DERIVATION OF DUTCH NAMES.

229

places lined with bundles of hurdles or bushes, piled up with the ends of the branches cut square to form the surface next the water with a perpendicular front. The only locks necessary are those at each end to exclude the tide water, the whole distance being nearly a dead level. This part of the work appears to be constructed with solidity. It was commenced in 1819, and was finished in 1825, at an expense of about five millions of dollars.

There is about double the quantity of water in this comparatively short canal, that there is in the New-York canal.

It often excites the smile of a traveller in Holland, to hear so many names of places terminated by the word "dam." Upon inquiring of a Dutch gentleman the origin of this common termination of the proper names of so many places in Holland, he observed that" dams" signify dikes; and that when dikes were formed on the borders of the various rivers, the name of the river was prefixed to designate the particular dike. Roterdam thus having been originally built within the dikes on the marsh bordering on the river Roter, the place was called Roter-dam; and Amsterdam also derived its name in the same manner, by being located amid the dikes upon the borders of the river Amstel.

From the marshy situation of all these towns, the exhalation of moisture is excessive, and the air is loaded with vapors. Every piece of cold metal is coated with dewdrops during the changes of the temperature of the weather; and iron, it is stated, will rust here as much in eight days as in some other countries in a year. This tendency to rust and mildew keeps the good Dutch housewives constantly scrubbing, and probably promotes their habits of neatness.

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FAMILY OF A DUTCH PROFESSOR

ANATOMICAL HALL.

Our curiosity having been excited by the tower-shaped form of the wings of a brick building near our hotel, we inquired for what purpose it was used. On learning that it was a Cabinet of Anatomy, we forthwith entered it to view the collections. It proved to be neither so extensive nor interesting as some others we had previously seen; but the keeper was himself an object of curiosity, to make amends for our disappointment; and attracted our attention more than the specimens of osteology which he exhibited. The old gentleman wore an ancient brown wig, and stepped about the apartments with a precise measured pace, occasionally putting himself into the posture of an orator, as Mr. Jefferson observed of the Indian who gave the account of the last of the mammoths, and of their huge bones.

He has made himself literally quite at home in these anatomical chambers; for he has removed not only his bed and board to them, but also his wife and maid. They all live together in the very anatomical halls, and cook and eat in the midst of human bones and pickled flesh,the living surrounded by the remains of the dead. The maid was busily employed in cooking the dinner at one of the great fire places of a dissecting room, whilst in an adjoining apartment, the wife, with a skeleton at her elbow, was calmly engaged in shelling peas into her dinner-pot. The appearance of the skeletons, it must be confessed, was softened and rendered somewhat less shocking, by being invested with the cast-off gowns and bonnets of the old lady; but their white bony toes projected from beneath the faded calico drapery, and the jaws studded with broad rows of enamelled teeth, like a zone of huge pearls, grinned a ghastly smile above the knots of the tarnished bonnet

strings,

LIVING AMONG SKELETONS.

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Peeping beneath one of the bonnets, I was astonished at finding, as in the Ghost in Hamlet, that there was no "speculation in those eyes." Strong indeed must be the effect of habit, when it can render these objects, generally so revolting to females, so familiar as to be regarded as mere articles of household furniture.

The old gentleman pointed out to us, preserved in a transparent glass jar filled with spirits, a slice of the arm of a sailor, on which was imprinted in Indian ink, in the manner still frequently practised by mariners in their hours of idle relaxation on ship board, the figure of an anchor and of some other devices, together with the date, which was as early as Van Tromp's time. One may readily imagine, on viewing it, that he beholds an arm once active in winning laurels for that gallant old Dutch admiral. Some of the specimens of skulls and other bones, wasted away by venereal taints, until nought but a honey comb remained, convey the most impressive warning against the guilt and the consequences of sensual indulgence.

On a fine summer afternoon, we rode out to the country seat of an eminent Dutch merchant, about a dozen miles from Amsterdam, on the shore of the Zuyder Sea. The soil here rises in ridges just above the reach of the highest tides, a circumstance that seems to stamp a value on this favored spot. The gardens are laid out tastefully, and there are fine walks beneath the shade of rows of ancient trees. By the aid of the artificial heat of green houses, peaches are produced here of the rich flavor which they possess in less humid climates and beneath brighter skies. The soil, although originally sandy, is enriched by cultivation. It is common in Holland for the wealthy merchants to have country seats, to which they retire for relaxation in the intervals of their business cares, as it was once customary in the New-England States, in the days of their most lucrative commerce. But mercantile affairs in modern

232

TEA-HOUSES.-ANNOUNCERS OF DEATH.

times require more attention and management, owing to the increased competition and diminished profits in every branch; and the unintermitted application to the careful pursuits hardly leaves leisure any where for bestowing much time and expense on country seats. The interval between the sailing of a ship and her expected return like that of the absence of lovers, was passed in golden dreams and restless anxiety. An humbler mode of enjoying the country air seems to be prevalent among the tradesmen of this city. Great numbers resort to the pleasure gardens in the vicinity on a Sunday afternoon, and drink tea—the favorite beverage of Holland. Multitudes of tea kettles send up their hissing steam at the elbows of citizens, who sip cups of hot tea at the plesaure gardens, instead of glasses of wine or spirituous liquors.

Ceremony of the announcement of death. Among the peculiar customs which strike a stranger on passing through the streets of Amsterdam, is that of announcing to relatives and acquaintances in a formal way, by a special messenger dressed in a peculiar costume, the demise of a citizen of Amsterdam. On seeing a couple of these messengers, I inquired of a friend, who are those two men dressed in suits of black, like clergymen, with cocked hats and long bands or collars of white linen, each carrying in his hand a roll of paper, which they unwind and read, after stopping and rapping here and there at a door as they pass along? These, he replied, are the Announcers of Death, and they act as a sort of official undertakers. They are furnished with lists of the acquaintances of the deceased, and are employed to notify them of his death.

At a small party assembled at the house of a friend, I saw a venerable lady dressed in sable vestments, with two long strips of white muslin hanging down her back, instead of in front, like the bands appended to the necks of the Announcers of Death. I inquired for what purpose, either

COSTUME OF WIDOWS -VISITS TO LADIES. 233

of custom or fashion, does she wear those long white pennons? It appears from the answer given me, that this is the usual costume of a widow in Amsterdam, in her weeds of mourning.

Peat, as is well known, is the fuel generally used by the inhabitants of Holland. It is procured in abundance from the marshes of Holland; and immense excavations, filled with water, resembling small lakes, are observable in some parts of the country, from whence the fuel consumed during a long succession of ages has been excavated.

I had almost began to suppose that cakes of peat were used for the food of horses as well as for fuel, when I saw the drivers deposit square pieces of a substance, that I mistook for peat, before the horses, who ate the blocks of the apparently fibrous and unsavory food, with keen appetites. Upon closer examination, however, I discovered my error; for the square blocks proved to be the brown loaves of bread made of coarse grain, such as oats and rye mingled with chopped hay or chaff, and baked expressly as a portable sort of horse-bread. These loaves of bread may be seen lying in the bottom of the wagons and other vehicles, ready for use at a stopping place, as a substitute for corn or oats.

In conversation with a gentleman of Amsterdam, who has travelled over most parts of the United States, he observed that it is never customary in Holland for young gentlemen to visit ladies in the evening, on the terms of intimacy common in the United States, unless matrimonial engagements authorize them to join the family circle around the domestic fire-side. The calls of acquaintances are made formally, in the morning.

Much time and ceremony are required in going through the formalities of a Dutch dinner, the courses of each kind of viand being distinct, and a second not being introduced