Kitabı oku: «The Mentor: Holland, v. 2, Num. 6, Serial No. 58», sayfa 4

HOLLAND By DWIGHT L. ELMENDORF

Lecturer and Traveler

THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL · MAY 1, 1914

Holland has been described as a “country of unpainted pictures.” That is the artist’s point of view; for his eye takes in the picturesque possibilities of the subject. To us it seems as if Holland is of all countries the one most often seen in pictures. While, no doubt, there are many “untouched pictures” in the miles of level Dutch landscape, art has surely shown a generous recognition of Holland’s attractive scenery, and has celebrated its picturesqueness to all the rest of the world. Holland is a country of dikes and level meadow lands, of windmills and canals. From the point of view of an aëronaut the Dutch cities look like a map of Mars. This is especially true of Amsterdam, which, viewed from above, appears to be a network of canals. These canals are an attractive feature of the cities. In some cases the whole street is canal; in other cases the street is both “wet and dry” – a canal flanked by a street.

Imagine a country, in some spots lower than the sea, maintaining its existence only by constant vigilance and industry, fighting for its very life through the changing seasons against the one great enemy, water. The dunes or sand hills which line the coast serve as a barrier against the sea. These are reinforced by coarse grass, which holds the sand together. In some places the dikes are made of earth, sand, and clay, held together by willows, which are carefully planted so as to form a binder. In other places dikes are built of stone. The dikes are the fortifications against the inroads of the ocean, and also the floods in the rivers that flow through Holland to the sea.

When there are heavy rains in Germany the Rhine brings down a great additional volume of water, which has to be checked by the dikes and led away by the canals. Holland’s fight against water has been a warfare of varying fortunes. At times in the past dikes have been broken, great tracts of land have been inundated, and thousands of people drowned.

The Dutch are a careful, plodding, and industrious people, and they have profited by experience. As a result they are now not only holding their water enemy in check, but they have actually advanced upon the sea, and have taken from it sufficient territory to add materially to their cultivated lands. But the contest with the rivers and the sea has to be constant. A special body of engineers is appointed to look after the work, and the Dutch government spends annually several million dollars to keep the dikes in order and hold the ground. Water is confined in canals and in large basins; and the ever-faithful windmill, when not otherwise engaged, is employed to pump the water from the lowlands.

DIKES AND WINDMILLS

The dikes and the windmills are the two great factors of physical and commercial life in Holland. The dike safeguards the land; the windmill fans the currents of trade. Whether corn is to be ground, timber sawed, tobacco cut, paper manufactured, or water pumped, the long arms of the mill perform a willing and efficient service while the wind blows. The importance of the dike is reflected in the names of many Dutch towns. The word dam or dike is to be found almost everywhere. Amsterdam is the “dike” of the River Amstel (ahm´-stel); Rotterdam, the “dike” of the River Rotte; Zaandam (zahn-dahm´), the “dike” of the River Zaan – and so on. The thought of the protecting dike was generally in mind when a town was founded. The windmill is not only an untiring servant of industry, but is a sign of Dutch prosperity as well. You may hear it said of a Hollander, “He is worth ten millions.” You are quite as likely to hear it said, “He is worth ten windmills.”

It required dogged determination and persevering energy to make the history of Holland. The Dutch people successfully resisted Spanish domination at a time when Spain was a supreme world power, and then they built up a government of their own in a country where they had to fight for the very existence of the land. In government administration, in thrift and commercial enterprise, in exploration and colonization, in literature, and in arts, Holland has proved herself to be a wonderful little country. She has had much to say in the Congress of Nations. One of her chief cities, The Hague, is identified in everyone’s mind with one of the most important world movements of modern times, – the International Peace Conference.

The population of Holland does not exceed 6,000,000, and there are only four towns having a population exceeding 100,000, – Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam (rot´-er-dam; Dutch, rot-ter-dahm´), and Utrecht (u´-trekt; Dutch, oo´-trekt).

AMSTERDAM

This most interesting city is situated where the River Amstel enters the Zuyder Zee (zy´-der zee; Danish, zoi´-der zay). Just where the city lies there is an arm of the sea which goes by the odd name of Y or Ij (pronounced eye). Amsterdam is the chief commercial city of Holland; though in some branches of business Rotterdam disputes its supremacy. The city is of odd, semicircular shape, and is intersected by canals, which run in curves like the rows of seats in an amphitheater. Each of these semicircular canals marks the line of the city walls and moat at different times. Other canals cross these in such a manner as to cut the city up into a number of islands. The old part of the city lies in the very center, inclosed by the inner semicircular canal. At one end of this canal is the “Weepers’ Tower,” which takes its name from the fact that it stands at the head of what was the old harbor, and was the scene, therefore, in ancient times, of many sad leavetakings. There wives and sweethearts said goodby to the men who went “down to the sea in ships.”

Amsterdam is supposed to have originated about 1204, when Gysbrecht II, Lord of Amstel, built a castle there. It came to be really important about the end of the sixteenth century, when the wars with Spain had ruined Antwerp, and many merchants, manufacturers, and artists left there and settled in Amsterdam. The population of the city today is close to 600,000, and it is one of the busiest markets in Europe, doing a large business in imports, especially in the products of the Dutch colonies.

The city, moreover, is very beautiful. The main canals are lined with avenues of elms, and they offer a picturesque appearance and a pleasant shade. The streets are full of life, and their interest is enhanced by the varied activities of those who walk and ride on the paved roads and others who ply oddly constructed boats through the waterways.