his_ letter, and each
read what he had written to the other that same evening, after dinner.
The two letters were as follows:--

MR. GEORGE'S LETTER.

"LEYDEN, HOLLAND, September 27.

"MY DEAR EDWARD:[6]

[Footnote 6: Edward was Mr. George's brother. He was a boy about twelve
years old.]

"We have been travelling now for several days in Holland, and it is one
of the most curious and amusing countries to travel in that I have ever
seen.

"We all know from the books of geography which we study at school, that
Holland is a very low country--lower in many places than the ocean; and
that the water of the ocean is kept from overflowing it by dikes, which
the people built ages ago, along the shores. I always used to suppose
that it was only from the sea that people had any danger to fear of
inundations; but I find now that it is not so.

"The people have to defend themselves from inundations, not only on the
side towards the sea, but also quite as much, if not more, on the side
towards the land, from the waters of the River Rhine. The River Rhine
rises in Switzerland, and flows through various countries of Europe
until it comes to the borders of Holland, and there it spreads out into
innumerable branches, and runs every where, all over the country. It
would often overflow the country entirely, were it not that the banks
are guarded by dikes, like the dikes of the sea. The various branches of
the rivers are connected together by canals, which are also higher than
the land on each side of them. Thus the whole country is covered with a
great network of canals, rivers, and inlets from the sea, with water in
them higher than the land. When the tide is low in the sea, the surplus
water from these rivers and canals flows off through immense sluices at
the mouth of them. When the tide comes up, it is kept from flowing in by
immense gates, with which the sluices are closed. They call the tracts
of land that lie lower than the channels of water around them,
_polders_. That is rather a queer name. I suppose it is a Dutch name.

"The polders all have drains and canals cut in them. As we ride along in
the railway carriages we overlook these polders. They look like immense
green fields, extending as far as you can see, with straight canals
running through them in every direction, and crossing each other at
right angles. These canals, in the bottom of the polders