The herring are highly prized by the Dutch, and the first which are caught by the fleet are sent home in the fastest vessels; and when they are expected, watchmen are stationed in the Vlaardingen steeple to announce their approach. The first kegs are sent to the king and his chief officers of state. One of these first cargoes produces about three hundred and twenty-five dollars, or eight hundred guilders.
With a dense cloud of smoke hanging above it stood the town of Schiedam, which contains nearly two hundred distilleries for the manufacture of gin. Holland gin and Schiedam schnapps are regarded by those who indulge in these beverages as the best in the world. The place was surrounded by windmills, which are a principal feature of the scenery in all parts of Holland proper.
After breakfast the signal was hoisted for the Josephines to attend the lecture on board the ship, and a boat was sent ashore, in charge of the steward, to procure the mail. The students were perched in the rigging, observing the strange scenes which presented themselves on every hand. The river was full of market boats loaded with vegetables, the principal of which was a coarse plant, with large, straggling leaves, used as cabbage or greens. There were large and small steamers plying in every direction, and the scene was quite lively.
The Josephine's ship's company came on board, and all hands were piped to lecture. Professor Mapps was at his post, with the map of the Netherlands hanging on the foremast. His description of the dikes and ditches of Holland was very full; but such portions of it as have been given by Mr. Stoute will be omitted.
"Young gentlemen," he began, "I have already called your attention to the physical geography of the Netherlands. The Rhine, which in Germany is the Rhein, and in Holland the Rhyn, has its mouths in Holland. Its length is nine hundred and sixty miles, and it is of vast importance to Europe in a commercial point of view, being navigable for large vessels to Cologne, and nearly to its source for smaller ones, though occasionally interrupted by falls and rapids above Basle. Vessels of one hundred tons go up to Strasbourg.
"The Rhine enters Holland, and immediately divides into two branches, the southern being the Waal, and the northern retaining the original name. The Waal is the larger of the two, and flows west until it unites with the Maas, or Meuse, in Belgium, on one of whose estuaries our ship now floats. About ten miles below the Waal branch, the original Rhine divides again, the northern branch being called the Yssel, which flows north into the Zuyder Zee. Thirty miles below the Yssel, it divides for a third time, the southern branch being called the Leek, of which the arm that flows by Rotterdam is the more direct continuation, though all these branches are connected by frequent cut-offs. The original Rhine pursues its way to the German Ocean. The dunes, or sand-hills, formerly closed up this branch, and for a long period the water did not flow through it; but at the beginning of the present century a canal was opened through the old bed.
"The Yssel formerly flowed into a fresh-water lake, where the Zuyder Zee, or Southern Sea, now is. Nearly the whole of the space occupied by this sea was then dry land; but the ocean, in the course of time, swept away its barriers, and covered the region with water, which is navigable, however, only for small vessels. Amsterdam is situated on an arm of this sea, called the Ij, or Eye, as it is pronounced. From the Helder, a point of land at the southern entrance to the Zuyder Zee, a ship canal, fifty miles in length, extends to the city. This is the 'great ditch' of Holland. It is eighteen feet deep, and broad enough for two large ships to pass each other, having a double set of locks at each end, in order to keep the water of uniform height, as in a dock.
"You are already familiar with the peculiar conformation of Holland. There is not a hill, a forest, or a ledge of rocks worth mentioning in the whole region. A large portion of its territory has been redeemed from the ocean by the most persevering labor, and by the most unremitting care and watchfulness is it kept from destruction. The sea is higher than the land, the lowest ground in the country being from twenty-four to thirty feet below high-water mark. The keel of the Young America, floating in some of the waters of Holland, would be higher than the ridge-pole of the Dutchman's cottage on the other side of the dike.
"These low grounds, formerly swamps and lagoons, which lie below the sea level, are called polders. These were originally charged with water, and merely shutting out the sea was only half the battle. As in Ireland, the principal fuel of the people is peat, or turf, ten million tons of which are annually used. Immense excavations have been made in the polders to obtain the peat; and the inhabitants stand an ultimate chance of being robbed of their country by fire as well as by water.
"The natural lakes and the peat-holes—the latter from twelve to twenty feet deep—formed extensive water-basins. Some of you will remember the turf diggings in the great bog in Ireland, as we passed through it on our way to Killarney. The peat was not dug out in trenches, but the entire surface of the land was skimmed off, just as workmen in the city dig away a hill. It was so in Holland; and you must understand that the bottom of these peat-beds forms the land now improved as gardens and farms.