which stands the Abbey, and take with you a strong pickaxe, dig, and you will find deep in the hill-side a hard black earth. Feed your forge with this instead of with charcoal, and your iron will heat twice as well."

Then he departed as suddenly as he had come.

The blacksmith went and told all his neighbours, and they all took pickaxes that very day to the hill on which the Abbey stood, and found, as the old man had said, an abundance of black earth which heated their furnaces as no furnaces had ever heated iron before. It is said that the word houille in the Liègeois dialect comes from the blacksmith, whose real name was Halloz. Some writers affirm that the old man was an angel, others that he was simply an English traveller, coal having been used in England as early as 1145.

It is curious that Liège should still be so famed for the manufacture of firearms and other warlike instruments, and Namur for cutlery and other metal-work; for the Romans caused swords, shields, and other weapons, to be made in the Ardennes, where they seem to have found valuable metal-mines and skilful workmen. Till 1466, when Philip of Burgundy, called the Good, so barbarously destroyed the town of Dinant, it was, with its rival Bouvignes, renowned for the production of works of art in brass and copper called Dinanteries;

some of these very curious relics still exist in Brussels, Liège, and other towns.

The Dukes of Burgundy seem to have been in constant warfare first with one city or castle, then with another, till the Ardennes was annexed to the German Empire. At the French Revolution it changed masters; but since the Revolution of 1830 the greater part of the province, that is to say the Belgian Ardennes, has been given up by France, and is under the government of King Leopold. However, by the treaty of 1865, the Duchy of Luxembourg was given to the King of Holland, who is its Grand Duke, and governs it by a viceroy, Prince Henry. At the station called Trois Vierges, on the railway from Spa to Luxembourg, one passes into the Grand Duchy in which is the German Ardennes.

In taking a journey through the Ardennes, Dinant is the best town to begin from. The following route may be found useful:—

BRUSSELS TO NAMUR.-NAMUR TO DINANT
BY STEAMER.

DINANT AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.

To Bouillon by Givet and Sedan, or by carriage or diligence to Gedinne, and then a walking tour can be taken up the valley of the Semois to Bouillon. Explore

the valley of the Semois towards its source as far as Florenville, ruins of Abbaye d'Orval, Chiny, etc.

Railway from Florenville to Poix. Omnibus to St. Hubert. Either drive through the forest to La Roche, or drive to Marche, and then by train to Melreux-Hotton, where there is a correspondance three times a day for La Roche.

LA ROCHE AND THE OURTHE.

From La Roche drive to Houffalize. Houffalize to Gouvy, a station on Spa and Luxembourg railway. Gouvy to Trois Ponts or Stavelot. From Trois Ponts or Stavelot drive to Coo. Drive from Coo to Remouchamps through the valley of the Amblève-then drive by Aywaille to Comblain-au-Pont. From Comblain

explore the valley of the Ourthe by Barvaux to Durbuy -from Durbuy to Huy-Huy by Liège and Chaudfontaine to Spa-from Spa to Diekirch-Diekirch, Vianden, Echternach and its environs-Beaufort, Luxembourg, Trêves.