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Arrival in Holland.—Amsterdam.—Dutch Architecture.—Picture Galleries.—Mr. Costa’s Diamond-cutting Works.—The Haarlem Lake.—A Dutch Cattle-stable.—Utrecht.—The Students’ Festival.

I arrived in Amsterdam at midday on the 16th of June. My worthy friend, Colonel Steuerwald, was waiting for me in the harbor. This gentleman is one of my oldest traveling acquaintances. I first met him on my journey from Gothenburg to Stockholm, afterward encountered him again at Batavia, and here again in his own native land, where he welcomed me in the heartiest manner, and introduced me at once to his family circle.

I staid in Holland till the 2d of July, and had an opportunity of traveling through the greater part of this interesting country; but I will merely indicate what I saw in as few words as possible, for it does not come within the scope of my book to give detailed accounts of well-known lands and cities.

The thing that struck me most in Amsterdam was the architecture of the houses, which I can best liken to the old German style, as seen, for instance, in Magdeburg. The houses, inhabited generally by a single family, are very narrow, from two to four stories high, terminating in fronted or rounded gable roofs. They are built of brick stained with a dark brown tint, and in some instances ornamented with arabesques. The streets have a singular appearance. The houses stand in straight rows, but do not by any means rise in a perpendicular line. In some the under, in others the upper, and in others, again, the middle story, bulges out beyond the rest, the deviation from the perpendicular frequently exceeding a foot. It would seem that such houses were peculiarly liable to fall in; but, from the dates over the doors, I found that the majority had stood for one, and not a few for two centuries. The narrow steep staircase is a great drawback in Dutch houses. One ought to be a born Hollander, and accustomed from childhood to the task of climbing these stairs, to look upon them with equanimity, especially as in any of these lofty narrow houses one seems to be mounting and descending the stairs all day long. I need scarcely say that the houses of the rich, the hotels, and similar buildings, are free from this inconvenience.

Equally surprised was I to notice that in houses where the ground floor is arranged as a shop, the whole width of the front is thus occupied, and no room left for a private door. The cook with her market-basket, the water-carrier with his pails, the housewife and the visitors, have all to go through warehouses sometimes filled with costly wares arranged to the best advantage. Of course, too, the shop-door must be left open on Sundays and holidays as on ordinary occasions.

These inconveniences are all caused by the high price of the ground. Every one knows with what labor the greater part of the Dutch soil was won from the sea, and how expensive it is to build on ground where the foundation must be almost created, so to speak, by driving heavy piles. Generally the building below the ground costs quite as much as all the rest of the structure.

Amsterdam is intersected by numerous canals, all sufficiently broad, and crossed by 250 bridges. This town might indeed be called the Venice of the North, but that the marble palaces, the bustle and life of the southern people, the crowd of passing gondolas, and the melodious songs of the boatmen, are all wanting. Amsterdam has, however, one advantage over Venice in possessing fine broad streets running parallel with the canals, so that carriages can be used in traversing the city. Many of the streets are adorned with tall stately trees, which make the town look very fresh and pleasant.

There are some handsome buildings, but none of remarkable appearance except the royal palace—the council-house of old times. This is built in a grand style, and beautified with excellent sculpture.

I must farther mention a few peculiarities of Amsterdam which greatly surprised me. The first was, that in this great city of 200,000 inhabitants there are no stands for hired carriages; whoever wants to drive out must send to the stable-keeper’s house, and wait until the horses are harnessed. Another peculiarity struck me as very original: in the middle of summer people may be seen traversing the paved streets in sledges. These sledges—low carriage bodies mounted on frames of wood and iron without wheels—are called “steepkoets,” and are used chiefly by old people. The pace is very slow, but the traveling comfortable enough.

The Zoological Garden, adjoining the town, is spacious and tastefully laid out. The number of foreign animals is considerable, and had just been increased by the arrival of several giraffes. The classes of birds and reptiles were very fully represented.

The Museum contains a valuable collection of sea-shells and land-snails.

I visited two picture galleries, the Trippenhuis collection and that of Herr van der Hoop. The word van, by the way, unlike the German von, is not an indication of nobility; every Hollander may prefix it to his name. The principal pictures I saw were “The Watchmen and——,” by Rembrandt; Van der Helst’s “Meal;” Steen’s “Feast of St. Nicholas;” and the “School by Moonlight” of Dow. The two galleries can boast of many masterpieces by the above-mentioned artists and by various others, as Ruysdael, Wouvermans, Ostade, etc.

The Van der Hoop gallery is in the Academy, and was a bequest from the proprietor. The Academy hesitated long before accepting the valuable present, the institution then lacking funds to pay the high legacy-duty.

I was much interested during my visit to the diamond-cutting works of Herr Costa, reputed to be the chief establishment of the kind in existence. The Dutch enjoy an acknowledged pre-eminence over all the nations of Europe in the art of cutting diamonds; but in India they have found their masters, as is proved by the great diamond in the possession of the sultan, which was cut in Upper India. This diamond, the largest known to exist, though convex on the under side, has been cut in facets of uniform size, with an amount of skill which even the Hollanders are unable to emulate.

The size of the manufactory is very striking when one considers the smallness of the objects manipulated; the building is more than a hundred feet long and three stories high.

The various operations are conducted in the following way: the rough diamond passes first into the hands of the planer, then into those of the cutter, and finally is handed to the grinder. The first of these operators removes any defects that may be in the stone with a sharp diamond, wherewith he files the gem, and then chips off the faulty piece. The cutter gives the stone its proper shape by getting rid of the corners and inequalities in the same way. The dust obtained by these operations is carefully collected and husbanded, for the use of it is indispensable in grinding the diamond. The grinder uses a leaden bullet inclosed in wood, with the upper portion softened in the fire, so that the stone may be pressed into it as far as necessary. The diamond is then ground on a steel plate, on which a little diamond-dust has been strewn. The great art consists in making the facets and corners perfectly even, whereby the fire and beauty of the diamond are greatly increased.

The turning of the grinding machine (by steam power) is so rapid that the steel disk does not seem to move at all; it makes two thousand revolutions per minute.

A great deal is lost by this grinding; thus the English crown diamond Kôh-i-Noor was reduced one fourth in size on being cut the second time. The first cutting of this beautiful diamond had proved a failure, and in 1852 the English government sent for a Dutch workman from Herr Costa’s establishment to cut the stone artistically. The work occupied the lapidary for six months, and the mere working expenses, apart from any profit, which indeed the proprietor of the factory, Herr Costa, would not accept, amounted to four thousand Dutch guilders, or something more than £330 sterling. In Herr Costa’s works, of which he is sole owner, 125 workmen are employed, of whom five are planers, thirty cutters, and ninety grinders. These men earn each from thirty to seventy and eighty Dutch guilders per week.

In Amsterdam I saw also the sugar-refining works of Messrs. Spakler, Neoten, and Fetterode. The sugar is refined by means of steam-engines. I have seen the same thing done in other countries. This manufactory turns out about 5,000,000 kilos (about 4885 tons, English weight) of sugar every year. The greatest establishment of the kind in Holland manufactures 16,000,000 kilos, and the entire produce amounts to 80,000,000.

Very near Amsterdam lies the famous Haarlem Lake, the draining of which may be certainly reckoned among the most gigantic undertakings of the present century. Where a few years ago great ships sailed, and where the fisherman spread his nets, thousands of cows now graze, and beauteous fields and meadows smile with verdure; nay, scattered houses, already fast increasing, will soon probably expand into towns and villages.

The pumping out of this lake, which was about thirteen feet deep, was begun in February, 1849, and the whole great work was completed in four years. Engines of 400-horse power were set up in three different places; each of these engines raised the pistons of eight pumps six times a minute, and poured out the water into the canals leading to the sea. The twenty-four pumps of the three engines discharged 20,340 kilderkins of water per minute.

The area of land thus gained amounts to no less than 60,000 English acres. The cultivation of this great tract was begun as early as 1853.

Herr Muyskens, who had the kindness to show me this new wonder of the world, is the owner of a fair tract of the land, from which he carried the first harvest last year. His house, too, was finished, and had been built with much taste. Here I first saw how far the Hollanders’ predilection for cattle-breeding leads them; the cow-stable was indisputably the handsomest part of the house. It must be borne in mind, however, that the greater part of the Dutch soil consists of rich pastures and meadows, and that stock-breeding is the chief source of the Dutchman’s wealth; it is thus reasonable enough that every possible effort should be made to develop this branch of farming. But I had scarcely expected that their anxiety should go so far as to procure for the cows cleaner and more comfortable dwellings than many well-to-do people can boast in the less civilized countries of Europe, to say nothing of other quarters of the world. The cow-house monopolized the greater part of the building: its windows, of a handsome oval form, were absolutely festooned with white curtains, looped up with gay ribbons. The entrance door, of which the upper part was glazed, also boasted of a curtain of dazzling whiteness. The interior of this establishment was in the form of a lofty spacious hall. The stalls were just broad enough to allow the hind feet of the cows to rest on the edge of a canal or gutter a foot in depth, so that the straw might be kept perfectly clean. Just over this gutter, and parallel with it, a rope had been stretched, and to this rope the tails of the cows were tied, to prevent them from whisking their sides and raising a dust. All these arrangements were pleasing enough to the eye; but I fancy, if the poor animals had been consulted, they would have voted for a little more freedom, although at some sacrifice of neatness.

One compartment of the stable was partitioned off by a wall of planks three feet high: it had a boarded floor, and formed quite a neat little room, for the use of the farm attendants. The store-houses for milk, cheese, and similar farm produce were as scrupulously clean as the stable itself. The walls of the entrance halls, staircases, kitchen, store-rooms, etc., in almost every house, are covered, to the height of three or four feet from the ground, with tiles of white porcelain or green clay, which are not so difficult to keep clean as whitewashed walls.

It was at Herr Muysken’s house that, after a long abstinence, I enjoyed the luxury of good milk to my coffee; milk pure and fresh as it comes from the cow. One would think that in a country like Holland, where there are so many cows, good milk could be had in abundance; but it is not so; for the Hollander is such an enthusiast in making butter and cheese, that, like the Swiss, he scarcely allows himself enough good milk for domestic purposes. Almost every where, even in the wealthiest families, the coffee was very indifferent.

While I am speaking of coffee-drinking, that most important subject for us women, I can not help mentioning a custom prevalent throughout Holland, which, in my humble opinion, is not very seemly or worthy of imitation. As soon as the coffee or tea-drinking is over, the lady or daughter of the house, or one of the female authorities, washes the tea-service at the table, in presence of the company. She pours a little hot water in each of the cups, rinses them out, wipes them on a cloth, and the business is done.

Herr Muyskens was kind enough to lead me right across the drained lake to one of the three machines used for pumping out the water, and one or other of which is occasionally put in requisition when there has been an accumulation of rain-water. We came just in time to see one of these machines at work.

We went on to Haarlem, where we saw the fine park, with the elegant royal palace, and likewise a portion of the town. I noticed over the door of a house an oval disk, about a foot and a half in length, covered with pink silk, and ornamented with rich lace in ample folds. They told me this was a sign that one of the inmates had recently become the possessor of a baby. A strip of paper projecting above the disk indicates that the new arrival is a girl. The custom dates from the old warlike times, when the rough soldier respected the house where the suffering mother lay, and the practice once prevailed throughout Holland. It has now fallen into disuse, and is only kept up in Haarlem.

Besides Colonel Steuerwald, who paid me the kindest attention during my stay in Holland, I was fortunate enough to meet another very amiable friend, the “Resident” van Rees, whom the readers of my “Second Journey round the World” will recollect I had encountered at Batavia. Herr van Rees lived at the Hague; but as soon as he heard of my arrival in Holland he came to Amsterdam to invite me to make a short tour through his native country.

We began by an excursion to Utrecht, where a great Students’ Festival happened to be going on when we arrived. The students are in the habit of celebrating the foundation of the University by an annual commemoration. The festivities are kept up for a whole week. They comprise masked processions, concerts, balls, races, dinners, illuminations, and much more of the same kind. This year the affair was to be particularly brilliant. The worshipful students, it appears, were divided into two factions, the aristocratic and the democratic. Each party wished to out-shine the other, and had stipulated for an entire week to carry out their laudable purpose.

We arrived in Utrecht during the aristocrats’ week. The concourse of visitors was so great that we could not find room in any hotel; fortunately for us, Herr and Frau Suermondt, friends of Herr van Rees, received us with friendly hospitality in their house.

In the afternoon there was a procession. The students were all decked out in the most costly dresses; nothing was to be seen but velvet, satin, lace, and ostrich feathers. Some groups represented characters of the sixteenth century; others figured as princes from Java, Hindostan, etc., with their splendid retinues. There was even an Indian deity, carried in a palanquin, and accompanied by a Malay band of music. Whole scenes were represented in enormously long wagons, and some of these were really very artistically arranged. Thus, for instance, a whole house was shown, with the side walls taken out. A married pair sat at a table; the wife had a child in her lap, and a second was playing about at her feet; the family doctor and another friend were paying a visit, chatting and drinking tea, while the maid was scouring the step in front of the house.

On another wagon a wind-mill was perched; in front sat a man building a boat, while a second mended his nets.

A third wagon showed the interior of a peasant’s farm, where butter was being churned, sail-cloth woven, and ropes twisted. Next came a hunting procession, the huntsmen carrying falcons on their wrists, and the whole thing really capitally carried out. The procession was headed by military music, and a second band brought up the rear. In the evening the town was brilliantly illuminated with lamps of colored glass and gay paper lanterns arranged in festoons along the streets and on both sides of the canals. In some houses the whole façade was blazing with light, and the portals and balustrades of the bridges glittered with thousands of lamps. Some of the streets looked like fairy-land.

Toward midnight the procession came marching back with a number of torches spitting forth blue and dark purple flames. The feast was not over until two o’clock.

Gay and brilliant it was, I can not deny, but much too grand for students. It might be allowable if the celebration only took place once or twice in a century; even then a single day would be sufficient for it; but in its present form the effect can not be beneficial. The young men must occupy themselves for many weeks beforehand with their masks, costumes, balls, and other delectations, much more than with their studies. Moreover, the expenses are so great that only the rich can bear them with ease; the poorer students must therefore abstain or run into debt. For my part, I infinitely prefer the plain burlesque exhibited at the Artists’ Festival at Munich, which, although inexpensive, was full of merriment and wit, lasted only a day, and afforded as much, if not more, pleasure to actors and spectators than could be extracted from this students’ feast, with all its show and glitter.

The townspeople, too, are put to an amount of expense by the two evenings’ illumination that must be any thing but welcome to the poorer classes among them; but if they neglected to illuminate, the students would be almost sure to break their windows or play them some other silly trick.

Another custom of which I could not approve was the practice pursued by the students of parading about the whole week in their fancy costumes, as princes, knights, etc.

The second entertainment at which I was present consisted of a horse-race and a few feats of horsemanship by professional circus-riders. To say the truth, I expected something better. Tilting at the ring, or a joust executed by the students in their fancy costumes, would not have cost more, as they had dresses and horses all ready provided, and would have been more worthy of the grand programme. On this occasion I noticed how difficult it is to rouse the Hollander from his phlegmatic repose. A Herr Loisset brought forward a beautiful and marvelously trained horse, which performed such difficult feats as would have called forth the loudest plaudits from any other audience. To my surprise, the people remained as cold as ice, and Herr Loisset left the circus with his horse without receiving the slightest token of approbation.

The town of Utrecht is surrounded by very pretty shrubberies and park-like plantations; but here, as every where else in Holland, the want of hills and mountains is evident. There was not much to be seen in the place. Of the churches, I only visited the Protestant cathedral, allured by its majestic exterior. Unfortunately, I found the interior defaced in an incredible way. As the church is very large, and the congregation found a difficulty in hearing the sermons, a great and high partition of boards had been erected—a church within the church. Of course, this hideous plank-work, which occupies above half the entire space, completely destroys the proper effect of the really beautiful building.

My friendly host, Herr Suermondt, seemed reluctant to part with me, and I readily accepted his hearty invitation to prolong my stay a little while. The first days were devoted to the town itself and to the fortifications; and here and there I snatched an hour for a visit to the fine picture-gallery belonging to Herr Suermondt, and which he has thrown open to strangers.

We also paid a visit to the favorite resort of the Utrechters—the little village of Zeigst, a few miles from the town. The drive to this place is charming. The road, paved with brick like most of the Dutch high roads, leads us past pretty country houses with handsome gardens; in many parts there are avenues of sturdy trees, of a thickness I have seldom seen surpassed. Lime-trees, oaks, and beech-trees, and among the latter particularly the red beeches, attain a height in Holland perhaps unparalleled elsewhere.

In Zeigst there is an establishment of the Moravian brethren.