f a mile wide at Antwerp.

Chapter XI.

Holland.

Early on Tuesday morning (August 10th) I started on "a run through
Holland."

The Meuse and the Rhine form numerous mouths, and their deltas are low and
marshy. A most magnificent bridge crosses these, which is several (three?)
miles in length. Fourteen immense iron arches are required to span one of
the mouths of the Rhine. Much of the land is lower than the ocean, and a
great conflict is waged between the Hollanders and the Sea, for the
possession of the land. It is a strange sight to see vessels sail along
the embankments higher than the chimney tops of the houses along the
shore! Watchmen are stationed along these embankments and when the ocean
breaks a leak, they will ring the alarm bells and every body will arm
himself with a spade or shovel and run to the sea-shore to battle with the
water. Thus have these people defended their property against the
encroachments of the sea for many centuries.

A great part of Holland is as level as the ocean, and there are neither
fences nor hedges to be seen. But ditches surround every little field and
lot, and innumerable wind-mills pump the water that gathers into these
ditches, up into canals, which intersect the country like a net-work, and
conduct the water to the sea. Extensive meadows and rich pasture land
support large, herds of fine cattle and sheep, which constitute the wealth
of Flemish industry.

These Hollanders have some very curious styles of dress, and, like the
Swiss, still wear their ancient costumes, even after the rest of Europe
have adopted the fashions of Paris. In the larger towns and cities,
however, the tide of revolution has set in and the young belles and beaux
have commenced to "sail in Paris styles." A few years more, and the
traditional costumes of the Flanders will have disappeared altogether.

The men are very partial to "burnsides" and wear their hair pretty long,
combed wet and stroked down so as to look smooth and glossy. The old
women, in place of ear-rings, wear ornaments in the form of immense
spirals suspended from the ends of half of a brass hoop that passes around
their heads below their white caps. These hang down over the cheeks and
are almost as long as their faces. Some of the young ladies coming in from
the rural districts, carry a head rigging--I do not know what else to call
it, for it is neither bonnet, hat, nor cap, nor any combination of these;
but it is an appa