Rollo in Holland

by Jacob Abbott

"Yes," said Mr. George, "and see, there are the tops of the tall trees."

The dike was very regular in its form, and it was ornamented with two rows of trees along the top of it. There were seats here and there under the trees, and some of these seats had people sitting upon them, looking at the passing boats and steamers. The water was full of vessels of all kinds, coming and going, or lying at anchor. These vessels were all of very peculiar forms, being built in the Dutch style, and not painted, but only varnished, so as to show beautifully the natural color of the wood of which they were made. They had what Rollo called fins on each side, which were made to be taken up or let down into the water, first on one side and then on the other, as the vessel was on different tacks in beating against the wind.

Opposite to every place where there was a house over beyond the dike, there was a line of steps coming down the face of the dike on the hither side, towards the water, with a little pier, and a boat fastened to it, below. These little flights of steps, with the piers and the boats, and the seats under the trees on the top of the dike, and the roofs of the houses, and the tops of the trees beyond, all looked extremely pretty, and presented a succession of very peculiar and very charming scenes to Mr. George and Rollo as the steamer glided rapidly along the shore.

In some places the dike seemed to widen, so as to make room for houses upon the top of it. There were snug little taverns, where the captains and crews of the vessels that were sailing by could stop and refresh themselves, when wind or tide bound in their vessels, and now and then a shop or store of some kind, or a row of pretty, though very queer-looking, cottages. At one place there was a ferry landing. The ferry house, together with the various buildings appertaining to it, was on the top of the dike, and a large pier, with a snug and pretty basin by the side of it, below. There was a flight of stairs leading up from the pier to the ferry house, and also a winding road for carriages. At the time that the steamer went by this place, the ferry boat was just coming in with a carriage on board of it.

There were a great many wind mills here and there along the dike. Some were for pumping up water, some for sawing logs, and some for grinding grain. These wind mills were very large and exceedingly picturesque in their forms, and in the manner in which they were grouped with the other buildings connected with them. Rollo wished very much that he could stop and go on shore and visit some of these wind mills, so as to see how they looked inside.

At length the vessels and ships seemed to increase in numbers, and Mr. George said that he thought that they must be approaching a town. Rollo looked upon the map and found that there was a large town named Dort, laid down on the shores of the river or branch on which they were sailing.

"It is on the other side," said he. "Let us go and see."

So they both rose from their seats and went round to the other side of the boat, and there, there suddenly burst upon their view such a maze of masts, spires, roofs, and wind mills, all mingled together in promiscuous confusion, as was wonderful to behold. In the centre of the whole rose one enormous square tower, which seemed to belong to a cathedral.

This was Dort, or Dordrecht, as it is often called.

As the steamer glided rapidly along the shores, and Mr. George and Rollo attempted to look into the town, they saw not streets, but canals. Indeed, the whole place seemed just level with the surface of the water, and far in the interior of it the masts of ships and the roofs of the houses were mingled together in nearly equal proportion.