At Utrecht, a city with a population of forty-four thousand, we found sufficient to entertain us for a day. On ascending the steeple of the cathedral, three hundred and eighty-eight feet high, we obtained a view of the surrounding country, which is a perfect flat, watered by canals in different directions, and avenues of trees, all planted by the rule, with an occasional windmill and steeple in the distance, to break the monotony of a Dutch landscape. Half way up to the top we were introduced into a room where refreshments are furnished, and found the family of the sexton, who had lived there thirty years and reared a family. While resting we enjoyed the merry chime of thirty or forty bells in the steeple, which is repeated every hour.
On leaving Utrecht we took the national conveyance, the treckschuite, or canal boat, which does not differ very materially in size from our Erie canal boats, with the exception of having separate apartments for the accommodation of different classes of passengers. The towing horse is ridden by a lad, who is very dexterous, in passing bridges and other vessels, in disengaging the tow rope without impeding the progress of the boat. The canals in Holland run in all directions through the country and through the towns and cities, and are the great high-road for the transportation of goods and passengers. The consequence is, that in the vicinity of large towns and cities, on the principal canals, which are about sixty feet wide and six feet deep, are located many beautiful villas, country seats, and pleasure gardens.
On the entire route to this city, since I have entered Holland, either along the highway or along the canal, especially in the vicinity of populous cities, I have discovered the abodes of those who seemed to study cleanliness and comfort. In the suburbs of the cities you will find those country-seats where great wealth is expended. At the end of the gardens overlooking the canal, or main road, is always placed a small temple, pagoda, or snug, comfortable building, where you will see the men smoking their pipes and sipping their beer, or the ladies their tea and coffee, engaged in knitting, or criticising the passers-by. Perhaps there is no country in the world where flowers grow to such perfection as in Holland, and nowhere have I seen such an array of plants and flowers as these gardens contain. The roads for wagons and diligences run along the line of the canal, or upon the dykes which are thrown up to protect the influx of the sea. The soil is of such a nature that roads are constructed with difficulty, and at an expense of seven thousand dollars per mile, all of hard burned brick placed edgeways. In traversing the canals in many instances, you look down upon the “polders” (so called) on both sides, with the cattle grazing far below the surface of the water you are navigating. Those polders are frequently liable to inundation during the winter season. You observe hundreds of windmills employed in sawing timber, grinding wheat, and other occupations, and among the number, in passing along, you discover many pumping the water from low grounds, or polders, that lie below you, and throwing it into the canal. It may well be said that the Hollander has made the wind his slave, for not a puff of air is suffered to escape without turning a windmill.
Amsterdam is a large commercial city, with a population of over two hundred thousand, and is one of the most remarkable cities in Europe for its peculiar location, being intersected by various small canals, which divide it into ninety-five islands with two hundred and ninety bridges. Had I not seen Venice, which is still more remarkable, I should have considered it very extraordinary. The entire city, quays and sluices, are all founded on piles, which are driven through the upper stratum of mud and loose sand until they reach the firm sand below. The palace of the king is a large and imposing building of stone, standing upon thirteen thousand six hundred and ninety-five piles. The second day after my arrival a grand fête took place, and towards evening I strolled up the main street, crossing many bridges, to the suburbs of the city, passing through an immense crowd of persons, and among the number I should think there were all of ten thousand females, most of them without bonnets. I seldom attempt a description of costume, but I must here observe that the females in Holland are particularly distinguished for neatness and gracefulness of costume, as well as clearness of complexion. To see such an immense group, very many of whom were domestics, all in tastefully arranged caps and head-dresses, was a novel sight. Numbers have the back of the head encircled by a broad fillet of gold, shaped like the letter U, which confines the hair and terminates on each side of the temple with two long rosettes, also of gold. Over this is worn a cap, or veil, of finest lace, hanging down the neck, with a pair of enormous gold ear-rings. Among the group I discovered many orphan children, who have their particular dresses to distinguish them.
The people of Amsterdam are celebrated for their charitable institutions. One particular costume, for male and female, I observed, was red and black cloth, extending from the shoulders to the feet, which reminded me of the dress of a clown, red one side and black the other; and I could not but pity the wearers, especially young females, who were thus made so conspicuous in the eyes of strangers.
XXI.
Rotterdam, August 30, 1841.
Well, at last I am in Rotterdam, and I assure you I was heartily glad to reach this city, as one may rest quietly for a few days without seeing extraordinary sights. Rotterdam is a fine commercial city, with a population of seventy-four thousand, and exceedingly novel and interesting to a stranger who has just arrived in the country; but to one who has made the tour of Holland it possesses none of those extraordinary sights which a traveller is in duty bound to see. The remark may appear strange that one becomes tired and exhausted with sights; but in a long line of travel, in visiting cities in rapid succession, where a sort of obligation is imposed upon every good traveller to see all that is remarkable, it becomes laborious.
During the time we tarried at Amsterdam, we made an excursion to Broeck, celebrated as the cleanest village in the world. It has a population of eight hundred persons. In making this excursion we passed through a part of the great ship canal, which is one hundred and twenty-five feet wide, twenty-one feet deep, and fifty miles long. Two ships can enter side by side. After leaving this we took a conveyance which runs by the side of a lateral canal, on which are seen men and women, harnessed like horses, trailing the canal boats to market. On arriving at this extraordinary village our carriage was left outside, as neither horse nor wheel is permitted within the precincts. Our valet leading the way, we proceeded, in pattens, through the various passages or lanes, which are paved with brick or little stones, the paths being composed of shells. I had formed an idea of the extraordinary neatness of the place from the accounts I had heard of it, but the fantastical arrangement and construction of the houses exceeded my expectation. The houses are mostly wood with tile roofs, painted and varnished, which glitter in the sun. The buildings are most scrupulously painted with different colors, many representing different temples, and all sorts of architecture. We were taken to the garden of the rich clergyman of the village, and the guide-book describes it as surpassing all the others in its absurdities, and in the miscellaneous nature of its contents, beating the “groves of Blarney” all to nothing. Here are pavilions, arbors, summer-houses, pagodas, temples, bridges, &c., the small canals running through the garden, and indeed through every part of the village. Most of the front doors are closed during the week until the housewife opens the door, takes down the shutters, dusts the china and the furniture, and arranges everything, then closes it for another week, unless in case of a marriage, a funeral, or christening. The residents are mostly retired merchants, landed proprietors, stockbrokers, or other persons who have made fortunes. In one part of the village are made many Dutch cheeses. We went into the apartments of the cows in one house, the animals being absent from home in the fields. The pavement was of Dutch tiles, the walls and partitions of boards, scrubbed as clean as a dining table. We were permitted to enter the front door of one of the sanctums after having placed our feet in list slippers to avoid soiling the floor, and it is said that the Emperor Alexander, on visiting Broeck, was compelled to comply with this usage!
Having finished our excursion, we next went to Saardam, a place with a population of nine thousand, and remarkable for its four hundred windmills, which are applied to all uses. Some of them are of immense size, with wings eighty feet in diameter, and have houses attached to them. One street of windmills is five miles in length. The next remarkable object for a stranger is the hut of Peter the Great, in which he lived while working as a ship-carpenter, in 1696. The building is of rough plank, and consists of two rooms; in one is a cupboard, used as his sleeping-place, above a loft entered by a ladder. The property was bought by the sister of the Emperor Alexander, and is now inclosed in a case of brick-work, with shutters to close in bad weather. Here you find registers filled with names, and the walls of the hut are so completely covered that it is almost impossible to register another name.