not occupy the palace at all, but went
into a quiet lodging among the shipping, where he could ramble about
without constraint, and see all that was to be seen which could
illustrate the art of navigation. The Dutch East India Company, which
was then, perhaps, the greatest and most powerful association of
merchants which had ever existed, had large ship-yards, where their
vessels were built, at Saardam. Saardam was almost a suburb of
Amsterdam, being situated on a deep river which empties into the Y, so
called, which is the harbor of Amsterdam, and only a few miles from the
town. Peter immediately made arrangements for going to these ship-yards
and spending the time while the embassy remained in that part of the
country in studying the construction of ships, and in becoming acquainted
with the principal builders. Here, as the historians of the times say,
he entered himself as a common ship-carpenter, being enrolled in the list
of the company's workmen by the name Peter Michaelhoff, which was as
nearly as possible his real name. He lived here several months, and
devoted himself diligently to his work. He kept two or three of his
companions with him--those whom he had brought from Moscow as his friends
and associates on the tour; but they, it is said, did not take hold of
the hard work with nearly as much zeal and energy as Peter displayed.
Peter himself worked for the greatest part of every day among the other
workmen, wearing also the same dress that they wore. When he was tired
of work he would go out on the water, and sail and row about in the
different sorts of boats, so as to make himself practically acquainted
with the comparative effects of the various modes of construction.

The object which Peter had in view in all this was, doubtless, in a great
measure, his own enjoyment for the time being. He was so much interested
in the subject of ships and ship-building, and in every thing connected
with navigation, that it was a delight to him to be in the midst of such
scenes as were to be witnessed in the company's yards. He was still but
a young man, and, like a great many other young men, he liked boats and
the water. It is not probable, notwithstanding what is said by
historians about his performances with the broad-axe, that he really did
much serious work. Still he was naturally fond of mechanical
occupations, as the fact of his making a wheelbarrow with which to
construct a fortification, in his schoolb