a
shelf. With that extreme coolness and selfishness which too many
travellers have exercised, what does he do but take out his penknife
and carefully dissect it, peeling off the outer coats, and quartering
the innermost part, making all the time a great many wise observations
on the phenomena of the strange new root. In came the Dutchman all at
once, and seeing what was going on, he asked the Englishman, with rage
in his eyes, but with a low bow and that sort of restrained formal
civility which sometimes covers the most furious anger, if he knew what
he was about?

"Peeling a very curious onion," answered Mr. Traveller, as calmly as if
one had a perfect right to destroy other people's property to gratify
his own curiosity.

"One hundred thousand devils!" burst out the Dutchman, expressing the
extent of his anger by the number of evil spirits he invoked--"It is an
Admiral van der Eyck!"

"Indeed?" remarked the scientific traveller, "thank you. Are there a
good many of these admirals in your country?" and he drew forth his note
book to write down the little fact.

"Death and the devil!" swore the enraged Dutchman again--"come before
the Syndic and you shall find out all about it!" So he collared the
astounded onion-peeler, and despite all he could say, dragged him
straightway before the magistrate, where his scientific zeal suffered a
dreadful quencher in the shape of an affidavit that the "onion" was
worth four thousand florins--about $1600--and in the immediate judgment
of the Court, which "considered" that the prisoner be forthwith clapt
into jail until he should give security for the amount. He had to do so
accordingly, and doubtless all his life retained a distaste for
Dutchmen and Dutch onions.

These stories about such monstrous valuations of flower roots recall to
my mind another anecdote which I shall tell, not because it has anything
to do with tulips, but because it is about a Dutchman, and shows in
striking contrast an equally low valuation of human life. It is this.
Once, in time of peace, an English and a Dutch Admiral met at sea, each
in his flag ship, and for some reason or other exchanged complimentary
salutes. By accident, one of the Englishman's guns was shotted and
misdirected, and killed one of the Dutch crew. On hearing the fact the
Englishman at once manned a boat and went to apologize, to inquire about
the poor fellow's family and to send them some money, provide for the
funeral, etc., etc.