" said the guide; "with me as your
conductor, you will see more of the city in a few hours than you would
by yourselves in as many days. You will understand that Amsterdam is
the largest town in Holland," he commenced. "It is built in the shape
of a crescent, or horse-shoe, and is situated at the influx of the
Amstel into the Y; the latter, though it is called a river, is in
reality an arm of the Zuyder Zee, and forms our harbour; hence the name
of Amsterdam--the dam of the Amstel, or Amster. Now I will lead you to
the docks, close to which we now are--they are capable of accommodating
a thousand vessels; the locks, you will observe, are of enormous
strength, which it is necessary they should be, so as to resist the
inroads of the sea. We take great precautions to keep it out, and with
good reason, for our streets are much below its level, and were it to
break in they would be completely flooded. Our city is nine miles in
circumference, while canals of various sizes intersect it in every
direction, and divide it into ninety islands, which are connected by
means of nearly three hundred bridges. A broad moat, or canal, also
runs almost completely round it, a portion of which is flanked with
avenues of elms, which have a handsome and picturesque appearance. Our
houses are constructed on foundations of piles, and as some of these
give way, either destroyed by worms or becoming rotten by age, the
houses are apt to lean about in various directions, which artists say
look very picturesque, but are not so pleasant to the inhabitants, who,
however, live on in them, hoping that, as they have been in that
condition for some years, they will not tumble down just yet. Now and
then they do come down, but people get accustomed to that sort of thing.
Many years ago our great corn magazine sank into the mud, the piles on
which it stood being unable to support the weight of three thousand five
hundred tons of grain, which were stored in the building at that time.
You will observe the style of the houses, many of them built of Dutch
brickwork, which foreigners justly admire. Our canals are not quite as
deep as they should be, although we have dredging machines constantly
engaged in removing the mud, which is thus apt to be stirred about in an
unpleasant manner as every barge comes up, and strangers declare that an
excessively offensive odour rises from them, especially on hot days; but
we who live here are not inconvenienced, in fa