no purpose but to secure the fees of the agents of government. Afterward, the officers of the customs came on board, and placed leaden seals upon the hatches, to prevent the landing of goods on the way up to Rotterdam. They treated the passengers with great civility, passing our luggage without any examination, and without even entering the state-rooms. I may remark, once for all, that I had repeated occasion to observe the liberality of this class of persons in Holland, who neither received nor expected any gratuity from travellers, and who adopted the reverse of the close and ungenerous course of examination pursued in many other countries of Europe.
Passing between Voorn and Beierland on the left, and Over Flakkee on the right, we entered the broader part of Hollands Diep, and approached Willemstadt. Here, between the village of Buite Sluys or Beierland, and Oottjes Plaat, on the extremity of Over Flakkee, is a spot, where the extreme verdure of the lands, and the long rows of willow-trees, planted to strengthen the dykes, render the whole prospect peculiarly agreeable to the eye. The fortress of Willemstadt, situated on the south side of Hollands Diep, is of great strength, and celebrated for its successful resistance to the army of Dumourier, who, after a vigorous bombardment of the place, was obliged to retire from before it. Willemstadt was now smiling in all the luxuriance of peaceful cultivation, with cattle pasturing upon the very ramparts, as they sloped gently down to the water's edge, and the village church rising as usual in the distance. Opposite to Willemstadt, is the small hamlet and post-house of Stryensaas, situated on Espanias Diep; and here we entered the Kil, a narrow channel, extending across toward the Maes, leaving on the right the lake of Bies Bos, from which the Kil is separated by a break-water. This lake illustrates, in a remarkable degree, the physical condition of Holland. It was formed, in 1421, by an irruption of the rivers, which rushed through the dykes, swept away seventy-two villages, and submerged for ever the large tract of land wherein they stood. Proceeding up the Kil, we arrived at Scravendeel, a place of anchorage for ships bound to Rotterdam, where, if necessary, a part of their lading is discharged into lighters, to enable them to navigate the shallow waters of the Maes.
While advancing thus far into the country, we had met or passed a large number of the Dutch schuyts and jallaks, boats, or small vessels, employed in the internal navigation and trade. They are peculiar in several respects. Being perfectly blunt at each end, broad at the beams, without streaks, or any other ornament of paint, oftentimes bearing the figure at the poop instead of the bows, and with sails tanned black as leather, they are, as I observed of the boats on the coast, the complete contrast of our own vessels of the same size. Add to this, the novelty of their lee-boards, which consist of a heavy frame-work of wood, on each side of the vessel, made to be let down about midships into the water, worked by ropes or chains, so as to assist her in sailing on the wind. These vessels being constantly in motion from place to place, for the conveyance of merchandise, are also used as the habitation of the captain, with his wife and whole family. The schuyt is their house and home. It was whimsical enough to see the 'vrow' and her children engaged in the ordinary domestic occupations of her sex, of washing, cooking, sewing, or the like, while the
