ing through from the Zuyder Zee keeping
the passage open. The party had an opportunity to examine the mighty
sluices and gates, and to observe the stupendous dikes, before described
by Mr. Mapps. They visited the fortress erected by Napoleon with the
intention of making The Helder the Gibraltar of the North.

On Thursday morning the tourists took the steamer, through the Great
Canal, to Amsterdam. Being obliged to wait an hour for the train to
Utrecht, Paul visited one of the "diamond mills" of the city with Mr.
Fluxion. About five hundred men were employed in the establishment, and,
as the business is exclusively in the hands of the Jews, the mills are
closed on Saturday, and work on Sunday. The art of cutting and polishing
diamonds was for a long period exclusively in the hands of the Jews of
Antwerp and Amsterdam. There are quite a number of these manufactories
in the city at the present time. The machinery is operated by steam,
turning wheels for polishing the precious stones, and propelling the
wire saws for cutting them.

Diamond dust is the only substance with which an impression can be
produced upon the hard stones, and they are polished by metal plates
covered with this dust, and revolving with inconceivable rapidity. The
saw is a very fine wire, to which the dust is affixed. This process
appears to be the origin of the adage "diamond cut diamond." Before the
fifteenth century, diamonds were worn in their natural state, and the
art of cutting and polishing them was discovered by a native of Bruges.

The journey of the students was continued by railway to Utrecht.
Approaching this city, the country assumed a different aspect,
presenting occasional undulations, while in the town itself there is
quite a slope down to the River Rhine, on which it is located. The
treaty of Utrecht, which settled the peace of Europe after the war of
the Spanish succession, was signed at the house of the British minister;
but it has since been pulled down. The principal object of interest in
the city is the tower of the Cathedral of St. Martin, which is three
hundred and twenty-one feet high, and commands a view of nearly the
whole of Holland and a portion of Belgium. The sexton has his residence
more than a hundred and fifty feet above _terra firma_, where his family
are domiciled, and where his children were born. Doubtless they will be
regarded as persons of high birth.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the weary travellers rea