umsy boat!" said Rollo.

"I'm glad she is slow," replied Mr. George, "for I want to look about. I
should be willing to be an hour in going across this ferry."

The prospect on every side was, indeed, very fine. On looking back they
could see the buildings of the town extending far and wide for miles,
with domes, and towers, and spires, and tops of trees, and masts of
ships rising together every where above the tops of the houses. The
water of the harbor was covered with ships and steamers passing to and
fro--those near glittering in the sun, while the distant ones were half
lost in a smoky haze that every where softened and concealed the
horizon. Mr. George and Rollo gazed earnestly on this scene, looking now
in this direction, and now in that, but not speaking a word.

When they were about half across the Y, James came to Mr. George, and
said,--

"This ferry boat connects with a steamer on the canal, which goes to the
Helder, and also with various trekschuyts. We shall take a trekschuyt to
go for a short distance?--as far as to the place where we shall get a
carriage."

"Very well," said Mr. George. "Arrange it as you think best. Then we
shall go a short distance on the great canal."

"Yes, sir," said James. "You will like to see a little of the canal."

"I shall, indeed," said Mr. George.

The great canal of which James here spoke is the grandest work of the
kind in Holland, and perhaps in the world. If you look at the map you
will see that Amsterdam stands somewhat in the interior of the country,
and that the only approach to it, by sea, is through a great gulf called
the Zuyder Zee. Now, the water in the Zuyder Zee is shallow. There are
channels, it is true, that are tolerably deep; but they are very winding
and intricate, and they are so surrounded with shoals and sand banks as
to make the navigation very difficult, especially for ships of large
size.

The people, accordingly, conceived the plan of digging a canal across
the country; from Amsterdam to the nearest place where there was deep
water on the sea. This was at a point of land called the Helder.

The reason why there was deep water there, was, that that was the outlet
for the Zuyder Zee, and the water rushing in there when the tide is
rising, and out again when it goes down, keeps the channel deep and
clear.

So it was determined to make a canal from the Helder to Amsterdam. But
the land was lower, almost all the way, than the sea. This rendere