at a great variety of manufactures, among which are leather, woollen,
and linen articles,--also, paper, wax, starch, pottery, and tiles.
Large quantities of gin are likewise made, and this liquor is in
England called "Hollands" for that reason. Carts are not much used by
the Dutch; their goods are carried on sledges, very light waggons, and
boats. The reason of this is, that they are afraid lest the wheels of
vehicles should injure the foundations of their cities, which are
generally built on piles of huge trees, driven like stakes into the
bog beneath. The common people are very humane to their cattle; they
rub down the cows and oxen, and keep them as clean and sleek as our
English horses. Canals run through the principal streets, and in
winter they are frozen over for two or three months, when the whole
country is like a fair; booths are erected upon the ice, with fires in
them. The country people skate to market, with milk and vegetables;
and every kind of sport is seen on the frozen canals. Sledges fly from
one street to another, gaily decorated, and numberless skaters glide
about with astonishing swiftness and dexterity. No people skate so
well as the Dutch.

[Illustration]

Holland was once a quagmire, almost covered with water; but by making
canals higher than the land, and pumping the water out of the fields
into them, the land was drained. The bogs are numerous, and supply so
much turf that little else is burned. There are no beggars; and the
people are in general pretty warmly clothed, and comfortable looking,
with ruddy faces. The townspeople are dressed almost like the
Londoners, or Parisians; but the costume of the country folks is
rather funny. A farmer's wife, when out for a holiday, wears a large
kind of gipsy hat, like a small umbrella, lined with damask; a close
jacket with long flaps; and full short thick coloured petticoats. Her
slippers are yellow, her stockings blue, and her cap is without a
border, being made to fit her head exactly, and gaily ornamented with
gold filagree clasps; while her costume is finished by a pair of
earrings and a necklace. The farmer himself wears a hat without a rim,
and huge silver buttons on his coat; and keeps whiffing away at his
pipe, which he is seldom without. The Dutch are most excellent
gardeners, though they sometimes ruin themselves by their love for
flowers.

Among the articles that have been sent here from Switzerland, are
several well worth looking at,