A HANDBOOK

FOR

TRAVELLERS ON THE CONTINENT.

SECTION I.

HOLLAND.

INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION.

1. Passports. 2. Money.-3. Custom House. -4. Travelling in Holland: Roads, Railways, Posting, and Diligences. —5. Travelling by Water, Trekschuit.- -6. Water.-7. Inns. -8. General View of Holland.-9. Dykes.10. Canals. 11. Polders. 12. Dunes. 13. Gardens and Summer Houses. 14. Dutch School of Painting; Picture Galleries in Holland. 15. Some Peculiarities of Dutch Manners.

ROUTES.

(In the Table of Contents throughout this book the names of places are printed in italics only in those Routes where they are described.)

PERSONS going direct to Rotterdam, or any other Dutch port, may obtain a passport from the Dutch consul, 123. Fenchurch Street, who makes a charge of 5s. If provided with another passport, they had better, at least, secure a Dutch minister's signature to it. Little strictness, however, is now observed in Holland regarding passports; but the traveller must nevertheless be provided with one.

A Prussian, French, or Belgian passport, properly visé, will answer perfectly well for travelling in Holland.

B

2. MONEY.

Accounts are kept in guilders and cents.

The Guilder, or Dutch florin, is worth 1s. 8d. English. It is divided into 20 stivers, and into 100 cents: 1 stiver = 5 cents, is worth 1 penny English.

When the ducat has its full weight, it is generally taken for 5 guilders 60 cents but its current value changes with the value of gold. Travellers ought, therefore, to provide themselves only with Williams, which are the newest gold coins: they have also the advantage of being current all over Germany. £30 35 Williams, after deducting commission.

The difference between cents and centimes should be borne in mind. Cent, a Dutch and Belgian coin, is the of a guilder, or of 1s. 8d. Centime, a

French coin, is the part of a franc, or of 10d. The cent is nearly equal to 2 centimes, and is worth about a of a penny English. The guilder is worth 2 French francs 5 sous.

Travellers should provide themselves with Dutch money at Rotterdam, or at the first town of Holland they enter, as French coins are not current here as they are in Belgium. The new Dutch coins are current also in Belgium, and up the Rhine as far as Cologne.

3. CUSTOM-HOUSE.

The Dutch custom-house officers are usually civil, and by no means troublesome in examining the baggage of persons not travelling with merchandise. A small fee here, as elsewhere, may expedite and tend to lighten the search in the traveller's portmanteau, but civility and a readiness to lay open the baggage is better still. As a general rule in this and other countries of the continent, parties travelling in their own carriage are subjected to very little inconvenience from the custom-house officers.

4. ROADS, POSTING, RAILROADS, DILIGENCES, AND MAPS.

Posting. The posting regulations introduced into Holland by the French still remain in force, and are nearly identical with those adopted in France and Belgium. The charges fixed by the tarif (1834) are 70 cents for every horse per post, making one guilder 41 cents for 2 horses, and 2 guilders 12 cents for 3 horses per post. The postilion is entitled to 35 cents per post; but, as in France, is restricted to the sum which the law allows only when he has not given satisfaction to his employers.

Half a post more than the real distance must be paid on entering and

quitting the Hague and Amsterdam. Where the roads are bad, the postmaster is allowed to attach an extra horse to carriages; in some cases, in winter only; in others, throughout the year.

Disputes about charges and distances may be settled by reference to the Post-book published by the Dutch Government, entitled, Afstandswijzer voor de Stations der Koninklijke Nederlandsche Paardenposterij. The traveller in Holland is at liberty, if he pleases, to demand the strict observance of the laws contained in the post-book, regarding the number of horses and the charges for them. But custom is somewhat at variance with the post-book; and it is the common practice to charge one guilder for each horse per post, and to give one guilder also to the postilion. This is much dearer than the tarif, but to make up for it, the traveller is not bound to take the number of horses required by the tarif, but a party of 4 or 5 may be drawn by 2 horses instead of 3.

The Dutch post is somewhat less than 5 English miles. The Dutch league (ure gaans), or the distance a man will walk in an hour, is 5555 métres=34 English miles.

Diligences. On all the great roads numerous diligences run several times a day. They are very precise in the time of starting. They belong to private individuals or companies licensed by government. The best are those of Van Gend and Co.; they are roomy and convenient, travel at the rate of about 6 miles an hour, and are usually drawn by 3 horses yoked abreast. If more persons apply for places than can be accommodated in the coach, an additional carriage, or "by-chaise," is prepared, by which the passenger may proceed at the same rate of fare as by the main diligence. The fares between some of the principal towns are —

A job carriage (glaswagan) with two horses may be hired for 14 guilders per diem, when taken for several days in succession, the same sum being charged for back fare. The cost of a carriage from Rotterdam to Amsterdam may be reckoned at 35 or 40 guilders, tolls included, and 2 or 3 guilders to the driver. The average expense of a hired carriage and horses is about th less than in England.

Roads.In the central provinces of Holland, which are most visited by the English, the roads are excellent; in those more remote, such as Friesland, Drenthe, Groningen, Overyssel, they are wretchedly bad, and, in wet weather, barely passable. As there are no stones in a large part of Holland, it may naturally excite wonder that there are any roads at all; but the want of stones is supplied by a small and tough kind of brick, or clinker, which, after the foundation of the road is levelled, are placed edgewise close together, and the interstices filled with sand, so as to form a hard, smooth, and level highway, very pleasant to travel over. The average cost of making such a road is about 17,000 guild., more than 1400l. per English mile. As all heavy goods are conveyed by water, the wear and tear on the roads, traversed almost entirely by light carriages, is not very great. In many parts the roads run on the tops of the dykes; and, as there are no parapets or railings, there is at least the appearance of danger, and accidents sometimes happen.

The tolls are very high, sometimes equalling in one stage the expense of

one post-horse. A carriage with 4 wheels and 2 horses pays from 6 to 8 stivers at each turnpike; and a toll generally occurs every 3 miles English. The passage money for crossing ferries is also high.

Railroads (Iszeren-spoorweg) are opened from Amsterdam to Haarlem, the Hague, and Rotterdam, and from Amsterdam to Utrecht, and to Arnheim. The latter is made by the government, and is to be continued on to Duisberg to join the Prussian line to Cologne. The engines are made in England. The Dutch railways are generally well managed, and the stationhouses well arranged, presenting a striking contrast to those of Belgium. 2nd class carriages are protected from the weather: they are usually fitted up as chars-a-banc. Vigilantes (cabs) and omnibuses ply to and from the stations.

The line from Rotterdam to Amsterdam deserves the attention of the engineer, from the number of canals which it has to cross, which presented considerable difficulty, overcome by ingenious expedients, such as rolling and swing-bridges. A large part of the line is founded on piles, often under water, and the roadway is laid on faggots bound together by stakes and wattles.

The best English Map of Holland and Belgium is that published by Mr. John Arrowsmith in 1835. The best foreign map is that of Casparus Muller.

5. TRAVELLING BY WATER. TREKSCHUITEN.

The canals of Holland are as numerous as roads in other countries, and afford the most abundant means of conveyance in every direction, and from all the larger towns, several times a day.

BARGES, called TREKSCHUITEN (drag-boats), navigate the canals, and convey passengers and goods; they are nearly filled by a long low cabin, divided by a partition into two parts; the fore-cabin, called ruim, appropriated to servants and common people; and the after-cabin, or roef (roof), set apart for the better classes, and a little more expensive; it is smaller, and will contain 8 or 10 persons. The roof has a small open space at the stern, where you can stand upright and breathe the air beside the steersman. It is generally fitted up with neatness, and may be engaged by a party exclusively for their own use. The barge is more commodious for night travelling and less fatiguing than the diligence, and the traveller may enjoy a comfortable sleep, provided the gnats permit. It must however be understood that Dutch people of any station rarely resort to the trekschuit.

The towing horse is ridden by a lad (het jagertie), who receives a few cents at each stage; and is well paid with a stiver. It is amusing to observe how quickly and neatly he passes the numerous bridges, disengaging the towingrope, and fastening it again, without impeding the progress of the vessel. Whenever the barge approaches another, coming in a contrary direction, the boatmen exchange the two monosyllables "huy" and "vull," indicating which is to go to the right and which to the left, and the one drops his rope for the other to pass over.

The advantages of the trekschuit are principally its cheapness. The usual cost of travelling by it is about a stiver a mile.

Its disadvantages are,— 1st, That being drawn by one horse only, it does not travel faster than 4 miles an hour. 2dly, Though the banks of the canal are often enlivened by gardens and villas, yet it sometimes happens that they are so high as to shut out all view, which is very tiresome and monotonous. 3dly, The annoyance of tobacco smoke: and, 4thly, the trekschuit almost invariably stops on the outside of the town to which it is bound, and does