country was one immense
and boundless plain, and there were no fences or other close enclosures
of any kind. And yet the face of it was so endlessly varied with rows of
trees, groves, farm houses, gardens, wind mills, roads, and other
elements of rural scenery, that Rollo found it extremely beautiful. The
fields were very green where grass was growing, and the foliage of the
trees, and of the little ornamental hedges that were seen here and there
adorning the grounds of the farm houses, was very rich and full. As
Rollo looked out at the window, a continued succession of the most
bright and beautiful pictures passed rapidly before his eyes, like those
of a gayly painted panorama, and they all called forth from him
continually repeated exclamations of delight. Mr. George sat at his
window enjoying the scene perhaps quite as much as Rollo did, though he
was much less ardent in expressing his admiration.

"See these roads, uncle George," said Rollo; "they run along on the tops
of the embankment like railroads. Are those dikes?"

"No," said Mr. George. "The dikes are built along the margin of the sea,
and along the banks of rivers and canals, to take the water out. These
are embankments for the roads, to raise them up and keep them dry."

There were rows of trees on the sides of these raised roads, which
formed beautiful avenues to shelter the carriage way from the sun. These
avenues could sometimes be seen stretching for miles across the country.

"Now, pretty soon," said Rollo, "we shall come to the water, and then we
shall take a steamboat."

"Then we do not go all the way by the train," said Mr. George.

"No," said Rollo. "The railroad stops at a place called Moerdyk, and
there we take a steamer and go along some of the rivers.

"But I can't find out by the map exactly how we are to go," he
continued, "because there are so many rivers."

Rollo had found, by the map, that the country all about Rotterdam was
intersected by a complete network of creeks and rivers. This system was
connected on the land side with the waters of the Rhine, by the immense
multitude of branches into which that river divides itself towards its
mouth, and on the other side by innumerable creeks and inlets coming in
from the sea. This network of channels is so extensive, and the water in
the various branches of it is so deep, that ships and steamers can go at
will all about the country. It would be as difficult to make a railroad
over such