Things Seen in Holland
is worth walking through, if only to gather from its streets the origin of its appellation, for it has nothing in common with the River Jordan. The word is a corruption of jardin, and in this “garden,” which constitutes the workmen's quarter, we find Huguenot traces in the names of flowers and trees given to streets and canals, to wit: Rozen-Straat, Egalantin-Straat, Linden-Gracht, Palm-Straat, and so forth. The Schreiers Toren, or Weepers' Tower, where women bade farewell to men sailing away to far-off Newfoundland, to the West and East Indies, many never to return, is one of the landmarks of Amsterdam to be remembered.
The Begijnenhof, or Bagijnenhof, when seen down the Begijnensteeg, has an aspect of romance which cannot fail to attract the traveller. A door stands at the end of the street, and above it is a piece of
44
