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278 due west. It is a broad and splendid canal, and looks like a river broad and deep enough for ships and steamers of the heaviest tonnage. Nearly the whole of Amsterdam's trade with the world passes now through this canal. I went along the whole length of it, starting by a steamer from Amsterdam, and reaching the seaside port of Ymuinden in less than two hours. It so happened the mail steamer to the Dutch colony of Java left the same day, and I saw her passing. Mail steamers leave Amsterdam for Java once in every 10 days. There is a bi-weekly service between Amsterdam and London, and I saw the steamer for London lying in anchor in the canal.

At Ymuinden the entrance of the canal from the sea is protected by a magnificent lock consisting of three huge gates, the middle one being 72 feet wide, and the two sides one 36 feet each. Further out, where the canal actually meets the sea,—the place is protected by two solid extensive piers, $3⁄4$ miles long and running out into the sea, so as to make an extensive harbour. Two lofty lighthouses are erected on this spot.

My last excursion from Amsterdam was to the Zuider Zee. Meuderberg is a pretty little watering place in the Zuider Zee $7 1⁄2$ miles to the east of Amsterdam, and I travelled this distance by a steam tram car. The bathing season is over and the cafés and hotels of Meuderberg are now deserted and the fine parks and oak gardens are now yellow in the approach of winter. I saw the embankment along the coast of the Zuider Zee, to protect the low