"It has about the same sights as Delft, and also a celebrated university; but it is more noted for its siege by the Spaniards, in 1574, than for anything else. Doubtless Mr. Mapps will fight the battle over again."
Of course the professor of geography and history could not lose such a glorious opportunity, and in the Stadhuis, where the picture of Peter Vanderwerf, the burgomaster who so bravely defended the place in the memorable siege, was pointed out, he took advantage of the moment.
"The city had held out four months," said he, after introducing the topic, "when the worst came. The Prince of Orange had promised to assist the people by supplying them with food; but so close was the blockade of the place by the Spaniards, that it was impossible to do so. They were reduced to the very verge of starvation. Dogs, cats, rats, horses, were greedily eaten. Six thousand of the people died of pestilence, which came with the famine, and there was hardly force enough to bury the dead. Though pressed and threatened by the citizens, the inflexible burgomaster refused to surrender the town. At last a couple of carrier pigeons flew into the city, which brought the intelligence that the prince had cut the dikes, and sent Admiral Boiset to their relief when the rising waters should drive the Spaniards away. But the waters did not rise high enough to enable the admiral to approach, and the people prayed to Heaven for help. It came. A storm and a gale forced the waters far up the river to the walls of Leyden. Boiset, with eight hundred wild Zealanders, fought their way through the Spaniards, perched in the trees, in boats, or in such places above the water as they could find, and made his way into the town. A thousand of the enemy were drowned. Leyden was saved, and the people celebrate the day of their deliverance up to the present time.
"As a reward for their bravery and dogged perseverance, the prince gave them the choice of a university or exemption from a portion of their taxes. They chose the former, and the University of Leyden was the result."
After a hasty walk to a few of the points of interest in the town, the journey was resumed, and in twenty minutes the party was set down in Harlem. In the Groote Kerk of St. Bavon, they listened to the playing of another great organ, including imitations of bells, and the vox humana, or "nux vomica," as some of the students persisted in calling it. Harlem is famous for its hyacinths and tulips, the passion for which grew out of the great tulip mania, two hundred years ago, when single cuttings of these bulbs were sold for four thousand florins, and even at higher prices. They are raised not only in gardens, but in fields hundreds of acres in extent; for they are a very important article of commerce, the gardens of Europe being supplied from this vicinity.
Harlem resisted the Spaniards with the same vigor and determination that distinguished Leyden, though with a less fortunate result; and Mr. Mapps was too glad to tell the exciting story. The town held out till starvation was inevitable, when it was decided by the brave defenders to form in a body around their women and children, and fight their way through the enemy. The Spaniards, hearing of this scheme, sent in a flag of truce, offering pardon and freedom, if the town and fifty-seven of the chief citizens should be given up. This number of the principal men volunteered to be the sacrifice, and the terms were accepted; but the bloodthirsty Duke of Alva, having first murdered the fifty-seven citizens, entered upon an indiscriminate massacre of the people, of whom two thousand were slain. When the executioners were weary with the slaughter, the victims were bound together in couples, and thrown into the Lake of Harlem. Four years later, the town fell into the hands of the Dutch again.
After the professor had finished the siege of Harlem, the party walked along the Spaarne to the machinery used for draining the low land formerly covered by the lake. This territory, three hundred years ago, was dry land; but an inundation gave it over to the dominion of the sea. About twenty-five years ago, the States General of Holland undertook to drain it, by forming a double dike and canal entirely around the district, thirty-three miles in circumference, and containing forty-five thousand acres. Three huge systems of pumps were erected, to be worked by steam, and the task of discharging an average depth of thirteen feet of water was begun. After four years' pumping, the lake was dried up, and the land was sold at the rate of about eighty-five dollars an acre. The machinery is still required to keep the water down. One engine works eleven pumps, with a lift of thirteen feet, discharging sixty-three tons of water at a stroke.
The travellers took their places in the train, and in a few minutes were conveyed over the causeways into Amsterdam, in season for the two o'clock dinner.