  We discuss the statistical mechanics of magnetic flux lines in a
finite-thickness slab of type-II superconductor. The long wavelength properties
of a flux-line liquid in a slab geometry are described by a hydrodynamic free
energy that incorporates the boundary conditions on the flux lines at the
sample's surface as a surface contribution to the free energy. Bulk and surface
weak disorder are modeled via Gaussian impurity potentials. This free energy is
used to evaluate the two-dimensional structure factor of the flux-line tips at
the sample surface. We find that surface interaction always dominates in
determining the decay of translational correlations in the asymptotic
long-wavelength limit. On the other hand, such large length scales have not
been probed by the decoration experiments. Our results indicate that the
translational correlations extracted from the analysis of the Bitter patterns
are indeed representative of behavior of flux lines in the bulk.
