The machinery gives constant employ- otter, and badger. The population, ,244 in :L881, 79,7d8 in 1886, had increased to 91,763 in 1901 Births in 1899, 2!88, of ment directly to about 40,000 workers, and for subsequent which 259 were illegitimate ; deaths, 15o0 ; marriages, 638. Ihei processes to prepare the cloth for the market it employs were in 1896,188 schools, with 14,000 pupils, less than 1 per cent, ot about 10,000 more. The linen yarns exported average the population being illiterate. The only town in the territory i 20,750,000 ft per annum, the value of which exceeds Belfort, whose population, 22,181 in 1886 had increased to 32,112 1901. The area under cultivation in 1896 amounted to 140,790 £1 000 000 The imported yarns average 8,800,UUU Id a in acres, of which 46,930 acres were plough-land The wheat crop ot year, aid cist upwards of £300,000, Distilling is exten- 1898 was valued at £54,510 ; rye, £17,090 ; oats, £16, 0 , p • sively carried on, the largest firm paying over £1,500,000 £131,760 ; mangold-wurzel, £15,890 ; natural pastures, £lo5,6 • annually in duty. Several firms are engaged m the manu- The live stock of 1899 included 3550 horses, 19,940 cattle, sheep, 9440 pigs, and 1750 goats. Though minerals are not facture of mineral waters, for which the water of the 3800 abundant, mining has made some progress in the territory. Its Cromac Springs is peculiarly adapted, and fbe volume o real industry, however, is in calicoes and spinning, an indust y trade maybe estimated from the fact that in 1899, 11,084 which, owing to the large immigration of spinners from the ten tons of aerated waters were exported. The city also tory annexed by Germany, has made rapid progress since the war. contains two of the largest establishments of their kind m Belfort, or Befort, chief town of the Territory of the world — ropeworks employing 3000 hands, and a Belfort, France, 275 miles E.S.E. of Paris, on the railways tobacco factory. Belfast boasts the largest tobacco factory from Paris to Bale and Lyons to Strasburg. Its fortificain the world, that of Messrs Gallaher, Limited and the tions have been greatly extended since the war ot l»/i. largest rope manufactory in the world, that of the Belfast In front of the citadel is a colossal figure, The Lion oj Bopework Company, Limited. (w. h. po.) Belfort, by Bertholdi, 36 feet high and 72 feet long, erected Belfast, capital of Waldo county, Maine, U.S.A., to commemorate the brave defence of the town during the war, and opposite the Hotel de Ville a bronze group m situated in the southern part of the state, at the head of memory of Thiers and Denfert-Bochereau. A new railway West Penobscot Bay, nearly 30 miles south of Bangor. It station was erected in 1890, and a civil hospital in 1895. has an excellent harbour, with some commerce and varied The town has important trade, especially in wine. Impor s manufactures, and is on a branch of the Maine Central in 1899, £3,468,000; exports, £4,864,000. Population railway. It was settled in 1770, and chartered as a city (1901), 32,112. in 1853. Population (1880), 5308; (1900), 4615.
