six o'clock
The drive was continued through some of the principal streets of Ghent ; and , within a few moments of the appointed time , the students were again seated in the railway carriages . The road to Bruges extends along the side of the canal from Ostend to Ghent , which has high banks , lined nearly all the way with tall trees . The view from the windows of the train was interesting rather than picturesque . In an hour the train stopped at its destination ; but it was after six o'clock , and there was no time for Professor Mapps to make any long speeches , though Bruges had a history hardly less exciting than that of Ghent . It takes its name from the great number of _ bridges _ which it contains ; for the place , like Ghent , is cut up by canals . Bruges was once a rich and powerful city , reputed to contain two hundred thousand inhabitants ; but , like nearly all the Flemish cities , it has declined from its former grandeur , and now contains only fifty-one thousand , nearly a third of whom are paupers . In the fifteenth century , the Dukes of Burgundy held their court here ; it had an immense foreign commerce , and its warehouses were filled with the silks and woollens manufactured in the vicinity .