it, my preparations were
completed before night-fall. I was able to set sail for my destination
on the next day.

The boat had the double advantage, in navigating the Zuyder Zee, of
being large, and of drawing very little water; the captain's cabin was
at the stern; and the two or three men who formed his crew were berthed
forward, in the bows. The whole middle of the boat, partitioned off
on the one side and on the other from the captain and the crew, was
assigned to me for my cabin. Under these circumstances, I had no reason
to complain of want of space; the vessel measuring between fifty and
sixty tons. I had a comfortable bed, a table, and chairs. The kitchen
was well away from me, in the forward part of the boat. At my own
request, I set forth on the voyage without servant or interpreter. I
preferred being alone. The Dutch captain had been employed, at a former
period of his life, in the mercantile navy of France; and we could
communicate, whenever it was necessary or desirable, in the French
language.

We left the spires of Amsterdam behind us, and sailed over the smooth
waters of the lake on our way to the Zuyder Zee.

The history of this remarkable sea is a romance in itself. In the days
when Rome was mistress of the world, it had no existence. Where the
waves now roll, vast tracts of forest surrounded a great inland lake,
with but one river to serve it as an outlet to the sea. Swelled by a
succession of tempests, the lake overflowed its boundaries: its furious
waters, destroying every obstacle in their course, rested only when they
reached the furthest limits of the land.

The Northern Ocean beyond burst its way in through the gaps of ruin;
and from that time the Zuyder Zee existed as we know it now. The years
advanced, the generations of man succeeded each other; and on the shores
of the new ocean there rose great and populous cities, rich in commerce,
renowned in history. For centuries their prosperity lasted, before
the next in this mighty series of changes ripened and revealed itself.
Isolated from the rest of the world, vain of themselves and their good
fortune, careless of the march of progress in the nations round them,
the inhabitants of the Zuyder Zee cities sunk into the fatal torpor of
a secluded people. The few members of the population who still preserved
the relics of their old energy emigrated, while the mass left behind
resignedly witnessed the diminution of their commerce and the decay of