ENTERING HOLLAND.
Rollo and Mr. George went into Holland by the railway. It was a long
time before Rollo learned that in travelling from one European country
to another, he was not to expect any visible line of demarcation to show
the frontier. Boys at school, in studying the shape and conformation of
different countries on the map, and seeing them marked by distinct
colored boundaries, are very apt to imagine that they will see
something, when travelling from one country to another, to show them by
visible signs when they pass the frontier.
But there is nothing of the kind. The green fields, the groves, the
farmhouse, the succession of villages continues unchanged as you travel,
so that, as you whirl along in the railway carriage, there is nothing to
warn you of the change, except the custom house stations, where the
passports of travellers are called for, and the baggage is examined.
"Uncle George," said Rollo, after looking out of the window at a place
where the train stopped, twenty or thirty miles from Antwerp, "I think
we are coming to the frontier."
"Why so?" asked Mr. George.
"Because the Belgian custom house is at this station, and the next will
be the Dutch custom house."
Rollo knew that this was the Belgian custom house by seeing the word
DOUANE over one of the doors of the station, and under it the words
VISITE DES BAGAGES, which means _examination of baggage_. There were
besides a great many soldiers standing about, which was another
indication.
"How do you know that it is the Belgian custom house?" asked Mr. George.
"Because all these soldiers are in the Belgian uniform," said he. "I
know the Belgian uniform. I don't know the Dutch uniform, but I suppose
I shall see it at the next station."
Rollo was perfectly right in his calculations. The last station on the
line of the railway in Belgium was the frontier station for Belgium, and
here travellers, coming from Holland, were called upon to show their
passports, and to have their baggage examined. In the same manner the
first station beyond, which was the first one in Holland, was the
frontier station for that country, and there passengers going from
Belgium into Holland were stopped and examined in the same way.
After going on a few miles from the Belgium station, the whistle blew
and the train began to stop.
"Here we are!" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George; "and now comes the time of trial for the musical
box."
Rollo had bought a musical box at Antwerp, and he had some fears lest he
might be obliged to pay a duty upon it, in going into Holland. Mr.
George had told him that he thought there was some danger, but Rollo
concluded that he would take the risk.
"They have no business to make me pay duty upon it," said he to Mr.
George.
"Why not?" asked Mr. George.
"Because it is not for merchandise," said Rollo. "It is not for sale. I
have bought it for my own use alone."
"That has nothing to do with it," said Mr. George.
"Yes it has, a great deal to do with it," replied Rollo.
There might have been quite a spirited discussion between Mr. George and
Rollo, on this old and knotty question, over which tourists in Europe
are continually stumbling, had not the train stopped. The moment that
the motion ceased, the doors of all the carriages were opened, and a man
passed along the line calling out in French,--
"Gentlemen and ladies will all descend here, for the examination of
passports and baggage."
Mr. George and Rollo had no baggage, except a valise which they carried
with them in the carriage. Mr. George took this valise up and stepped
down upon the platform.
"Now, Rollo," said Mr. George, "if they find your musical box and charge
duty upon it, pay it like a man."
"Yes," said Rollo, "I will."
"And don't get up a quarrel with the custom house officer on the
subject," continued Mr. George, "for he has the whole military force of
the kingdom of Holland at his command, and what he says is to be done,
in this territory, must be done."
So saying, Mr. George, valise in hand, followed the crowd of passengers
through a door, over which was inscribed the Dutch word for baggage. In
the centre of this room there was a sort of low counter, enclosing a
sort of oblong square. Within the square were a number of custom house
officers, ready to examine the baggage which the porters and the
passengers were bringing in, and laying upon the counter, all around the
four sides of the square.
Mr. George brought up his valise, and placed it on the counter. A custom
house officer, who had just examined and marked some other parcels,
turned to Mr. George's just as he had unlocked and opened it.
"Have you any thing to declare?" said the officer.
"Nothing, sir," said Mr. George.
The officer immediately shut the valise, and marked it on the back with
a piece of chalk, and Mr. George locked it and took it away.
"Are you through?" asked Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George.
Mr. George then took the valise and followed a crowd of passengers, who
were going through a door at the end of the room opposite to where they
came in. There was an officer in uniform on each side of this door.
These officers examined every bag, valise, or parcel that the passengers
had in their hands, to see if they had been marked by the examiners, and
as fast as they found that they were marked, they let them pass.
Following this company, Mr. George and Rollo came soon to another small
room, where a man was sitting behind a desk, examining the passports of
the passengers and stamping them. Mr. George waited a moment until it
came his turn, and then handed his passport too. The officer looked at
it, and then stamped an impression from a sort of seal on one corner of
it. He also wrote Mr. George's and Rollo's name in a big book, copying
them for this purpose from the passport.
He then handed the passport back again, and Mr. George and Rollo went
out, passing by a soldier who guarded the door. They found themselves
now on the railway platform.
"Now," said Rollo, "I suppose that we may go and take our seats again."
"Yes," said Mr. George. "We are fairly entered within the dominions of
his majesty the king of Holland."
"And no duty to pay on my music box," said Rollo.
Rollo took a seat by a window where he could look out as the train went
on, and see, as he said, how Holland looked. The country was one immense
and boundless plain, and there were no fences or other close enclosures
of any kind. And yet the face of it was so endlessly varied with rows of
trees, groves, farm houses, gardens, wind mills, roads, and other
elements of rural scenery, that Rollo found it extremely beautiful. The
fields were very green where grass was growing, and the foliage of the
trees, and of the little ornamental hedges that were seen here and there
adorning the grounds of the farm houses, was very rich and full. As
Rollo looked out at the window, a continued succession of the most
bright and beautiful pictures passed rapidly before his eyes, like those
of a gayly painted panorama, and they all called forth from him
continually repeated exclamations of delight. Mr. George sat at his
window enjoying the scene perhaps quite as much as Rollo did, though he
was much less ardent in expressing his admiration.
"See these roads, uncle George," said Rollo; "they run along on the tops
of the embankment like railroads. Are those dikes?"
"No," said Mr. George. "The dikes are built along the margin of the sea,
and along the banks of rivers and canals, to take the water out. These
are embankments for the roads, to raise them up and keep them dry."
There were rows of trees on the sides of these raised roads, which
formed beautiful avenues to shelter the carriage way from the sun. These
avenues could sometimes be seen stretching for miles across the country.
"Now, pretty soon," said Rollo, "we shall come to the water, and then we
shall take a steamboat."
"Then we do not go all the way by the train," said Mr. George.
"No," said Rollo. "The railroad stops at a place called Moerdyk, and
there we take a steamer and go along some of the rivers.
"But I can't find out by the map exactly how we are to go," he
continued, "because there are so many rivers."
Rollo had found, by the map, that the country all about Rotterdam was
intersected by a complete network of creeks and rivers. This system was
connected on the land side with the waters of the Rhine, by the immense
multitude of branches into which that river divides itself towards its
mouth, and on the other side by innumerable creeks and inlets coming in
from the sea. This network of channels is so extensive, and the water in
the various branches of it is so deep, that ships and steamers can go at
will all about the country. It would be as difficult to make a railroad
over such a tract of mingled land and water as this, as it is easy to
navigate a steamer through it; and, accordingly, the owners of the line
had made arrangements for stopping the trains at Moerdyk, and then
transferring the passengers to a steamer.
"I have great curiosity," said Rollo, "to see whether, when we come to
the water, we shall go _up_ to it, instead of _down_ to it."
"Do you think that we shall go up to it?" asked Mr. George.
"I don't know," replied Rollo. "We do in some parts of Holland. In some
places, according to what the guide book says, the land is twenty or
thirty feet below the level of the water, and so when you come to the
shore you go _up an embankment_, and there you find the water on the
other side, nearly at the top of it."
When at length the train stopped at Moerdyk, the conductor called out
from the platform that all the passengers would descend from the
carriages to embark on board the steamer. Rollo was too much interested
in making the change, and in hurrying Mr. George along so as to get a
good seat in the steamer, to make any observation on the comparative
level of the land and water. There was quite a little crowd of
passengers to go on board; and as they walked along the pier towards the
place where the steamer was lying, all loaded with as many bags, cloaks,
umbrellas, or parcels of some sort, as they could carry, Rollo and Mr.
George pressed on before them, Rollo leading the way. The steamer was a
long and narrow boat, painted black, in the English fashion. There was
no awning over the deck, and most of the passengers went below.
"I don't see what they are all going below for," said Rollo. "I should
think that they would wish to stay on deck and see the scenery."
So Rollo chose a seat by the side of a small porch which was built upon
the deck over the entrance to the cabin, and sat down immediately upon
it, making room for Mr. George by his side. There was a little table
before him, and he laid down his guide book and his great coat upon it.
"Now," said he, "this is good. We have got an excellent seat, and we
will have a first rate time looking at Holland as we go along."
Just then a young man, dressed in a suit of gray, and with a spy glass
hanging at his side, suspended by a strap from his shoulder, and with a
young and pretty, but rather disdainful looking lady on his arm, came
by.
"Now, Emily," said he, "which would you prefer, to sit here upon the
deck or go below?"
"O George," said she, "let us go below. There's nothing to be seen on
the deck. The country is every where flat and uninteresting."
"We might see the shores as we go along," suggested her husband.
"O, there's nothing to be seen along the shores," said she; "nothing but
bulrushes and willows. We had better go below."
So Emily led George below.
"Rollo," said Mr. George, "if you would like to take a bet, I will bet
you the prettiest Dutch toy that you can find in Amsterdam, that that is
another Mrs. Parkman."
"I think it very likely she is," said Rollo. "But, uncle George, what do
you think they have got down below? I've a great mind to go down and
see."
"Very well," said Mr. George.
"And will you keep my place while I am gone?" asked Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George, "or you can put your cap in it to keep it."
So Rollo put his cap in his seat, and went down below. In a few minutes
he returned, saying that there was a pretty little cabin down there,
with small tables set out along the sides of it, and different parties
of people getting ready for breakfast.
"It is rather late for breakfast," said Mr. George. "It is after twelve
o'clock."
"Then perhaps they call it luncheon," said Rollo. "But I'd rather stay
on deck. We might have something to eat here. Don't you think we could
have it on this table?"
"Yes," replied Mr. George, "that is what the table is put here for."
"Well!" said Rollo, his eye brightening up at the idea.
"We can have it here, or we can wait and have it at the hotel in
Rotterdam," said Mr. George. "You may decide. I'll do just as you say."
Rollo finally concluded to wait till they arrived at Rotterdam, and then
to have a good dinner all by themselves at some table by a window in the
hotel, and in the mean time to devote himself, while on board the
steamer, to observing the shores of the river, or arm of the sea,
whichever it might be, on which they were sailing.
The steamer had before this time set sail from the pier, and after
backing out of a little sort of creek or branch where it had been
moored, it entered a broad channel of deep water, and began rapidly to
move along. The day was pleasant, and though the air was cool, Rollo and
Mr. George were so well sheltered by the little porch by the side of
which they were sitting, that they were very comfortable in all
respects.
Before long the channel of water in which the steamer was sailing became
more narrow, and the steamer passed nearer a bank, which Rollo soon
perceived was formed by a dike.
"See, see! uncle George," said he. "There are the roofs of the houses
over on the other side of the dike. We can just see the tops of them.
The ground that the houses stand upon must be a great deal below the
water."
"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.
The steamer threaded its way among the fleets of boats and shipping
that lay off the town, and at length came to a stop at a pier. The
passengers destined for this place began to disembark. Mr. George and
Rollo stood together on the deck, looking at the buildings which lined
the quay, and wondering at the quaint and queer forms which every thing
that they saw assumed.
"I should really like to go ashore here," said Mr. George, "and see what
sort of a place it is."
"Let us do it, uncle George!" said Rollo, eagerly. "Let us do it!"
"Only we have paid to Rotterdam," said Mr. George.
"Never mind," said Rollo. "It will not make much difference."
But before Mr. George could make up his mind to go on shore, the
exchange of passengers was effected, and the plank was pulled in, the
ropes were cast off, and the steamer once more began to move swiftly
along over the water.
"It is too late," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George, "and on the whole it is better for us to go on."
In about an hour more the steamer began to draw near to Rotterdam. The
approach to the town was indicated by the multitude of boats and vessels
that were passing to and fro, and by the numbers of steamers and wind
mills that lined respectively the margins of the water and of the land.
The wind mills were prodigious in size. They towered high into the air
like so many lighthouses; the tops of the sails, as Mr. George
estimated, reached, as the vanes revolved, up to not less than one
hundred and fifty or two hundred feet into the air. It was necessary to
build them high, in order that the sails might not be becalmed by the
houses.
[Illustration: DORT.]
At length the steamer stopped at a pier. Two policemen stood at the
plank, as the passengers landed, and demanded their passports. Mr.
George gave up his passport, as he was directed, and then he and Rollo
got into a carriage and were driven to the hotel.
[Illustration]