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272 of the town sought asylum in thousands in Amsterdam, and the extent and population of Amsterdam were nearly doubled in the closing fifteen years of the 16th century. Early in the seventeenth century Spain recognized the independence of Holland, and Amsterdam took the lead in the vast commercial enterprises of Holland and the celebrated Dutch East India Company was started here. The armies of Louis XIV. in the 17th century did not reach as far as Amsterdam, but in the commencement of the present century the Dutch republic was dissolved and Napoleon Bonaparte's brother Louis Napoleon became king of Holland and resided in Amsterdam. But on the fall of Napoleon Holland became a separate kingdom as stated before, with Prince William Frederick as the king.

The capital of Holland does not boast of the beauty of Paris, or even of Brussels, but is a unique and wonderful city for its canals. The whole town may be described as a system of concentric canals dividing the city into 90 islands which are connected by means of nearly 300 bridges! A tourist therefore, having to go from the centre of the town to the outskirts has nothing but canal after canal to cross, and passes by hundreds of boats everywhere, even in the heart of the town.

But more wonderful than what you see in Amsterdam is what you do not see. These rows of houses which stretch on every direction alongside the canals in this vast city are not built on soildsolid [sic] earth as in the other parts of the world but on piles of wood driven into the sand and loam