Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 127.djvu/186

 gratitude of the Dutch to the source of their riches; it is surmounted by two cows lying down, as if contemplating their grazing sisters in the fields beyond; others also decorate the façade. Through another, called Westgate, there arrived, in 1573, a poor child worn out with fatigue and privation. On a hastily constructed sledge he had, with filial affection, laid his old sick mother, and fled before the Spaniards. Twice he had been arrested on the way, and twice, touched by his pious devotion, he had been permitted to proceed. The people of Hoorn perpetuated the remembrance of this heroic act in a bas-relief carved on the gate.

The weekly market is still held; for, after Alkmaar, the largest cheese-trade is carried on here. Boer-wagen covered with carvings and bright-coloured paint, drive in to the waag, or weighing-house; a pretty building of gray stone, with a graceful roof pierced by dormer windows. The cheeses are piled up, their yellow rind shining like gold; and all round walk the calm, silent peasants, dressed in black. Then two will speak a few words, strike the hand several times, bending one or two fingers, and then striking them quickly out — private signals only known to themselves — and thus arrange the purchase. The price is only indicated by the pressure of the hand. When this is concluded, the porters of the waag come forward, dressed in white, with a blue, red, or green hat, according to the scales which belong to them; the cheese is then laid on a handcart, and officially weighed.

The trade of Holland is chiefly confined to agricultural products and fish. The wide pastures of the island of Texel feed two thousand horned cattle, a thousand horses, and thirty thousand sheep, which are celebrated throughout Europe. Every year twelve thousand of the last are exported, and the quarterly fair is very picturesque, when these flocks of sheep and lambs are shipped off to the continent. Through the basins of Harlingen, the port of Friesland, pass oxen and sheep, pigs and fowls, with mountains of cheese, fruits, and eggs for this country: here resort the provision-dealers of London, to carry away butter-barrels, which are piled up on the docks like cannon-balls in an arsenal. The canals are filled with the heavy-looking tjalks, or market-boats, which bring the good things of the country down to the port. Flax is a very important article of cultivation in Friesland; the market of Dokkum is one of the largest in Europe. The chief houses of England, Germany, and France have agents in this little town. The soil is incredibly rich; the peasants are well off; and there are few farmers who do not own some property in addition to the land they rent. It is rarely indeed that a tenant is turned out of his farm; families hold them for centuries, yet the lease is only for five or seven years, and stipulates how many head of cattle are to be fed on the meadows, and how much manure is to be laid on each acre; thus the soil is kept up to a wonderful state of fertility.

When De Ruyter tied to his mast the broom, as an indication that he had swept his enemies from the North Sea, and sailed up the Thames, his squadron had several vessels fitted out by the city of Hoorn. On one were two negroes, who had the boldness to carry away the figure-head from a ship lying in the river. The trophy was brought to Hoorn, and as a remembrance, an escutcheon was carved, and placed on a monument supported by two bronze negroes. Among the notabilities who were born here may be mentioned Abel Tasman, who discovered Tasmania and New Zealand; Jan Kœn, who founded Batavia in 1619; and Shouten, who doubled Cape Horn, calling it after his native city.

The peasants of North Holland shew a great passion for colour; the red brick houses have yellow shutters and pale-green window-frames: not content with this, they paint nature itself; up to the lowest branches the trees are covered with white or blue; whilst the walks in the garden are straw-colour, with two red stripes at each side, which do not harmonize well with the closely cut hedges and gay flowerbeds. In the village of Opperdoes many of the houses open into the stables, clean as any drawing-room, paved with tiles, and sanded with different colours, where the black and white cows stand on fresh litter, and the pails and buckets shine like gold and vermilion. Through this is the sitting-room, where handsome fresh-coloured girls, in the large cap and golden helmet -shaped head-dress, engage in charming fancy-work.

There are usually two doors to the house: one small one for daily use; the other sculptured, ornamented, and gilded, only to be opened for baptisms, marriages, and funerals. All these are the occasion of interminable feasts. When the master of the house dies, he is dressed in black, with a white cotton night-cap on his head, and laid in his coffin, the face being uncovered. On the following day the 