Things Seen in Holland
On the canals the trekschuit (drawboat or water 'bus) is fast becoming a thing of the past. Here and there only a cumbersome kind of house-boat is to be met with, moving slowly by dint of a deal of poling and pulling. Of such is the venerable boat which plies between Edam and Volendam, along perhaps the dirtiest canal in Holland. It may be slow in its progress along this sewer, but it is a pleasing remembrance, that of having been towed by one of the members of the Nierop family. Like a mule does he harness himself to the “express-boat,” and like a tortoise does he plod along the yellow-bricked towpath. He is in no hurry, nor would you be were it not for the “emanations” from the canal and the duck-farms. There is, however, compensation in all things, and the vista as one approaches Volendam is not to be forgotten.
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