general style of construction as at Helvöet; but smaller and lower, more irregularly built, and arranged with less taste and order. Some of them: are tiled, many are covered with a thick heavy thatch, and some are half tiled and half thatched; the windows being frequently glazed with the diminutive panes still observable in some very old houses in America. Little canals run all around the town, with corresponding embankments, and rows of willows, walnuts, and other trees, are planted in the streets, and along the dykes, overshadowing the houses. Behind the houses, are little gardens, with low enclosures of hedge, wicker-work, or espaliers; and so low is the ground, that often nothing but a roof peeps up over the dykes. Parading along the streets, or in the little house-yards, were large storks, which are highly esteemed by the people, and thoroughly domesticated in many parts of Holland, having their nests on the trees, where wooden frames are sometimes placed, to entice them to build there. Strange as was the appearance of these ungainly birds, that of the children and women who thronged the streets, was still more so. The females were dressed in gowns, with small, close waists, gradually increasing downward, in the exact form of a churn, with large clumsy wooden shoes on the feet, very appropriately denominated clumpers. Their head-gear was yet more singular. It consisted of a cap of white cambric or muslin, which fitted close to the head, and had a very broad frill or border behind, but was entirely plain in front. Under this was a kind of plate of silver, or other metal, which also tightly fitted the crown, and was adorned with ringlets of the same metal, extending out before the ears. This ornament is often very costly, especially when made of gold or silver, and the possession of it is the favorite ostentation of females, among the laboring classes in Holland.
After passing a night at Scravendeel, we sailed out of the Kil into what is called the Old Maes, being the navigable channel for large vessels between the islands of Beierland and Ysselmonde. There is a shorter passage to Rotterdam, but more shallow, by the way of Dort, between the upper extremity of Ysselmonde and the main-land; but having sailed in an easterly direction from Hellevöetsluys to the Kil, we now steered a westerly course, in order to descend the river to the lower end of Ysselmonde, and thence turning once more to ascend on the New Maes to Rotterdam. As we left the Kil, the noble church of Dort, with its square tower, was still more conspicuous than before, and not less than thirty wind-mills could be counted in full play, employed in grinding corn, in sawing lumber, and especially in the manufacture of linseed oil. In proceeding down the Old Maes, we passed, on the left bank, the neat village of Petershöek, behind a group of farm houses, close to the water. It being necessary to wait for the flood-tide, at the point of the island of Ysselmonde, off against the northern side of Voorn, a hawser was thrown out and made fast to a willow stump on the dike, where the ship waited, in perfect security, for the turn of tide.
The land on all sides was evidently nothing but an immense marsh, drained by canals, but the prospect was relieved by trees and flourishing vegetation. Although green enclosures surround the gardens and farm-houses, the fields need no other division than the deep ditches
