The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1871-01-19
Taiass abroad.
THE NETHERLANDS.

The distinguished French critic, NJ.
Taiue, lately issued volume entitled
" In the Netherlands" from which the
following interesting extract has been
taken:
IL becomes necessary to study the soil
and the sky of the Netherlands; in de.
fault of travel take the next best thing,
map. Except the mountainous dis.
trlct to the southeast, the Netherlands
consist OF watcry plain formed out OF
the deposits of three large rivcrs-thc
Rhine, the Mouse and the Schcldt, be
sides several smaller streams Add to
this, numerous inlets, ponds and marshes.
The country is an outflow of mighty
waters, which as they reach it, become
sluggish and remain stagnant for want
ola fall. Dig hole anywhere and
water comes. Examine the landscapes
Of Van der Ncer and you will obtaiu
some idea Of the vast sluggish streams
which, on approaching the sea, become
a league wide and lie asleep, wallowiug
IN their beds like some huge Hat, Shiny
hsh, turbid and ieebly gllmmering with
scaly reflections. The plain is often
times below their level, aud is only
protected by leveeS OF earth. You feel
as II some oil them we're going to give
way; mist is constantly rising from
their surfaces, and at night dense fog
envelopes all things IN blush humid,
NY. FOLLOW them down to the sea, and
here second and more violent inunda-
ton, arising from the daily tide, com.
p'etes the work OF the first. The north.
err ocean IS hostile to man. Look at
the "Estacade OF Ru5sdael, and the
frequent tempests casting up rudy
waves aud monstrous foaming pillows of
the low, Hat band OF earth already half
submerged by the enlargement OF the
rivers. A belt OF Islands, some OF them
equal to hull OF department indicates,
along the coast, this choking up of in.
land currents and the assaults of the
sea-Waicheren, North aud South Be
veland, lholen, Schouwan, Voorn, Beler'
land, Texel, Vlieilnd and others. Some.
times the ocean runs up aud forms inner
seas like that OF Harlem, or deep CULTS
Ike the Auyder Zee. If Belgium is an
alluvlal expanse, formed by the rivers,
Holland is simply deposit of mud
surrounded by water. Add to all this
an 'unpropitious soil and rigorous eli
mate, and you are tempted to conclude
that the country was not made for man,
but Tor storks aud beavers.
When the first Germanic tribes came
to encamp here it was still worse 10
the time OF Caesar aud Strabo there was
nothing but swampy forest. Travel
ers narrate that one could pass from
tree to tree all over Holland without
touching the ground. The uprooted
oaks falling into the streams formed
RATS, as nowadays on tile Mississippi,
and barred the way to the Roman flo
tillas. The Wael, the Meuse and the
Scheldt annually overhowed their banks,
the water covering the fiat country
around to great distance. Autumual
tempests every year submerge the island
OF Batavia, while 10 Holland the line of
the coast changed constantly. Rain
fell necessarily, and the fog was as i'm
pcnetrab!e as in Russian America; day
light lasted only three or four hours.
A solid coating OF ice annually covered
the Rhine. Civilization, meanwhile, as
the soil became cleared, tempered the
climate; the rude Holland OF that day
possessed the climate OF Norway. Elan
ders, four centuries after the invasion,
was still called "the interminable and
merclless forest. In ll97 the country
about Waes, now garden, remained
untitled, the monks on 1t being beslesed
by wolves. ln the fourteenth century
droves OF wild horses roaIned through
the forests OF Holland. The sea en-.
croached on the land. Ghent was n
seaport IN the ninth century, Thoroat'