A HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELLERS ON THE CONTINENT. SECTION I. HOLLAND. INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION. 1. Passports. - 2. Money. - 3. Custom House. - 4. Travelling in Holland : Roads, 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 tables 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, must obtain a passport from the Dutch consul, 123. Fenchurch Street, who makes a charge of 5s.; or if provided with another passport, they must, at least, secure a Dutch minister's signature to it. One of the routes most commonly taken by travellers, is that by Holland, up the Rhine, returning through Belgium, or by Belgium returning through Holland; but at present, while the differences between Holland and Belgium are still unsettled, a passport of the one country will on no account be admitted in the other, and neither of the respective ministers will sign a passport issued by the other. They who desire to visit both countries had better take either an English Secretary of State's passport, or a Prussian consul's passport, which the two ministers will not object to countersign. Even then, in order to go from the one country into the other, they must be provided with a special permission to pass the outposts on the frontiers, from the Prince of Orange, at the Hague, and the Belgian authorities at Brussels. The English ministers at the two courts will procure such an order for any of their countrymen who desire it, and will also exchange a Belgian or Dutch passport for an English one, to enable a British subject to proceed on his journey. The permission requested by the ambassador is forwarded by post to the frontier, awaiting the traveller's arrival. Delays, however, constantly occur in the transmission of it. Hired carriages belonging to either of the two countries must be changed at the frontier. 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. Silver Coins. - The guilder (or Dutch florin) guilder (a very common coin) 1 guilder, or dubbeljtie guilder Ducatoon 3-guilder pieces Zealand (Zeeuwsche) rixdollar Rixdollar Cents. Stivers. s. d. = 100 = 20 = 1 8 = = 25 = 5=05 10 = 202 Gold Coins - The William (Willem) Willem The following are less common : The gold ryder Ducat Travel The current value of the ducat changes with the value of gold. lers 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 Belgium coin, is the Too of a guilder, or of 1s. 8d. Centime, a French coin, is the Too part of a franc, or of 10d. The cent is nearly equal to 2 centimes, and is worth about of a penny English. 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. Dutch money is current also in Belgium, and up the Rhine as far as Cologne. The Dutch custom-house officers are usually civil, and by no means troublesome in examining the baggage of persons not travelling with merchandize. 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. 1 4. TRAVELLING IN HOLLAND. - ROADS, POSTING, DILIGENCES, AND MAP. 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 1 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 New Post-book published in 1834 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, and travel at the rate of about 6 miles an hour. 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. "A hired carriage, or glaswagen, capable of holding 6 persons and a servant, from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, by Leyden, costs upwards of 40 guilders, including tolls and all expences, except a gratuity of 3 or 4 guilders to the driver, who provides for himself and horses. A calèche costs less." W. M. T. The average expense of a hired carriage and horses is about 4th 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 any roads at all: but the want of stones is supplied by a small and tough kind of brick, or clinker, which after the в 2 foundation of the road is levelled, are placed edgewise close together, and the interstices are filled with sand, so as to make 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. 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 divided 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 10 or 12 persons. It is generally fitted up with neatness, and may be engaged by a party exclusively for their own use. 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 towing-rope, and fastening it again, without impeding the progress of the vessel. The advantages of the trekschuit are principally its cheapness. The usual cost of travelling by it is about a stiver a mile, and these are the charges between some of the principal towns: 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, Though separated from the other cabin by a partition, the tenant of the roof is liable to be annoyed by tobacco smoke, and the sometimes boisterous mirth of his fellow-travellers in the ruim: and, 4thly, The trekschuit almost invariably stops on the outside of the town to which it is bound, and does not enter it. Hence you have sometimes to walk more than a mile to reach an inn, and are compelled to intrust your luggage to porters, who, though they do not deserve the character of thieves, which Mrs. Starke has bestowed on them, at least are most exorbitant in their charges; so that you are compelled to pay sometimes twice as much for the carriage of a portmanteau and bag into a town as for the whole passage by the boat. Still, notwithstanding all these désagrémens, for the mere novelty of the thing, no one should visit Holland without making trial of this, the national conveyance. Even those who travel in their own carriage should send it round by the road, and take their passage in a trekschuit for one stage, either from Delft to the Hague, or the Hague to Leyden, or Amsterdam to Haarlem. The communication is kept up constantly between all the great towns of Holland and the intervening places by trekschuits. A boat sets out several times a day, starting with the greatest punctuality; and if a passenger be not on board at the stroke of the clock, he runs a risk of losing his passage. 6. WATER. In the provinces of Holland, bordering on the sea, the water is generally very bad, not drinkable; and strangers should be careful to avoid it altogether, except externally, or they may suffer from bowel complaints, and be delayed on their journey. In many parts, good drinking water is brought in large stone bottles from Utrecht; so that Utrecht water must be asked for at inns. As a substitute for spring water, the effervescent waters of Seltzer, Geilnau, and Fachingen, all coming from the Brunnen of Nassau, are much drunk at meals: a large bottle costs about 5d. A very agreeable beverage is formed by mixing these waters with Rhenish or Moselle wine and sugar: some consider red Bordeaux wine with a little lemon juice and sugar added to the Seltzer water, a more palatable drink, 7. INNS. Holland is an expensive country to live in; the wages of labour and taxes are very high; the inns are consequently very dear, nearly as dear as in England. Notwithstanding which, they are on the whole, inferior to those of most other countries of Western Europe. "Having entered Holland, the traveller must be prepared for extortion; during his stay in Holland, he must expect but little civility." These are the words of the author of " Dates and Distances;" and the editor of the present work has met with many examples confirmatory of the remark, though there are, of course, exceptions. Dutch inns and beds are, however, generally clean. Charges. A bed-room, which may also be used as a sitting room, costs, on an average, from 1 to 3 guilders; dinner at the table d'hôte, 15 to 2 guilders ; ditto in private, 2 to 3 guilders; breakfast with tea or coffee, 60 cents. 8. A GENERAL VIEW OF HOLLAND. There is not, perhaps, a country in Europe which will more surprise an intelligent traveller than Holland. Although so near our coasts, and so easily accessible, it is seldom explored by the English, but rather passed over by them in their haste to reach the picturesque scenes of the Rhine and Switzerland. The attractions of Holland are certainly of a different kind; but they are of a character so entirely peculiar, that whether a traveller visit this country at the outset or termination of his tour, he will be equally sure to find in it what is to be seen nowhere else. The routes from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, and thence to Cologne, described in the following pages, may be fully explored in a fortnight; and there is certainly no road in Europe which in so small a space has so many curiosities to show, and upon which lie so many cities, great in commerce and renowned in history. As a country to reside in, Holland appears hardly endurable: but for a journey of two weeks the universal flatness and the monotony of scenery are not tiresome. The aspect of the country is too strange to fatigue. |